The Latest: Doctor called to help Prince is pain specialist

MILL VALLEY, Calif. – The Latest on Dr. Howard Kornfeld, an addiction and pain specialist, who was asked to help Prince before his death (all times local):

8:15 p.m.

Dr. Howard Kornfeld, an addiction and pain specialist, who was asked to help Prince before his death, declined to discuss anything related to the singer.

But Kornfeld told the San Francisco Chronicle Wednesday (http://bit.ly/24sBrQ5) that addiction to opiates it’s a disease that shouldn’t be stigmatized. He says he wants to encourage more research into finding ways to treat and manage pain and addiction.

Kornfeld says it’s a national epidemic that needs to be prioritized.

He says there would be fewer deaths if addiction to opiates were not stigmatized.

Kornfeld received publicity in 2013 in the San Francisco Bay Area for his work with buprenorphine to control pain.

He says the drug can help addicted patients by offering pain relief with less possibility of overdose and addiction, unlike oxycodone or morphine.

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3:09 p.m.

The Northern California doctor who was asked to help Prince before his death is an addiction and pain specialist who has championed the use of a semi-synthetic opiate to treat pain.

Dr. Howard Kornfeld, who operates an outpatient medical centre, received publicity in 2013 in the San Francisco Bay Area for his work with buprenorphine to control pain.

Advocates of the drug say it can help addicted patients by offering pain relief with less possibility of overdose and addiction, unlike oxycodone or morphine.

Kornfeld’s attorney says Prince representatives reached out the day before the pop star died, but the doctor sent his son because he couldn’t immediately fly to Minnesota.

At least two experts on treating addiction have questioned whether Kornfeld responded appropriately when he was called to help Prince.