Prince died today. He was only 57. He passed at his music studio in Minnesota. The sheriff says no foul play was involved. The medical examiner is expected to release the exact cause of death in the next two or three days.
People close to the popular musician, speculate his death was due to complications from the flu. If that is the case, he will be among an estimated 30,000 Americans to die in this manner this year.
Prince's representatives say he was battling the flu for the last three weeks. In fact, his illness forced him to cancel two concerts earlier this month. When he was feeling a bit better, but not totally, he performed in Atlanta, but after that concert, in his private plane on the way home to Minnesota, he apparently was so sick, the plane made an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois, where Prince was then rushed to a nearby hospital. Clearly, to go to such lengths, he was in extreme physical distress, especially considering Prince was notoriously private.
The puzzling aspect of the hospital stay is that he was released a mere three hours later. Was that too soon? Was it the doctors who recommended his release or Prince himself who instigated his own seemingly premature departure. After all, even if a doctor orders, or advises, a patient stay for further treatment, that patient is not obligated to obey.
After leaving the hospital, Prince flew home to Minnesota and actually performed there the following day. One audience member recalled Prince responding to concerns about his health by saying, "Save your prayers. I'm fine."
Prince reportedly suffered from epilepsy as a child. There are no published reports of his condition as an adult, however, if he was taking medication for seizures that suppress breathing, combined with the flu, can be lethal.
Even if he were not on seizure medication, there are several complications from the flu that can be deadly, such as a heart attack, the risk of which increases four-fold when one has the flu, particularly for a man in his late fifties. This would explain the apparently sudden nature of Prince's death.
Flu often leads to deadly pneumonia and fatal blood clots.
If the medical examiner indeed determines the cause of Prince's death was complications from the flu, one wonders whether it will be revealed whether he received the flu vaccine this year. It must be stated, however, that the flu vaccine does not always prevent people from getting the flu. Typically, a vaccine only contains three strains of the flu and is manufactured months ahead of flu season. Sometimes the strains in the vaccine match the strains that circulate during flu season, sometimes they do not.
Although Prince is known for his often raucous behavior, insiders report he was a religious man in his later years and was extremely generous, often giving large, anonymous gifts to people in need.