Um, how is it that Howard K Stern is NOT implicated in the death of Anna Nicole when the RX’s were written out to him not Anna. Furthermore, the guy is a star struck gold digger who no doubt wanted her sedated in hopes that eventually he would hit the $$ jackpot if some “unfortunate accident” were to happen to her…..That guy was so creepy and it seemed so obvious that he was the one who gave Anna’s son the drugs that killed him. Once her son was out of the picture perhaps any $$ that would have gone to him, would have to go to her next of kin, which would have been HKS if the law acknowledged the fake wedding he had video tapped on a boat in the Bahamas. That was weird. Jumping off a boat when he clearly knew she was out of it on medication. Hmmm, the thought comes to mind, if she didn’t “accidently” drown then, he would eventually figure out a way. Seems too Creepy!

Perhaps Dr Manny didnt read the fax. It says medications for someone named Chase. Strange that this is not mentioned in the article.

beside the doctor, howard k. stern is just as guilty as the doctor. he was a socalled friend of anna, or was he just along for the ride, for the easy life. he sould have said no to her, and not let her take so many pills.
i think both the doctor and howard are both guilty of killing her.

I AGREE, THE DOCTOR OR DOCTORS WHO PRESCRIBED ALL OF THESE MEDICATIONS WHICH OBVIOUSLY KILLED ANNA NICOLE SMITH SHOULD FACE SOME ACCOUNTABILITY BUT WHAT ABOUT HOWARD K. STERN…IS HE OFF THE HOOK? IF THESE MEDICATIONS WERE IN-FACT ISSUED IN HIS NAME HE HAD TO KNOW ABOUT THEM AND BEING AN EDUCATED INDIVIDUAL (LAWYER) AND LIVING WITH ANNA NICOLE HE MUST HAVE KNOWN WHAT WAS GOING ON. HE HAD AS MUCH TO DO WITH ANNA NICOLE SMITHS DEATH THEN ANYONE, MAYBE MORE. HE WAS HER FRIEND & CONFIDANT AND HE FAILED HER BIG TIME. IF THE DOCTOR(S) ARE GOING TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE THEN HOWARD K. STERN SHOULD ALSO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR ALLOWING THIS TO HAPPEN.

You stated, “These drugs are highly addictive and mixing them is basically the equivalent of a loaded gun in the hands of a child.” She was not a child; she was a grown adult. She decided that it was easier to let others direct her and completely shirked the responsibility of taking care of herself. When did our society enter the blame game? Better yet, when will it cease?

Justice for Anna Nicole?

Anna Nicole Smith was a willing, indeed eager, participant in the activities alleged. She was an adult, in charge of her own life, and she died as she lived. Why try to repaint her as a helpless victim?

A better idea would be to end the War On Drugs entirely. Abolishing the prescription requirement would dramatically reduce the cost of medication. Even the innocuous expansion chamber — a bit of clear plastic tubing with a mouthpiece, an inner baffle, and a little rubber valve — that I use with my child’s asthma inhaler requires a prescription!

It is past time that we once again treated adults as adults and allowed them to accept the consequences of their actions, for better or worse. Is it any coincedence that we’ve become less prosperous as we’ve become less free?

Out of curiosity, I watched the Anna Nicole Smith show a few times a couple of years ago. I was pretty appalled to watch the people around her, especially her lawyer, Howard Stern. I couldn’t believe that as a lawyer he would allow himself to be in a position that could clearly get him indicted of being a conspirator. I believed then and now that he knew about the drug use and facilitated it to benefit himself. I hope these investigators will find something on him because, I think, all roads will lead to him. As a woman, I was pretty outraged over the way Anna Nicole was “displayed” and being used by her handlers. She should have had someone to be there to guide her through her addiction instead of leaching off her.

I hope they look into the drugs in Anna Nicole’s son’s body at the time of his death. I seem to recall an autopsy was done, and drugs were implicated. But to whom were they prescribed?

Young, healthy people do not just die! Who gave him the drugs, and why?

Hey Manny,

Nothing like being judge and jury. Anna Nicole and her friends actively killed herself and now someone else gets blamed.

The Hippocratic Oath (to do no harm) is no longer given to all doctors – which is good considering the harmful side effects of most pharmaceuticals, including those that are loaded with toxic levels of fluoride.

