diff --git a/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py b/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
index e0d2b195e6..c81da86452 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
@@ -1156,7 +1156,7 @@ async def startup_event():
 
     ### CONNECT TO DB ###
     # check if DATABASE_URL in environment - load from there
-    if os.getenv("DATABASE_URL", None) is not None and prisma_client is None:
+    if prisma_client is None:
         prisma_setup(database_url=os.getenv("DATABASE_URL"))
 
     ### LOAD CONFIG ###
@@ -1184,7 +1184,7 @@ async def startup_event():
         )  # start the background health check coroutine.
 
     verbose_proxy_logger.debug(f"prisma client - {prisma_client}")
-    if prisma_client:
+    if prisma_client is not None:
         await prisma_client.connect()
 
     if prisma_client is not None and master_key is not None:
diff --git a/litellm/proxy/utils.py b/litellm/proxy/utils.py
index 3412b97a41..798c02b647 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/utils.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/utils.py
@@ -555,7 +555,8 @@ class PrismaClient:
     )
     async def connect(self):
         try:
-            await self.db.connect()
+            if self.db.is_connected() == False:
+                await self.db.connect()
         except Exception as e:
             asyncio.create_task(
                 self.proxy_logging_obj.failure_handler(original_exception=e)
diff --git a/litellm/tests/test_proxy_startup.py b/litellm/tests/test_proxy_startup.py
index c6f3f55396..1183e8c616 100644
--- a/litellm/tests/test_proxy_startup.py
+++ b/litellm/tests/test_proxy_startup.py
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@ from litellm.proxy.proxy_server import (
     save_worker_config,
     initialize,
     startup_event,
-    llm_model_list
+    llm_model_list,
+    shutdown_event
 )
 
 def test_proxy_gunicorn_startup_direct_config():
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@ def test_proxy_gunicorn_startup_direct_config():
         config_fp = f"{filepath}/test_configs/test_config_no_auth.yaml"
         os.environ["WORKER_CONFIG"] = config_fp
         asyncio.run(startup_event())
+        asyncio.run(shutdown_event())
     except Exception as e:
         if "Already connected to the query engine" in str(e): 
             pass
@@ -51,6 +53,7 @@ def test_proxy_gunicorn_startup_config_dict():
         worker_config = {"config": config_fp}
         os.environ["WORKER_CONFIG"] = json.dumps(worker_config)
         asyncio.run(startup_event())
+        asyncio.run(shutdown_event())
     except Exception as e:
         if "Already connected to the query engine" in str(e): 
             pass