Doctors Told to Surrender Dead Film Producer’s Records

Two and a half years after the overdose death of Hollywood producer Don Simpson, two Westside doctors who treated the filmmaker have been ordered to surrender his medical records to authorities.

The order, issued by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David A. Horowitz this week, comes after the California Medical Board sought unsuccessfully for a year to force psychiatrists Dr. Nomi J. Fredrick and Dr. Robert H. Gerner to turn over Simpson’s medical records.

The state attorney general’s office filed papers Thursday to carry out the court order to compel Fredrick and Gerner to produce medical records for Simpson within 15 days to the board, sources said. Information gathered from the records--which, among other things, must designate the kinds, amounts and frequencies of dangerous drugs prescribed to Simpson and others--will be evaluated by medical board experts in the months ahead, sources said.

Fredrick’s attorney, David Rosner, said the doctor had not produced the subpoenaed records because she never received permission from Simpson’s estate or other patients to do so. Rosner said Fredrick would now follow the court’s orders.

Gerner did not return calls seeking comment.

According to court records, the board wants to review the records of Simpson and other patients to determine whether Fredrick and Gerner “can continue to practice medicine safely and whether the public is endangered by their continued practice.”

If the doctors are determined to have violated the medical standards of the community, the board could refer the case to the attorney general’s office and request approval to revoke their licenses. Board investigations do not typically result in criminal prosecutions.

Simpson--whose partnership with producer Jerry Bruckheimer yielded such blockbusters as “Top Gun,” “Beverly Hills Cop” and “The Rock”--died Jan. 19, 1996, from an overdose of 21 drugs.

Many of the drugs confiscated by authorities from Simpson’s Bel-Air estate after his death were prescribed during the summer of 1995 when the producer hired Dr. Stephen Ammerman--along with Fredrick--to conduct an unlicensed chemical detoxification program at the producer’s home to help kick a drug addiction, court records indicate.

That program ended Aug. 15, 1995, when Ammerman was found dead of a drug overdose on Simpson’s estate. According to court records, both Simpson and Ammerman were under the care of Fredrick and Gerner and being treated for chemical dependency and drug addiction at the time.

Simpson’s death triggered a federal criminal probe of local doctors and pharmacies that culminated in a massive raid two years ago on the West Los Angeles offices of Fredrick and Gerner.

No action has been taken against either doctor--or against any other physician or pharmacy providing medications to the producer before his death.

Thursday’s order also requires Fredrick to turn over records for five other patients, most of whom were also allegedly prescribed excessive amounts of dangerous drugs, court records said. The ruling follows an unrelated complaint filed in April by the board against Fredrick in which she was accused of “gross negligence” in the treatment of a female patient five years ago.

This is also the second run-in with the medical board for Gerner, a renowned expert in the field of psychopharmacology. Gerner’s license was suspended for two months in 1994 and he was placed on seven years professional probation after he was accused of overprescribing drugs to a former patient and having sexual relations with her over a two-year period, according to medical board records.