I agree with many of the others–i.e., why isn’t Howard K. Stern and his actions officially implicated in Smith’s inappropriate treatment and eventual death? If the scripts weren’t written precisely for Smith, why should the doctor(s) be held culpable in her case? Stern can be seen exploiting Smith’s overly medicated condition in video recordings taken with Smith. As I recall, he says on film, while Smith flops about in a complete stupor, something like, “This is going to make great footage.” And then he jokes with her about taking hallucinogenic mushrooms. Who’s the real danger and the real low-life here? The answer is clear to me. And who was this Chase person?

Shame on you Dr. Manny. Please don’t pander so much, it’s too painful. i’m sure everyone was involved, each for their own motives. Are you saying that Anna was a victim? If so, then all addicts are victims. Yeah the doctors are reprehensible, but so are the attorney, friends, and of course Anna Nicole herself. LEt’s not forget the role that sex probably played. Most of all, I agree, the addict herself is to blame.

This is WAY overdue. Physicians who feed narcotics and other controlled substances to patients create a problem for the patient, their families, their co-workers, their neighborhoods, towns and the nation as a whole. It also creates substantial problems for other physicians who are trying to do the right thing. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of a crackdown on prescription narcotics. MDs should not be acting as corner pushers. It is a lucrative business however, and there is scarcely an easier way for physicians to make money.

All that said, personal responsibility was not mentioned once by Attorney General Jerry Brown. Disturbing as always.

FYI all, Howard K Stern WAS charged as well.

Duh…the woman died in Florida and was living in the Bahamas. How does Califonia think it is going to charge Stern with being a co-conspirator? Also, the woman was an adult. The man lived with her. She was able to get her hands on the drugs. Who is to say that Stern didn’t take some of them himself. I think this case has a lot of problems as pertains to Stern. Stern and Anna are not and were not Californis residents. They both had claimed residency in the Bahamas. This is ridiculous. The authorities definitely can charge the doctors….but not Stern. Someone has an ax to grind and I think from a legal perspective..it is going to go really dull.. really fast.

I wonder what really happened to her son???????????

I wonder about her son, what really happened

How are the authorities in California going to charge Stern? The woman died in Florida and was a resident of the Bahamas. To be prosecuted for a crime it has to happen in the charging state. The doctors can be charged because they were licensed in Californis but Stern is a private citizen. That wacked out addict took those drugs on her own. No one shoved them down her throat. And who is to say that Stern didn’t take some of his drugs himself? The charges against Stern are ridiculous and not able to be ultimately prosecuted.

Dr. Manny: as a practicing physician, I have reviewed the fax that was generated between the psychiatrists. “dalmane 30mg 2 4x/day; injectable dilaudid (need 4 bottles); ativan, soma four tablets 3 x/day etc. the dose of dalmane alone would havae alerted anyone that this woman was a hard core addict. Now the question comes: what was the payoff? Sex? Future millions? the addictive behavior here seems to be spread quite evenly over all involved. As usual, sick people have sick relationships.And there appears to be no boundaries between lawyer and client, and quite possibly none between physician and patient.

I have been on pain meds for over 8 yrs now. When I read the list of the pills given to her I was stunned. I do have to say though that Anna should have taken some type of care about the meds she was taking. I KNOW that taking pain meds, I have to be careful of what else I take, even herbal supplements can cause death. It is called personal responsibility.
I feel very badly for her, from everything I read she was just a mess, it’s very sad.

Her son. He overdosed and died in the Bahamas. The Bahamas said it was an accidental overdose. Also, any prosecution will have to take place in the Bahamas…not in California. This crap is legally insane and it is not going to happen to Stern. How legally crazy!

Perhaps it is time to relook at the death of Anna’s Son. Howard was in the room when the kid died of drug overdose. Did Howard “KILL” the kid too? It does not make any difference where he died, he was an American citizen and the US Government needs to get involved and reopen this saga!

Clearly, this large bunch of missing pills says to me that Anna wasn’t the only one using them. Should the court choose to review the videos from Anna’s reality show, Howard Stern’s roles in the pandemonium are very clear. Anna needed help and she got Howard.

Manny
Are you kidding? How old was Nicole? Old enough to know better than to take all the pills. How can the Doc’s be responsible? It sounds like they were not even prescribed for her

Look at all the articles people. Howard K. Stern was charged also. Here’s a quote from Fox.com article: “Anna Nicole Smith’s boyfriend Howard K. Stern and two doctors were charged Thursday with giving thousands of prescription drugs to the former Playboy Playmate in the years leading up to her fatal drug overdose in 2007.”

