Prince death: Addiction specialist was called by singer’s team

Prince’s team requested emergency support from a leading addiction specialist just a day before the singer died, the doctor’s lawyer has revealed.

The specialist, Dr Howard Kornfeld, was unable to make it from California to Minnesota immediately but sent his son.

In a strange turn of events, it was his son, Andrew Kornfeld, who called police after joining Prince’s staff to search for the missing singer.

The Kornfelds’ lawyer said neither had met Prince before his death.

William Mauzy told reporters on Wednesday that Prince’s team contacted Dr Howard Kornfeld on 20 April, the day before Prince died.

Unable to make it to Minnesota, the doctor dispatched his son and called a local doctor, who cleared his morning schedule but never saw the singer.

Emergency call

When Andrew Kornfeld, who works with his father but is not a doctor, arrived at Prince’s Paisley Park home, he was told that the singer was missing. He joined members of staff to search the property and made the emergency call when Prince’s unresponsive body was found.

Mr Mauzy said the plan was to stabilise him in Minnesota, before flying him to California to seek treatment at Dr Kornfeld’s Recovery Without Walls rehab centre in Mill Valley.

The lawyer confirmed that Andrew Kornfeld had been interviewed by police, but was protected by Minnesota’s Good Samaritan law. The law offers some legal protections to those who make emergency calls, to encourage them to do so.

BBC