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AP, TMZ

California Doctor in the Crosshairs in Probe Into Prince’s Death

May 6, 2016  •  Post A Comment

A nationally known California doctor has come under scrutiny in connection with the investigation into the April 21 death of Prince.

The AP reports that Dr. Howard Kornfeld, who runs an addiction treatment center in Northern California, is a focus of the probe after he reportedly sent his son to Prince’s home in Minnesota on a redeye flight April 20 with buprenorphine, a drug used to treat people who are addicted to opiates such as prescription painkillers.

Kornfeld “may have been trying to help, but he was not licensed to practice medicine in Minnesota and was not registered to care for patients there via telemedicine, as the state requires,” the AP reports. “His son, Andrew Kornfeld, who has been described as a pre-med student, was not a licensed prescriber.”

“Attorneys and physicians have described the action as unusual and even absurd,” the report notes, adding: “Dozens of doctors are authorized to prescribe buprenorphine in Minnesota, so it’s unclear why Kornfeld felt he needed to send his son with the drug, which is used to ease withdrawal and cravings.”

TMZ.com has reported: “Prince’s people called Dr. Howard Kornfeld the day before the singer died, saying they believed Prince was on the verge of dying from drugs. Prince was apparently on board to get help, but the doctor said it would be 2 days before he could get there.

“Dr. Kornfeld sent his son, Andrew, who worked at their facility — Recovery Without Walls. Andrew flew out early and was at Prince’s home the day he died.”

Andrew Kornfeld reportedly placed the call to 911 alerting authorities that Prince had been found unresponsive at his Paisley Park estate in suburban Minneapolis.

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