Doctor Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter in Drug Overdose Death of Wife

A San Fernando Valley neurosurgeon accused of murder for supplying his wife a lethal dose of a painkiller pleaded guilty Thursday to involuntary manslaughter and five counts of illegally prescribing drugs.

In return for the plea, prosecutors promised, he will not serve more than a year in jail.

The doctor’s brother, an orthopedic surgeon accused of helping in an attempt to cover up the cause of the death, pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact in a health code violation. He was promised that he will not serve more than six months in jail.

The neurosurgeon, Dr. Stephen M. Levine, 42, and the orthopedic surgeon, Dr. David L. Levine, 43, both of Studio City, entered guilty pleas in Los Angeles Municipal Court shortly before a preliminary hearing on the charges against them was to begin.

The brothers remained free on bail. They were ordered to appear in Superior Court for sentencing on April 25.

A spokesman for the state attorney general’s office said his office will ask a state panel to consider revoking or suspending the doctors’ licenses to practice.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Antonio Merino said the state Division of Medical Quality will consider disciplinary action. It could range from license revocation to a suspension of 90 days. Merino said he must review the case before deciding what to recommend.

In the criminal case, prosecutors alleged that Stephen Levine used a false name and address to issue more than 115 prescriptions of the painkiller Demerol to his wife, Myrna, 32. She died of an overdose of the narcotic on May 12, 1984, in the home they then shared in Tarzana.

Prosecutors charged that David Levine signed a death certificate stating the cause of death as cardiac arrest and removed evidence of drug use.

Maximum Terms

The crimes to which Stephen Levine pleaded guilty carry maximum sentences totaling seven years in prison, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Dawson said. For David Levine the maximum is three years.

However, Dawson and one of the defense attorneys said the brothers’ otherwise spotless records and their professional reputations among other surgeons led to the agreement to reduce the penalties.

“These were men who were well thought of in the community,” Dawson said.

The brothers are partners in medical clinics in Chatsworth and Los Angeles. Stephen Levine also operates an office in Los Angeles and is on the medical staffs of several major hospitals.

Dawson said he never believed Stephen Levine intended to kill his wife. He said Myrna Levine injected the lethal dose herself on the day she died.

Stephen Levine’s attorney, Gerson Horn, said his client acted out of love.

“If he did anything wrong, he placed too much faith in his wife,” Horn said. “He loved her too much. She had him wrapped around her finger and could make him do anything.”

Defense Witness

The dead woman’s sister, the lawyer said, would have testified that Stephen Levine had argued with his wife about her addiction and wanted to send her to a hospital. Myrna Levine claimed she needed Demerol for cancer and other ailments and manipulated her husband into providing it, the sister told authorities.

Police reports in the case said Stephen Levine provided his wife with Demerol for 14 months before her death. Investigators said they found more than 115 prescriptions for Demerol written by the doctor for a fictitious patient named Robert Kaufman.

Neither brother informed paramedics or the police of the woman’s death, the police report said.

The case came to the attention of the police the next day. Relatives of the dead woman took three empty bottles of Demerol to detectives.

An autopsy performed revealed a level of Demerol 24 to 48 times greater than would be present under normal medical use and other evidence of prolonged use of the narcotic, the police reports said.

Arrested at Clinic

Stephen Levine was arrested at his Chatsworth clinic in June. The district attorney’s office declined to file charges then, saying there was insufficient evidence.

After further investigation, Stephen Levine was charged in September with murder and 44 counts of violating the health and safety code by writing fictitious prescriptions and prescribing drugs without a medical reason. David Levine was charged in three counts of being an accessory after the fact to murder and to the health and safety code violations.

Horn said the brothers decided to plead guilty “after tremendous agonizing” among themselves and other family members in their hometown of Des Moines, Iowa.

They decided that “it would be best for all concerned to bring the matter to a swift conclusion,” he said.