A number of unanswered questions surround the medical treatment the late pop icon Prince received after his private plane made an emergency landing at Quad City International Airport in Moline, Illinois in the early morning hours of Friday, April 15.
Six days later the 57-year-old Prince died at his residence in Chanhassen, Minnesota on Thursday, April 21.
Breitbart News can confirm that a private plane made an emergency landing at Quad City International Airport at 1:15 am April 15 and departed that same day at 11:30 am.
“We did have an emergency landing at about 1:15 in the morning on the April 15th,” Jeff Patterson, Public Safety Manager at Quad City International Airport, tells Breitbart News.
“It was a call for an unresponsive person. Our officers met the plane, and called for the Moline Fire Department, which transported the person to a local hospital,” Patterson says.
“I can confirm it was Trinity Hospital,” he adds.
“The plane left Quad City International Airport at approximately 11:30 am on April 15,” Patterson notes.
But a spokesperson for UnityPoint Health – Trinity Hospital in Moline would not confirm that Prince was ever treated there.
“We had no patient by that name in our directory. There is a registration process for any patient who is admitted,” a spokesperson for UnityPoint Health -Trinity Hospital tells Breitbart News.
That carefully parsed, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliant answer, however, is a marked contrast to the unequivocal denial that Prince had ever been a patient Breitbart News received from Genesis Medical Center in nearby Silvis, Illinois, the only other hospital in the metropolitan Moline area.
Breitbart News pressed UnityPoint Health-Trinity Hospital for more details after confirming sources identified it as the hospital to which Prince was taken on April 15.
“As you know federal privacy laws prohibit all hospitals from sharing information about any individual without their written approval. Confidentiality is important as health care and medical treatment is personal and private,” the spokesperson responded.
“Federal privacy laws cover an individual 50 years past one’s death,” the spokesperson added.
A number of questions remain concerning the medical treatment of Prince during the 10 hours and 15 minutes his private plane was on the ground at Quad City International Airport in Moline, Illinois on April 15.
On the day of the incident, TMZ reported:
3:30 PM PST — A rep for Prince tells TMZ, the singer has been fighting the flu for several weeks. He canceled 2 shows on April 7th but wanted to make Thursday night’s performance in Atlanta, even though he was still not feeling well.
After the show, he got on a plane and felt considerably worse, so his plane made an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois, where he was taken to the hospital and treated. He was released 3 hours later, got back on the plane and is now back home.
Prince was rushed to a hospital early Friday morning after his jet made an emergency landing in Illinois … TMZ has learned.
According to our sources, Prince’s private plane made an unscheduled landing at Quad City International Airport in Moline just after 1 AM. The singer was immediately transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital.
A source close to the 57-year-old singer tells us he’s been released and is doing okay. The nature of the medical emergency is unclear.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer had performed Thursday night in Atlanta … and he was in the air for only a short time before things went south.
On Thursday, after news of his death earlier in the day had been made public, TMZ provided more details:
Multiple sources in Moline tell us, Prince was rushed to a hospital and doctors gave him a “save shot” … typically administered to counteract the effects of an opiate.
Our sources further say doctors advised Prince to stay in the hospital for 24 hours. His people demanded a private room, and when they were told that wasn’t possible … Prince and co. decided to bail. The singer was released 3 hours after arriving and flew home.
We’re told when Prince left he “was not doing well.”
We know authorities in Minnesota are trying to get the hospital records from Moline to help determine cause of death.
That same day Mother Jones reported that “Naloxone, the so-called injectable ‘miracle drug’ used in hospitals for decades, more accessible for use outside the hospital. Naloxone can save a user’s life by reversing the effects of opiates.”
The reporting on Prince’s emergency landing in Moline, Illinois on April 15 leads to a number of unanswered questions, made even more significant in light of his death six days later:
1. Are reports that Prince left the care of the hospital in Moline on April 15 due to not being provided a private room true?
2. Was the drug Naloxone or a similar “save shot” administered to Prince while under the care of first responders or a hospital in Moline on April 15?
3. Why was Prince released from the Moline hospital so quickly, after being transported there when it was determined he was “unresponsive” just a few hours earlier at the time his private plane landed in the Quad Cities Airport in Moline on April 15?
Breitbart News has also requested confirmation from the City of Moline’s Freedom of Information Act Office, which is handling all inquiries regarding the activities of the Moline Fire Department on April 15.
In that FOIA request, we asked the City of Moline to confirm the time of day the Moline Fire Department transported Prince, or the unresponsive person, from the Quad Cities Airport to Trinity Hospital, as well as the time at which he departed the airport and the time he arrived at Trinity Hospital.
FOIA officer Susannah Medina told Breitbart News she would try to respond to our request within five days.
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