According to news site Deadline, late SOUNDGARDEN frontman Chris Cornell’s widow and his prescribing doctor have reached a confidential settlement in a lawsuit in which she accused the physician of over-prescribing drugs which lead to the singer taking his own life.
“After years of litigation and settlement negotiations, plaintiffs and (Dr. Robert Koblin and Robertson Cardiovascular Center LLC) have reached a confidential settlement agreement to resolve all claims asserted by each plaintiff,” the Cornell family’s attorneys state in court papers filed April 2. “Unfortunately, as with many celebrity cases, this action has also attracted the attention of troubled individuals who have harassed plaintiffs, including by threatening the life and safety of plaintiffs Toni Cornell and Christopher Nicholas Cornell.”
In Vicky Cornell’s lawsuit, she claimed that Dr. Robert Koblin prescribed 940 doses of the anti-anxiety drug Lorazepam (a.k.a. Ativan) as well as the opioid Oxycodone to the singer during the last 20 months of his life, without even a physical examination. The lawsuit alleged the doctor took no steps to protect Chris even though the doctor was aware that the musician was an “addiction-prone individual.”
According to the lawsuit, Koblin never warned Chris about the dangers of suicide or other side effects of long-term Lorazepam use.
The “unmonitored use of such excessive amounts of Lorazepam … was known to increase the risk of suicide because it can severely impair judgment, thinking and impulse control and diminish the ability of a patient to think and act rationally,” the lawsuit said.
“At the time of his death, Mr. Cornell had everything to live for and was planning a future of recordings, performances and continued work as a charitable activist,” the lawsuit added.
The Cornell family were suing for unspecified damages.
Chris Cornell died in the early morning hours of May 18, 2017 in his Detroit hotel room after a SOUNDGARDEN show the previous evening. The 52-year-old had sedatives and anti anxiety medication in his system, but died by hanging himself.