While I agree with the overall tone of Dr. Manny’s article, as a responsible citizen and gun owner I am incensed by this statement: “These drugs are highly addictive and mixing them is basically the equivalent of a loaded gun in the hands of a child.”

In the hands of which child?! I would certainly trust my 13 year old son, a child, with a gun more than I would trust Dr. Manny. And I would trust my 4 year old niece with a loaded gun more than I would trust most people. Why? Because they are educated about them! Both of them, to their understanding, knows what it is and what to do with it.

I feel that the flippant use of the phrase “a loaded gun in the hands of a child”, reduces the credibility of the overall article and the author. While the general public understands what is meant, it only perpetuates the stereotype that one must fear firearms.

here we go again lets blame the docotrs. How about we take responsibilty for our actions. Howard? the pills where in your name how did Anna take them. When one drug did not take away your pain then why didn’t YOU throw it out? Why leave it where someone could obtain it. Maybe the docotrs were given miss information, maybe the pharmacists did not call one doctor to tell him/her that another doctor prescribed a different medication that did not interact well witht he one he prescribed. Maybe Howard or Anna were not truthful with their docotrs. STOP blaming them STOP blaming doctors for trying to help fix the damages we inflict o ourselves>
anoria

here we go again lets blame the doctors. How about we take responsibilty for our actions. Howard? the pills where in your name how did Anna take them. When one drug did not take away your pain then why didn’t YOU throw it out? Why leave it where someone could obtain it. Maybe the docotrs were given miss information, maybe the pharmacists did not call one doctor to tell him/her that another doctor prescribed a different medication that did not interact well witht he one he prescribed. Maybe Howard or Anna were not truthful with their docotrs. STOP blaming them STOP blaming doctors for trying to help fix the damages we inflict o ourselves>
anoria

The arrest warrant lists out the actions for each count. It appears that not only did Dr. Eroshevich used faked name Michelle Chase to write prescriptions in regarding to Anna Nichole, but also her husband’s own name as well as his birthday for Charlene Underwood, another fake name. They also lived next to each other.

Is there no level that Stern was willing to stoop to???

Finally, Anna can rest in peace. I hope they throw the books at him. Actually since the prescriptions was wrote in CA, CA law will apply and prosecution will take place in CA.

It is likely that she was their meal ticket and if she was put in a hospital setting it would place her outside their control. I’d also look at these “gentleman” for ties into her son’s death and their role. Anna may have been the second victim of their greed. She was probbably already mentally stressed from his death, and a caring doctor would not have allowed things to get so out of control. It appears to me on the otuside that they were just sinking their claws deeper. You can bet that if an average person did this with all those meds they’d be up for drug trafficking charges and spending a lot of years behind bars.

Why have these so-called Dr.s and Crook lawyer Stern not been charged with murder?

Fox, I am surprised they were able to take action. I was informed that you only had a year to bring charges for Medical Malpractise.At the time of Anna’s son’s death and her own, I myself was given an almost fatal dose of methadon for pain in my wrist from a recent surgery.The day after I had the perscription filled ,I called the doctor and explained that the doseage was too strong,he told me that my body had to acclumate itself to the medication and to continue as perscribed wich meant DOUBLEING them the following day,..regretably I did.Within 6 hours I had aspertated in my sleep and fell into a stage 6 coma.When I came to 3 weeks later , with a trech unable to use my right leg & in constant pain,I was told I’d never be able to do anything!3 weeks later I was relesed. Icould walk some,but still was in pain and most likely,will be for the rest of my life. Now I am unable to work or play with my children like I use to. Not to mention the surgeries and strong meds I now have to indure. I did have an attorney contact me, but he was incompetant!6 months working on my case,he hadn’t done anything and after I fired him I was told there wasn’t enogh time left.It has now been 2 yrs, and I have recently been told by my new DR. that though it was the doctor’s fault for the coma, it was the Hospitials fault for my leg.They had left a catheder in my thigh too long wich infected me with E-Coli.Even though this is new information,they stiil say that it’s been over and year so it’s too late

Dr. Manny,

Your question regarding how all the pills were prescribed, is easily answered. Celebrities live by a different set of rules than the rest of us. Many doctors create their livelihood catering to celebrities. If they don’t cater, they don’t work. I’m sure there is plenty of “back door” money that these doctors rely on.

