Fox News via Page Six reports:
Chris Cornell’s widow slammed a Michigan medical examiner Tuesday for conducting a “botched investigation” into the Soundgarden singer’s death a year ago.
The probe into her husband’s apparent suicide has left her with many questions and heartache, Vicky Cornell told The Detroit News. She said people had spurred conspiracy theories online making “all sorts of false accusations” and subjected her to online attacks.
“This has left me and my family still looking for answers, but at the same time, set off this whirlwind of conspiracies,” Cornell told the newspaper. “Some of the people are just fans looking for answers, but some of them are conspiracy theorists who have said the most vile things to my children and me.”
Vicky Cornell said the Wayne County medical examiner wrote in the autopsy report that drugs didn’t contribute to the rocker’s cause of death, which she claimed was “completely misleading.”
“The poor choice of phrasing has misled the public to believing he was of sound mind and body,” she said. “So some conspiracy people think if Chris wasn’t impaired, he would never have killed himself, and so he must have been killed — and then they start getting into the rest of the holes.”
The widow said the conspiracy theories and the hateful comments she has received from Internet users has taken a toll on her.
“We’re human beings,” she said. “This is real life. We’re not characters in some film. I lost my husband. My children lost their father. We’re in a lot of pain, and we have to deal with these people coming after us. If the autopsy report was thorough, I believe some of this could have been avoided.”
Vicky Cornell and her husband had two children together and were married for 13 years.
The Soundgarden front man died on May 18th, 2017, at age 52, after he was found with a resistance band around his neck. Toxicology tests showed the presence of barbiturates, caffeine and lorazepam, also known as Ativan, for relief of anxiety. The report also lists naloxone, an anti-opioid drug, and a decongestant.
Vicky Cornell said the medical examiner never tested her husband’s body for Prednisone, a steroid he was prescribed. A bottle of the steroid was found in the singer’s hotel room where he was found dead.
Cornell said her husband was prescribed Ativan after he tore a muscle in his shoulder. The singer was on the drug for about a year despite it is not supposed to be taken for more than four weeks.
The barbiturates found in his system were not prescribed.
The autopsy report stated the drugs did not contribute to Cornell’s death and confirmed Cornell killed himself following a concert.
Vicky Cornell said she “doesn’t necessarily want the medical examiner to list drugs as the official cause of death” but would like some clarification.
She said her husband battled opioid addiction in the late 1990s and told a friend he relapsed in March 2017, just weeks before his death.
source: pagesix.com
7 Responses
This is so sad for Chris’ family. It’s a long tough road to finding peace & forgiveness.
Losing your soul mate is terrible. I couldn’t imagine having to go through it, and I can understand the deep-seated need to find a focal point for the frustration. That being said, the medical examiner should not be that focal point. The medical examiner’s report is not a statement about the deceased party’s state of mind. It simply analyzes bloodwork and determines if there are toxic levels of a drug in the STANDARD drug panel (the standard drug panel looks for benzos, opiates, and other drugs with high abuse potential). As the death was from a specific mechanical force and not a type of unknown origin, there is not an immediate need to look for specific levels of prescribed medications like corticosteroids. The statement about cause of death is standard verbiage. The medical examiner shouldn’t be vilified for it.
James,
While you are correct, the medical examiner, is probably being unnecessarily vilified, his widow is lashing out, because she, and her mother (Cornell’s mother-in-law) have been the subject of online harassment.
Many fans/posters have blamed both the widow, and her mother, for driving Cornell to suicide. They state that both were well known gold diggers who took advantage of Cornell, controlled his every move, and made his life a misery.
So, she seems to blaming the ME, due to his lack of specificity in his reports. She feels that is what has led to all of the online harassment/outrage, and the conspiracy theories, which were running rampant. Unfortunately, I think she has an uphill battle, and is projecting her angst, on the wrong person.
His unfortunate, and untimely, death seems clouded in mystery. I guess the fans feel that there is pertinent information missing, that the family, is not disclosing to the public. Either way, his widow should stop bringing this up to the media, and work on trying to piece this tragedy together, as best as she can, in private.
D
I wonder why he was prescribed Prednisone. I have two people close to me both with MS who sometimes need dosage depending on the level of MS attacks, and both have said it’s nasty stuff to be on and really affects their moods. Add everything else he was on and…..
DR,
Prednisone is a steroid, and as you correctly stated. is usually prescribed for MS. My cousin was on it for decades for MS, and I have also known people who were on it for many years for Ulcerative Colitis, or any form of IBD.
As one would expect from a steroid, it can cause all kinds of side effects. The people whom I have known, that have been on it, have never described it as having a depressive effect, but quite the opposite, stating it caused boundless energy. Then again, drugs are not a one size fits all for everyone. People have individual reactions, some not even listed as common side effects, and of course, if you combine them with other substances, both legal and illicit, it can cause cross reactions with strange side effects.
So, yes, this still begs the question, why was he on it?
D
Prednisone is most commonly prescribed for respiratory-related issues. COPD, asthma, post-pneumonia or bronchitis, any situation where there has been a reactive airway.
The guy was f**ked up. Plain and simple.