A lawsuit connected to the 2010 drug overdose death of Slipknot bass player Paul Gray recently reached a settlement. The lawsuit itself was filed by members of Gray’s family against “health care providers whom they blamed for his drug-overdose death.” But what happened, exactly, and why did the family blame Gray’s healthcare providers?
A lawsuit connected to the 2010 drug overdose death of Slipknot bass player Paul Gray recently reached a settlement. The lawsuit itself was filed by members of Gray’s family against “health care providers whom they blamed for his drug-overdose death.” But what happened, exactly, and why did the family blame Gray’s healthcare providers?
It all began shortly after Gray “overdosed on an array of drugs, including fentanyl and morphine,” in an Urbandale hotel. Not long after the rock star’s death, his family pointed the finger of blame at “Dr. Daniel Baldi, a pain-relief specialist who had treated Gray for years, including for drug addiction.”
Baldi pushed back against the allegations, though, denying any fault. His lawyer even “noted the physician didn’t prescribe the drugs that caused Gray’s death.” That didn’t stop Gray’s family from suing Baldi “and his former employers, including the hospital company now known as UnityPoint-Des Moines.”
freestocks.org via Unsplash, https://unsplash.com/
Eventually, the lawsuit gained national attention and in 2012, “Polk County prosecutors charged Baldi with 10 criminal counts of involuntary manslaughter.” According to court documents, the charges at the time “alleged the doctor caused Gray’s death and others by recklessly prescribing large amounts of addictive pills to patients who showed clear signs of drug abuse.” Instead of being handed a prison sentence in that case, a jury acquitted him in 2014. Throughout the process, one of Baldi’s lawyers, Guy Cook, pointed out that “the doctor had been tapering down Paul Gray’s Xanax prescriptions, and that Gray died of an overdose of other drugs, including narcotics he apparently bought on the black market.”
In 2016 his license to practice medicine was reinstated by state regulators, and he is now currently working “as an anesthesiologist in the Des Moines area.” Fortunately for Baldi, the lawsuit settled before it could proceed to trial in Polk County District Court.
At the moment details of the settlement haven’t been made public. When discussing the matter, Baldi’s lawyer, Connie Diekema, “declined to say which of the parties agreed to pay to settle the case, or how much money was involved.” She did, however, express relief that her client’s case was resolved. She said, “Dan Baldi did not deserve what he went through. I’m glad it’s behind us.”
So how did Gray’s family respond to the settlement announcement? Well, so far the family’s lawyer has yet to respond to a request for comment. UnityPoint has also declined to comment on the recent settlement.
Sources:
Slipknot bassist’s family gets settlement in overdose lawsuit against doctor, hospital
Family of Slipknot’s Paul Gray Wins Settlement in Overdose Lawsuit
Join the conversation!