Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Anna Nicole Smith's Shrink Ignored Drug Expert's Warning

Fox411 has more news on Psychiatrist Khristine Eroshevich. Even though she is trying to ride this horse for all it is worth, it is quickly becoming evident that Eroshevich could face some liability for her actions, and apparent lack of professional ethics. Here is the report:

Dr. Khristine Eroshevich is digging a deeper hole for herself on TV.

Last night on CBS Paramount TV's syndicated show "The Insider," Eroshevich turned up to defend herself against our revelation from last Friday that she had been giving Anna Nicole Smith a potentially lethal cocktail of heavy drugs including methadone, Soma, Prexige, Ativan and Dilaudid.

But Eroshevich failed to say that it was she who had written and sent the fax from the Bahamas asking for all the drugs. She and "The Insider" simply said who had received it: Anna Nicole's regular doctor, Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, of Los Angeles.

And then, "The Insider" neglected another important fact: Dr. Kapoor refused to fill the order.

In fact, this column has learned even more: Eroshevich was put in touch by phone with an addiction and pharmacology expert at a prestigious local university. Smith's local pharmacist, who also refused to fill the prescriptions, put them in touch. The expert told Eroshevich that the medicines and doses she was asking for were inappropriate and dangerous.

"He told her she was in way over her head and that Anna Nicole should be hospitalized," a source who knew about the conversation told me last night.

Eroshevich was referred to treatment centers where Smith's problems — chronic pain and grief over her son's death — could be addressed professionally.

But Eroshevich would have none of it. Even though the expert warned her that the drugs she was ordering were "horrible combinations" and that one dose was enough to kill someone, Eroshevich ignored him.

Luckily, sources say, Kapoor was reassured when he first heard from Eroshevich, Smith and Howard K. Stern, that she was not breastfeeding her newborn baby girl.

Nevertheless, Kapoor was apparently horrified when Eroshevich told him, "I need something to knock her out." And the notion that the baby might be a priority didn't seem to matter.

"She told Kapoor that she hadn't bonded with the baby, and that she had people there to look after her," a source said.

All of this happened on or around Sept. 15, 2006, approximately five months before Smith died. Because "The Insider" and "Entertainment Tonight" have paid Eroshevich for interviews, they are not asking her anything definitive or questioning what went on in the Bahamas at that time or from then on.

Smith became Kapoor's patient in 2004 after he inherited the practice of a physician who retired. He had continued the treatment prescribed by the prior doctor: a low dose of methadone for chronic pain.

"Hundreds of thousands of pregnant women are on methadone. It doesn't affect the placenta," a source said.

Many respected medical journals describe the safety of taking methadone during pregnancy. But the other drugs Eroshevich ordered surprised Kapoor, friends say, especially since he had never heard her name until that day in September.

"Stern told him Eroshevich was a longtime friend," a source said. "He said that they hadn't given Anna anything for pain after her C-section. And Eroshevich said she would be with Anna Nicole 24/7 and that she would administer the drugs herself."

Kapoor responded that he would not send them, and that he was particularly concerned about the dose of Dalmane, which was 12 times the limit.

"Eroshevich told him Anna Nicole was really tolerant of Dalmane," a source said.

But after the phone call and fax from Eroshevich, he heard from Smith only one or two more times. The last time was in November. Smith died three months later.

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