I suspect the real culprit in this terrible saga is Howard Stern. He promissed Smith everything and gave her nothing. She was in poverty and he saw a fortune and surrounded her with drugs knowing what the outcome might be. He was a lawyer and left no prints, just alibis. Her death produced a surprise father. The doctors were just being used.

And i also ask…how is Stern not implicated ? No one can change my mind that this man had to do with Daniel and Nicole’s death. Maybe big bucks for him ??? He claimed to be the father of the baby…so without a brother and no Nicole and no one (he thought) to prove to be the baby’s father…everything left is for him.

I understand that it ’s tragic to her family, but the average Joe wouldn’t recieve this “Justice”! I myself was almost killed by a doctor and was told if I couldn’t bring the case to court within a year then I was just out of luck.Besides Doctors misdiagnosing patiants that have been overmedicated by other doctors ( cirrcling the wagons,protecting their own) most attorneys wont even concider taking the case because they are so hard to win.In most cases ,less than 20%. So, just because she was famous for marring some old guy,that makes her life more inportant than mine? I’m sure my family and 3 children would dissagree. My whole life was turned upside down by the doctor and the hospitial, wich just happened to be the same place this doctor worked at part time,that thought they were gods….but prooved otherwise

Docs don’t rely on “backdoor money”, I can assure you. However, it is easy money. Just give them their scrips and they leave. Their happy and you’ve finished a pt visit in under 5 minutes.
Physicians are responsible for their own actions, same as anyone, and they are responsible for inappropriately prescribing narcotics.

I have seen this escalate substantially over the past 10 years, along with the abuse of disability. It is way past time both of these issues were dealt with severely.

Shedding Some Light

Investigations requiring very specialized information and proof, along with establishing paper trails and evidence chains, will often take longer than the public is aware of. Dr. Manny raises a good question as to why 2 years. It is not because the investigators did not suspect or know, it is because once they arrest the clock starts for due process. Though I do not know for sure my guess is that thee investigators were trying to do as much as possible before starting the due process clock.

Each case is different — some, such as a random killing or one where there is malice requires a more speedy resolution. This case does not appear to be a contrived killing and on the surface did not pose a threat to the safety of others. Hence the prolonged time to conduct a good investigation on the front side and not play catch up on the backside.

Just my opinion — I do not know for sure.

It is all so sad. The whole situation…she clearly had issues long before her son died! She was trying not to feel even then…it is no wonder it came to this…the loss of a child has to be the most horrific nightmare one an go through! I feel so srry for her that instead of surrounding herself with people who could have helped her she essentially surrounded herself with a leach as her protector! And I agree he is just plain creepy!

I truly do not think she even knew what the pain was that she was avoiding…and the death of her son made her pain that she was so obviously trying to escape from even worse. Her pain I believe is what led to her downfall. She unfortunately was on a path that would lead to her death all of her adult life. And Howard K Stern is a name I would love to never hear again! He is a tic who will suck the life out of someone for his own benefit. But we already knew this…the writting was on the wall…a shady shifty individual who repeatedly and eventually tried to win her affection. Her trust was so mislaid. Karma can be ugly.

It is unfortunate because who knows how things may have turned out for her if she only could have saved herself….but in the end I do not believe she wanted to either…I hope her little girl can understand that when she grows up.

To Ms Langford, your comments about the ‘average Joe’ not receiving this ‘kind of justice’ is an apples and oranges argument. The one year issue you are citing is the statute of limitations for bringing a malpractice suit (California has this stipulation, along with some other states, but not all; malpractice law is a state by state issue, not federal). What is happening to these physicians and Mr Stern is criminal charges (not malpractice), and particularly in the case of a potential wrongful death, there generally is no statue of limitations for charges such as these to be brought. Thus…claiming that justice was done here only because of Anna Smith’s celebrity is specious at best. As a physician, I can assure you that any physician in my state that was prescribing this amount of meds to any patient (and especially under false names) would be under investigation from both the Medical Board and the State Pharmacy Board, and in grave danger of losing their license to practice. Maybe the scrutiny isn’t as strong in California, Florida, or the Bahamas, but in my state, I cannot fathom any physician getting away with unscrupulous behavior like these two apparently did.

