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Prince heirs file wrongful death suit vs. Walgreens, ER Doc and Hospital


JimmyHoffa

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This makes me sick. 

Suing the hospital and ER doctor that saved his damn life who oh by the way Prince didn't allow them to do any tests after reviving him. I love me some Prince but this is F'ing BS.

 

 

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Prince's heirs have sued Walgreens and the Illinois hospital that treated the music superstar after he suffered from an opioid overdose, alleging that a doctor and various pharmacists failed to provide Prince with reasonable care, contributing to his death.

The wrongful-death lawsuit filed in Cook County, Illinois, alleges a doctor and pharmacist at Trinity Medical Center in Moline, Illinois, failed to appropriately treat and investigate Prince's April 15, 2016, overdose, and that he died "as a direct and proximate cause of one or more ... deviations from the standards of care."

A week before he died, Prince passed out on a flight home from an Atlanta concert and the private plane made an emergency stop in Moline. The musician had to be revived with two doses of a drug that reverses effects of an opioid overdose.

At Trinity Medical Center, Prince refused medical tests but was asked what drugs he took. Documents show a pill that he had with him, which was marked as Vicodin, was sent to the pharmacy for testing. A hospital pharmacist said it appeared to be Vicodin and returned it to Prince.

Prosecutors said last week that no chemical testing was done on the pill, but evidence suggests it was counterfeit and laced with fentanyl.

The lawsuit alleges the pharmacist and emergency room physician, Dr. Nicole Mancha, failed to timely diagnose and treat the overdose and failed to provide appropriate counseling.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/prince-heirs-sue-illinois-hospital-over-care-during-222211546.html

 

Because yeah he refused treatment and testing after they brought him back  to life but I am sure he would have listened to the stern warnings and accepted the pamphlet of info on the dangers of being addicted to Opiods. 

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I doubt that it's actually frivolous, very few are, but it may well go away on summary judgment. 

And I don't know Illinois venue law, but there appears to be no connection to Cook County, so I would assume that it's getting sent to Moline posthaste. 

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7 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I doubt that it's actually frivolous, very few are, but it may well go away on summary judgment. 

And I don't know Illinois venue law, but there appears to be no connection to Cook County, so I would assume that it's getting sent to Moline posthaste. 

Venue is proper in the county of residence for any defendant and a corporation is a resident of any county in which it has its registered office or other office or is doing business. So I think venue would be proper in any Illinois county that has a Walgreens.

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?DocName=073500050HArt.+II+Pt.+1&ActID=2017&ChapterID=56&SeqStart=1200000&SeqEnd=2200000

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I think his fake Vicodin was off the street. Sounds like Walgreens is named because it "looked" at the fake pill and didn't test its ingredients. No way family has the actual pill though b/c it was returned to Prince and he popped it (I am sure). No way Walgreens is dispensing counterfeit Vicodin unless everyone is.

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11 minutes ago, woohorn said:

I think his fake Vicodin was off the street. Sounds like Walgreens is named because it "looked" at the fake pill and didn't test its ingredients. No way family has the actual pill though b/c it was returned to Prince and he popped it (I am sure). No way Walgreens is dispensing counterfeit Vicodin unless everyone is.

No, hospital, hospital pharmacy, and ER doc named for not testing fake Vicodin and just confirming that it looked to be a Vicodin.

 

Walgreens is named because of this-

The allegations against Walgreens stem from prescriptions that were dispensed to Prince, but written under the name of his bodyguard, Kirk Johnson. Authorities said Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg admitted that he prescribed oxycodone to Prince under Johnson's name to protect Prince's privacy. Schulenberg disputes that, but paid $30,000 to settle allegations the drug was prescribed illegally.

 

 

Seems to me that would be Dr. Schulenberg and Prince's bodyguard Kirk Johnson's problem not Walgreens. How the hell they are supposed to know that the scrip wasn't for the person it was written for!? 

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As noted above by Dan Rydell, Walgreens is probably named to get the case out of Rock Island County and into Chiraq.  But I'm not cynical or anything.

 

It appears that Walgreens' alleged tortious behavior had nothing to do with the events of the week of his death.  https://www.scribd.com/document/377222329/Wrongful-death-lawsuit-filed-by-Prince-s-heirs#from_embed

That's a rather bizarre lawsuit in that regard.   Also an extremely conclusory one.  I hate Texas med mal reforms, most particularly the damage caps.  BUT, the requirement of having a medical professional give an opinion early on in the case, preferably prior to filing, that someone fucked up, is somewhat hard to argue with.  I am also of the belief that a plaintiff should have that anyway and should have as many ducks lined up as possible prior to filing suit.

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As a pharmacist, we have no way of testing the pill short of sending it off to a lab. No pharmacy i’ve worked at has any affiliation with any such lab or budget to pay for said chemical test (I used to work at WAG)

 

but all this is moot because no opioid user is ever going to willingly surrender even half a tablet so it can be sent away to a lab.  Nor will they abstain from using the remaining pills while waiting the days or weeks to get a report back.

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1 hour ago, Sawbonz said:

Walgreens?  Did they take him to the minute clinic when he od’d?

The Walgreens stuff is more general "overprescription" liability unrelated to the pill testing and alleged malpractice the week prior to his death.  So it really ought to be the subject of a separate suit.

There may be a reason for filing this suit now and as one rather than two that is prompted by the estate administration/probate.

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11 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

The Walgreens stuff is more general "overprescription" liability unrelated to the pill testing and alleged malpractice the week prior to his death.  So it really ought to be the subject of a separate suit.

There may be a reason for filing this suit now and as one rather than two that is prompted by the estate administration/probate.

 

Prince didn't leave us enough money so lets give what we did get to lawyers. Seems like a great idea. 

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19 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

  I hate Texas med mal reforms, most particularly the damage caps.  BUT, the requirement of having a medical professional give an opinion early on in the case, preferably prior to filing, that someone fucked up, is somewhat hard to argue with. 

Wrong. That requirement is solely in place to force Plaintiff’s firms to spend a shitload of money on an expert report before even filing the case. And with the appellate decisions in place related to those expert reports it’s just another way to fuck over a plaintiff in a medical malpractice case. 

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Another major problem with the expert report requirement is it is often murky whether a case is in fact a health care liability claim and thus its entirely unclear whether an expert report is required. If you don't hire an expert and you guess wrong, your case is dismissed. If you do hire an expert and you guess wrong, you've spent a bunch of money you didn't have to.

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