Chris Cornell’s Widow Implores Congress to Act on Opioid Crisis: His ‘Death Was Not Inevitable’
https://people.com/music/chris-cornell-congress-opioid-crisis/
Though Chris Cornell’s death in 2017 was ruled a suicide, his wife, Vicky, has said she believes the effects of a prescription drug may have played a role in the tragedy
Vicky Cornell is working to turn her tragedy into change.
The widow of late rocker Chris Cornell, who died by suicide in May 2017 at the age of 52, traveled to Capitol Hill on Monday to speak to Congress about the opioid crisis and the impact addiction has on families in the United States and around the world. Though Cornell’s death was ruled a suicide, Vicky has stated in the past that she believes that the side effects of the prescription drug Ativan — which can cause worsening depression and thoughts of self-harm in rare cases — may have impacted Cornell.
Testifying before the Bipartisan Heroin and Opioid Task Force, Vicky shared her personal story of loss, discussed the stigma surrounding addiction and advocated on behalf of the steps congress can take to integrate addiction medicine into healthcare. Additionally, she stressed the need to address the overprescribing of prescription medication, the training and education of doctors and the necessity of eliminating stigma.
“The part that hurts most is Chris’ death was not inevitable, there were no demons that took over — Chris had a brain disease and a doctor who unfortunately, like many, was not properly trained or educated on addiction,” Vicky said. “We must integrate addiction treatment into our health care system — no more false narratives about the need to hit rock bottom, no more secret societies, no more shame — we must educate health care providers on how to treat addiction and best support recovery.“
The discussion was led by Bipartisan Heroin and Opioid Task Force co-chairs Congresswoman Annie Kustler and Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, and Congressman Donald Norcross and Representative Martha Roby.
Along with Vicky, other panelists included in the discussion were U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health Brett P. Giroir and American Society of Addiction Medicine President Dr. Kelly J. Clark.
A month after the Soundgarden frontman’s death in 2017, Vicky opened up to PEOPLE exclusively about her loss and husband’s addiction.
“My Chris was happy, loving, caring and warm,” she said. “This was not a depressed man — it wasn’t like I missed that. What I missed were the signs of addiction.” Vicky believes that if her husband had not relapsed on drugs that night, he would not have died.
“He didn’t want to die,” she said of Cornell, who was prescribed Ativan as a sleep aid but doubled his dose the night of his death. “If he was of sound mind, I know he wouldn’t have done this… Addiction is a disease. That disease can take over you and has full power.”
RELATED: Chris Cornell’s Children Say It Was ‘Very Difficult’ to Accept Grammy for Late Father
In November 2018, Vicky and the two children she shares with Cornell — daughter Toni, 14, and son Christopher, 13 — sued Cornell’s doctor, Robert Koblin, for allegedly “negligently and repeatedly [prescribing] mind-altering and controlled substances” starting in September 2015.
Cornell was also father to 18-year-old Lily from his previous marriage.
RELATED VIDEO: Chris Cornell’s Widow Vicky Meets with Detroit Medical Examiner Four Months After Rocker’s Death
Earlier in February, Cornell was honored with a posthumous Grammy in the best rock performance category for “When Bad Does Good.” His two youngest children accepted the award on their father’s behalf.
“We miss him so much and we saw him work on this so hard — he was always working on music [because] it was his passion,” Toni told reporters backstage. “It was really sad in a way to feel like he couldn’t be there himself to accept it for something that he was so proud of and worked so hard on. Again, we’re so proud of him and it was amazing.”
The only place that his toxicology was mentioned was in the VIDEO.. and he had a (unnamed) SEDATIVE, Ativan, Decongestant, and Barbiturates (PLURAL) in his system. The way it is listed on the video is if they were stating that Ativan was a sedative or there was one or more sedatives in the toxicology report.
His wife is making statements: which can cause worsening depression and thoughts of self-harm in rare cases — may have impacted Cornell
RARE SIDES EFFECTS – MAY HAVE HAD AN IMPACT ???
HE HUNG HIMSELF and apparently it was well known that he had addiction tendencies
I have not seen any spouses/family members of chronic painers that has committed suicide because they had their medication reduced/stopped, testifying before a Congressional committee !
Filed under: General Problems
“I have not seen any spouses/family members of chronic painers that has committed suicide because they had their medication reduced/stopped, testifying before a Congressional committee !”
Yeah, that was one of my first thoughts, too. And how in the hell does this have anything to do with the opioid “crisis” anyway; they mention nothing about him taking any opiate meds. Are demon opioids going to be blamed every time anyone dies with any type of medication in their system?
Myheart goes out to her however opioids are not to blame. Suicides are usually a long mental process and not one thing is to blame. My husband committed suicide in the same manner and ironically the very same date years ago. I wanted to blame someone/something too. Addiction does not discriminate. It’s also a long remental process. But we are talking about physical pain and suffering like me and so many others that need them or we will be a new group of suicides due to a different kind of pain. We are not addicts nor started out struggling with suicidal ideations. We are/I am just wanting to live life with pain control and keep enjoying what life we have left after traumatic or chronic injuries. Opioids do work and are very useful in a positive way when used with your doctors guidence. For 12 years my pain was manageable and now I suffer every day. Does his widow know what is being done to those of us being affected by her anti opioid campaign? Maybe she should read more stories from all of us.
Amen! Absolutely nothing too do with the Opioid Crisis. She knows nothing about it. What
is her point of even being there talking about it. It had nothing at all to do with her husband hanging himself. But, money talks. Who asked her to be there to talk about the Opioid Crisis???
It appears that you have to be rich and famous, or the family of the rich and famous, in order to testify in front of Congress.