Attorney For CHRIS CORNELL's Doctor Responds To Family's Lawsuit Over Singer's Death

An attorney for Chris Cornell's doctor has commented on the lawsuit filed against him by the late SOUNDGARDEN and AUDIOSLAVE singer's widow.

Vicky Cornell filed a lawsuit against Dr. Robert Koblin for malpractice, accusing the physician of over-prescribing drugs that eventually caused her husband to commit suicide. In the lawsuit, Vicky claims that Dr. Robert Koblin prescribed 940 doses of the anti-anxiety drug Lorazepam, a.k.a. Ativan, as well as Oxycodone during the last 20 months of his life, without even examining her husband, performing lab studies or doing anything else to determine if Chris was in danger.

Koblin's attorney said the prescriptions were appropriate.

"Dr. Koblin is a competent and conscientious doctor who enjoyed an excellent physician/patient relationship with Mr. Cornell and other members of his family," James Kjar said in a statement. "The experts I have consulted with believe Dr. Koblin's treatment was within the standard of care in this community and were not a substantial factor in causing Mr. Cornell to commit suicide."

The lawsuit alleges the doctor took no steps to protect Chris even though Koblin knew the musician was an "addiction-prone individual." The suit also claims that Koblin never warned Chris about the dangers of suicide or other side effects of long-term Lorazepam use.

According to the claim, "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 suit claims that at the time of his death, Chris Cornell "had everything to live for" and was making plans for future recordings, tours and charitable work, with no indication that he was suicidal. Vicky and her two children are suing for unspecified damages.

Chris was pronounced dead in the early morning hours of May 18, 2017 after being found unresponsive in his Detroit hotel room. SOUNDGARDEN had played a show earlier that evening. The 52-year-old had sedatives and an anxiety drug in his system, but died by hanging himself. According to the medical examiner, the drugs didn't contribute to the cause of death.