Since ‘addictive drugs’ became controlled about a century ago, our society with regard to drugs has become not only worse, but exponentially worse; and without evidence of ANY benefit. Drugs never were a huge problem until they were criminalized.
Some people are destined to have problems with drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex; trying to control such problems via the law has proven an abysmal and hugely costly failure. Coercion just does not work; after 100 years, you think we would have learned the lesson. Anna Nicole was a strong woman: she clearly demanded drugs, and would have procured them somehow or other. She died at a time when there is PLENTY of legal control on drugs; in fact, it is arguable that far more people are suffering because they are unable to access these drugs through legitimate sources. Doctors will prescribe far more dangerous and less effective drugs because they feel intimidated by the law. It is a huge myth that it is EASY to get controlled drugs from physicians.
It is my personal belief that Anna Nicole died BECAUSE of the law; in such a way that DOES implicate those around her. I think that, to lessen legal risk to themselves, they switched her to chloral hydrate, a far more dangerous drug than typical drugs of abuse, and that she found this drug so unsatisfactory in controlling withdrawal symptoms that she kept taking more and more until it killed her.
Both she and her son might still be alive if the law had not been a concern to Anna’s minders.

I do not know the RX writing habits of Anna Nicole Smith’s 2 physicians. However, when are the citizens of this country going to take responsibility for their own actions. This is the perfect platform for the DEA and local law enforcement to gain the support of the common citizen who does not fully understand the difference between malpractice and criminal misconduct. These doctors are being prosecuted by the same drug trafficking laws that are used to convict kingpins and Mafiosi who kill informants and law enforcement officers to protect their drug enterprises.

I am the daughter of a small town physician who was recently convicted of illegally prescribing controlled substances to his patients. He was never sanctioned by the DEA, Board of Medicine in Florida, or had his licensed restricted by any of the governing bodies. He had a licensed to prescribe medicine. How does this constitute “illegally prescribing”? This has turned into the WAR ON DOCTORS and the criminalization of medicine. My father had been retired for 2 years at the time of his arrest.

My family hired Roy Black against this indictment and still lost. I agree that there are reckless individuals in every profession, but this has gotten out of control. I guess this is the govt’s new retirement plan for physicians.

It’s about time that someone is held accountable… is it too late for Elvis?

I had a good feeling that Howard K Stern was involved in her death…I was pretty obivous from the lay person to notice that he had the most access to her. I also believe that he too probably had something to do with her son’s death.

I hope for the these doctors involved are held accountable and have there license taken away. I hope thy lokk further into their records and see what other “STARS” they might be dispensing drugs too. I hope they all get what is coming to them.

I was a big fan of ANNA NICOLE SMTH

Why is it that reporting on narcotics is NEVER impartial and seemingly intent on encouraging the public’s misguided hysteria re these drugs? Your story is typical in that there are factual errors: NOT “ALL THOSE DRUGS ARE PAINKILLERS…AND, what has been FALSELY implied all along by EVERYONE covering this story is that ‘the long list of drugs’ testified to re her death is largely composed of ‘bad’ drugs’, which is simply NOT the case.

There is never an opportunity missed to demonize ‘drugs’ or to take an extreme example like Anna Nicole’s and use it to further create distortion and hysteria in the minds of the public. The REAL tragedy with regard to ‘controlled’ drugs is that they notoriously UNDERPRESCRIBED, leaving those in pain to suffer further, or to be prescribed substitutes which are not only NOT effective, but also FAR more dangerous to one’s health and well-being. Both history and science provide evidence that there is no NEED for these drugs to be regulated by anything more than common-sense and HONEST education: MOST people will NOT abuse these drugs to the point of it being problematic, regardless of their legal status; and, MOST of those like Anna-Nicole who DO get into trouble, DO SO UNDER THE CURRENT REGIME OF CONTROL.

Anna-Nicole was a victim of her own self-indulgence, including her choices of ‘friends’. Her son sadly died in the fall-out. Just as with guns, THE LAW impacts only those not needing CONTROL, and has NO EFFECT on PROBLEMATIC PEOPLE!

Manny, Loved your piece on Ana Nicole and the unscrupulous,incompetent and vile so-called physicians who attended her. What a tragic story and yet another unfortunate and alarming example of the ills we are facing today. But on a lighter note,it’s great to see you again and luckily for you ……you haven’t changed much since med. school. BTW, how is Norberto and the rest of our housemates from 1977. Let all the big guys at Fox( O’Reiley,Hannitty,Beck,Cavuto, Greta,Huckabee et.al.) to continue the real fight 4 free speech and remain true to the real role of the news media in our wonderful still-democracy. Saludos and blessings, Raul

I can not beleive it either. Some of the footage showed her clearly over medicated talking to the Physician (use that term loosly) and to Sterns and they did nothing! They should all be prosecuted!