Psychiatrist testifies that Anna Nicole Smith walked away from drug treatment
A psychiatrist who treated a pregnant Anna Nicole Smith for drug withdrawal testified Monday that the model said she was willing to “do anything” for her unborn daughter but ultimately walked away from a plan to break her dependency on prescription medication.
Ten months after the hospitalization described by Dr. Nathalie Maullin, the 39-year-old former Playboy playmate died from an overdose.
Prosecutors are pursuing charges against her boyfriend, Howard K. Stern, and two physicians for conspiracy to illegally provide her with prescription medication and other charges. Stern, Dr. Sandeep Kapoor -- Smith’s primary physician -- and Dr. Khristine Eroshevich have pleaded not guilty.
At a hearing to determine whether there was enough evidence to try the defendants, Maullin recalled Smith’s weeklong stay at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in April 2006.
Fifteen weeks pregnant, Smith was suffering symptoms of acute drug withdrawal following what she told doctors was an attempt to go “cold turkey” off methadone and Xanax, Maullin said.
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