As the mass media continues to speculate as to the cause of Prince’s death, a Californian doctor has claimed that he was scheduled to meet with the legendary artist on April 22nd – the day after he died.

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Dr Howard Kornfeld, an authority on opioid addiction and its treatment, was contacted by Prince’s representatives on April 20th to help with a “grave medical emergency” because the singer was battling an addiction to painkillers.

PrincePrince had been scheduled to meet with the opioid addiction doctor on April 22, the day after he died

Citing attorney William Mauzy, a Minneapolis attorney who had worked closely with Dr Kornfeld and his family, the Star Tribune says that the specialist himself couldn’t meet with Prince the next day (April 21st), but sent his son Andrew from San Francisco to Paisley Park in order to quickly diagnose him with plans to follow himself soon afterwards.

“The plan was to quickly evaluate his health and devise a treatment plan,” Mauzy said, per the report. “The doctor was planning on a lifesaving mission.”

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Unfortunately, however, Prince died the next morning, with Andrew apparently the individual responsible for the 911 call, having arrived at the suburban compound just minutes before, at least according to Mauzy.

The unidentified male heard in the call tells emergency operators “the person is dead here” and “the people are just distraught.”

Dr Howard Kornfeld runs the Recovery Without Walls treatment centre in Mill Valley, California, whose website describes the business as “specializing in innovative, evidence-based medical treatment for chronic pain and drug and alcohol addiction.” His son Andrew is listed as a practitioner there.

In the weeks since Prince’s death at the age of 57, reports have surfaced indicating that the ‘Purple Rain’ singer had painkillers in his possession, but no toxicology reports or any other medical examinations have determined whether the substance was in his system at the time, or whether or not they contributed to his death.

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