Anna Nicole prescription was "pharmaceutical suicide"
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A pharmacist asked to provide powerful medications for late Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith described the combination of drugs as a prescription for "pharmaceutical suicide" and refused to fill the order, according to court documents released on Tuesday.
The Los Angeles pharmacist's account of the incident gives a glimpse into how Smith was treated before her death in 2007 at age 39 from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.
Smith's former boyfriend and two doctors have been charged with illegally supplying Smith with controlled substances for years before she died in a Florida hotel in February 2007.
Smith was a Playboy Playmate and Guess jeans model who gained worldwide fame when she married an 89 year-old billionaire oil tycoon when she was 26.
Previously-sealed search warrants and supporting documents describe a 2006 request from Smith's psychiatrist to a pharmacist for 300 tablets of methadone, two types of sedatives, a muscle relaxer and other drugs, including a painkiller nicknamed "hospital heroin."
The pharmacist called Smith's doctor and said he would not fill the prescription, calling it "pharmaceutical suicide," the court documents state.
The documents also detail warnings given to Smith's team of doctors by other pharmacists.
The papers also suggest that the two doctors charged in the case, psychiatrist Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, and Dr.Sandeep Kapoor, crossed professional boundaries by having sexual contact with Smith, who was a top Playboy model in the 1990s.
They cite photos showing Smith and Eroshevich naked and embracing in a bathtub, and mention a video aired on celebrity news show "Inside Edition" showing Smith and a shirtless Kapoor "kissing and nuzzling."
California Attorney General Jerry Brown, who oversaw the investigation, said on Tuesday, "As you have seen in these reports, now made public, there was scandalous activity" before Smith's death.
"Not only prescription drugs, but inappropriate relationships between the doctors, the lawyers and Anna Nicole Smith," Brown told reporters.
Smith's longtime boyfriend Howard K. Stern, and Eroshevich and Kapoor have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and illegally supplying the model with drugs. They face up to five years in prison if convicted. Another court hearing is scheduled for October 5 in Los Angeles.
Smith died shortly after the death of her 20 year-old son, who also suffered an overdose of prescription drugs and methadone.
(Additional reporting by Gina Keating: Editing by Jill Serjeant)
