Aaron Carter‘s 23-month-old son, Prince, has filed a lawsuit against doctors and pharmacies alleging wrongful death, according to documents obtained by ET.
The lawsuit — which was filed by the singer’s former fiancée, Melanie Martin, on behalf of their son — claims that doctors prescribed the singer hydrocodone, oxycodone, and alprazolam with “no medical justification.”
Aaron was found dead in his California home on Nov. 5, 2022, just weeks before Prince’s first birthday. He was 34. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner determined that Carter’s cause of death was accidental drowning after inhaling difluoroethane and taking alprazolam.
The autopsy report, also obtained by ET, stated that Carter was “incapacitated while in the bathtub” as the drugs took effect, causing him to slip under the surface of the water and ultimately drown. Difluoroethane is a gas often used in cans of compressed air, which can be inhaled to produce a high, while alprazolam is the generic form of the brand-name Xanax.
The lawsuit alleges that doctors and pharmacies were aware of Aaron’s “mental health and psychiatric condition” and prescribed medication inconsistently, which the suit claims directly contributed to his death.
Months prior to filing the lawsuit, Melanie expressed skepticism about Aaron’s official cause of death. “It claims death is by drowning but also adds he was wearing a T-shirt and necklace in the bathtub which doesn’t make sense. Why would he be in a bathtub with clothes on?” she told TMZ at the time. “I am still in shock and still miss Aaron every day. I don’t understand the chain of events, and this report only has us asking more questions.”
Melanie also called Aaron “a wonderful man” in a statement to ET, despite the two not being together at the time of his death.
“Aaron was a wonderful man and he really loved to take care of his family. He never gave up on me,” she said. “We might have had arguments and breakups but we really could not live without each other.”
Earlier this month, Aaron Carter’s twin sister, Angel Carter, revealed the memorial spot for her brother on Instagram, encouraging fans to visit the site nearly a year after the singer’s death. She mentioned that Aaron adored his fans and that having a final resting place for him would be a way to celebrate his life.
Angel, who had kept her brother’s ashes at her home before the memorial service, said, “To lose a twin, it’s an out-of-body experience. He’s a part of me. When he died, I had this sense of, ‘I’ve got to bring him home and protect him.’ It was my last way to protect him.”
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