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Cleveland connection to newly filed Prince wrongful death lawsuit

A Cleveland-area attorney represents Prince's next of kin, who filed a wrongful death lawsuit against an Illinois hospital and the Walgreens pharmacy chain.

CLEVELAND -- A Cleveland-area attorney has filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the family of the late superstar singer Prince.

Attorney George Loucas, from the Loucas Law firm in Beachwood, and attorney John Goetz of Minnesota, are representing Prince's' six heirs, who are suing an Illinois hospital that treated Prince for an opioid overdose, 6 days before his fatal overdose at his home in Paisley Park.

The wrongful death lawsuit was filed Friday, one day before the deadline to submit the claim, which is 2 years after Prince's death on April 21, 2016. The lawsuit was made public Monday.

Wrongful death lawsuit filed by Prince's heirs by WKYC.com on Scribd

"The family wants questions answered. What happened to Prince?" said Loucas. "Our job is to continue to search for evidence, investigate and get those answers."

According to investigative records, Prince suffered an overdose during a flight home from a concert in Atlanta on April 15, 2016. His private plane made an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois, where rescuers on the tarmac revived him with double the usual dose of the opioid antidote naloxone.

The lawsuit claims medical staff at Trinity Medical Center which treated Prince, "failed to timely and appropriately diagnose and treat opiate overdose... and appropriately investigate the cause of opiate overdose."

Pharmacy chain Walgreens is also named in the lawsuit, which alleges it dispensed opioid medication "not valid for a legitimate medical purpose."

According to investigative records released by the state last week, Prince showed hospital staff the pills that he had taken. Hospital pharmacists thought that they were prescription Vicodin, and returned them to Prince. He would later die from counterfeit Vicodin, laced with fentanyl.

Loucas specializes in cases involving medical malpractice and wrongful death involving prescription painkillers. He is also a former practicing pharmacist, which gives him more expertise in an area of law that has grown, along with the nation's opioid epidemic.

But long before his law school days, he was also a Prince fan.

"It's surreal. I was born and raised in West Virginia, and here I am representing such a powerful figure - a genius. It's humbling," said Loucas.

He and Goetz also issued a joint statement:

"We will have much to say when the time is right. We have client interests to protect at the moment, including theory of the case. What happened to Prince is happening to families across America. The family wishes through its investigation to shed light on this epidemic and how to better the fight to save lives. If Prince’s death helps save lives, then all was not lost."

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