Chris Cornell entertained people in Oregon and all over the world as the lead singer of the popular bands Soundgarden and Audioslave. In May 2017 the world was stunned to learn that the singer had been found dead in his hotel room. Cornell had reportedly committed suicide by hanging. His widow has now filed a lawsuit against his doctor for medical malpractice, blaming the doctor for the star’s death.
Cornell had been open about the fact that he had struggled with drug addiction for years. His latest struggle was reportedly with medications he was prescribed by his own doctor. According to his wife, Cornell’s doctor recklessly prescribed him large amounts of Ativan and Oxycodone. He had also been prescribed a painkiller following a shoulder surgery the previous year.
The medications that Cornell was taking were especially dangerous for him due to his tendency for addiction. According to Cornell’s wife, the painkiller he had taken following surgery is not recommended for anyone with an addiction problem, something they were not warned about. If prescribed, the patient is to be closely monitored, which he wasn’t, so the singer relapsed. She also alleges that they were not advised about the side effects of Ativan, including impaired judgment, impulsive behavior and increased risk of suicide in addiction-prone individuals.
Cornell’s wife also states that the doctor prescribed Oxycodone without ever even conducting a medical exam to determine a need for medication. Additionally, she asserts that he even allowed nonlicensed staff in his office to write prescriptions for Cornell without his supervision. She claims he recklessly prescribed dangerous medications while knowing that Cornell struggled with addiction and that the side effects of the drugs he prescribed led to a level of impairment that caused the singer to take his own life.
Prescription medications are some of the most abused drugs in Oregon and the rest of the country. Prescription addiction affects people of all ages, income levels and walks of life. An experienced attorney can assist someone who has lost a family member or been a victim of the negligent dispensing of prescription drugs. Although a life lost cannot be brought back, raising awareness of the problem and holding negligent doctors accountable for medical malpractice can help protect against someone else becoming a victim in the future.