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Prince's Staff Sought Addiction Doctor's Help A Day Before Musician Died, Lawyer Says

Prince performs live at the Fabulous Forum on Feb. 19, 1985, in Inglewood, Calif.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Prince performs live at the Fabulous Forum on Feb. 19, 1985, in Inglewood, Calif.

The musician Prince had an appointment to meet with an addiction doctor the day after he died, a lawyer for that doctor said during a news conference this afternoon.

Minnesota Public Radio reports:

"Prince's representatives had contacted Dr. Howard Kornfeld, a national authority on opioid addiction treatment who runs Recovery Without Walls in Mill Valley, Calif., on the night of April 20, and Kornfeld dispatched his son Andrew on a red eye flight to meet with Prince at his Paisley Park studios in Chanhassen the next day, Minneapolis attorney William Mauzy said during an impromptu meeting with reporters. ...

"Andrew had come to 'initiate contact and talk about the recovery program' and was also in touch with a local Minnesota doctor, Mauzy said."

Prince was found dead at his Paisley Park compound in Chanhassen, Minn., last month.
Tim Roney / Getty Images
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Getty Images
Prince was found dead at his Paisley Park compound in Chanhassen, Minn., last month.

The iconoclast was found dead in an elevator at his home on April 21. Mauzy said that Kornfeld's son, Andrew Kornfeld, was one of the people who found Prince dead and called 911.

"The hope was to get [Prince] stabilized in Minnesota and convince him to come to Recovery Without Walls in Mill Valley. That was the plan," Mauzy said. "Dr. Kornfeld was never able to meet Prince, never talked to Prince and was sadly not able to arrive in time."

The medical examiner has yet to issue an official cause of death, but this is the first concrete indication that drugs may have been involved in the musician's death.

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Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.