Smith’s boyfriend-attorney, doctors charged
posted at 11:29 am on March 13, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
I guess the only question here is what took so long:
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 2007 fatal overdose.
Stern and doctors Sandeep Kapoor and Khristine Eroshevich were each charged with three felony counts of conspiracy and several other charges of fraudulent prescriptions. Prosecutors said the doctors gave the drugs — including opiates and benzodiazepines — to Stern, who then gave them to Smith.
The prescriptions were issued between June 2004 and January 2007, just two weeks before Smith’s death.
”These individuals repeatedly and excessively furnished thousands of prescription pills to Anna Nicole Smith, often for no legitimate medical purpose,” California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown said in a statement.
The AP reported that two of the three had been arrested, but that California officials wouldn’t identify them. I’d guess that the attorney was the one they didn’t arrest. Just call it a hunch.
Think of this as history repeating itself. It’s like Elvis Presley, only without the talent. Anna Nicole Smith turned her dubious charms into an industry — a lame Grade-Z industry, but an industry nonetheless — and the leeches attached themselves and hung on tight. While Smith passed out in hotel lobbies, people like Stern, Kapoor, and Eroshevich made sure that they kept their eyes on their own interests. Eventually, just like most parasites, they killed the host. And on that score, Smith herself qualified, too.
So what’s the moral of the story here? I’m not sure. Vapid celebrity cults always end badly? People with no talent and no brains will wind up getting victimized? I admit these are hardly breakthrough headlines, but it seems to me we should keep making the point, and keep making the costs for the parasites as high as possible.
Update: I was wrong about the arrests. Stern surrendered to authorities; one of the doctors still has not. An attorney friend wonders why I took a shot at lawyers, but I really was making more of a joke about the prosecutors, whom I thought might be intimidated in pressing for an arrest.
Blowback
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Ed, clever way to make this thread equate this to Obama.
WashJeff on March 13, 2009 at 11:32 AM
WHO CARES !!! STUPID PEOPLE AND DRUGS !!!
steviedfromnc on March 13, 2009 at 11:32 AM
Really Ed? Are you this stretched for material today?
Kelligan on March 13, 2009 at 11:33 AM
Yeah, even I have to question the true relevancy of this, Obama parable or not.
MadisonConservative on March 13, 2009 at 11:35 AM
Sumpin about 11 different kinds of pills!
It was murder,period!
canopfor on March 13, 2009 at 11:35 AM
-Ed
Especially the ‘so called’ DOCTORS!!!!!!!!!!!!
bridgetown on March 13, 2009 at 11:36 AM
Ed, you must feel like you are writing the same story over and over again about the Obama administration. For a change, take one of your numerous Obama admin is incompetent or corrupt stories and turn it into a Mad Lib that we can fill out.
WashJeff on March 13, 2009 at 11:37 AM
Wow, quite a reach for a distraction story, MSM.
Vashta.Nerada on March 13, 2009 at 11:37 AM
Is this the Obama connection?
sherry on March 13, 2009 at 11:38 AM
When ordinary Muslims consider America an evil country, this is the kind of thing they’re talking about, and in their minds, when they contrast theocracy against this, theocracy wins.
Not saying they’re right, I’m saying human liberty has a dark side that undermines not only our strength, but our moral authority in the world.
All this is to say that America was invented on the premise that her citizens would embrace Judeo-Christian morality. Without that foundation, America is guaranteed to fail.
jeff_from_mpls on March 13, 2009 at 11:39 AM
Me thinks,i’ve seen this before,
oh ya,now I remember,Hopey is
trying to financialy snuff out
America!!
canopfor on March 13, 2009 at 11:39 AM
canopfor on March 13, 2009 at 11:35
She led a train wreck of a life. Her family is trailer park. She was a stripper when she seduced that rich old man for his money. Her teenage son died of an overdose. It is a very sad parable about the consequences of a greed-driven life.
kingsjester on March 13, 2009 at 11:41 AM
This is all so sad. And the sadder part is that Anna Nicole is probably loving every minute of this travesty wherever she’s gazing at us from.
That poor child is going to be a mess.
Whoever cares about her should get the kid out in the stix & anonymously raise her.
Let her grow up ‘normal’.
Badger40 on March 13, 2009 at 11:43 AM
So the connection is that both Smith and Ogabe partook of illegal drugs?
Well, that’s about it for me and this thread.
Bishop on March 13, 2009 at 11:43 AM
Oh, I think there are plenty of ways to interpret this post. The development on this just struck me, and enough to make me want to write about it. I’d acknowledge the editorial criticism of its news value, which I considered when I wrote it.
I’ll leave it to the wisdom of the Hot Air community to draw lessons from it.
Ed Morrissey on March 13, 2009 at 11:44 AM
Moral of the story:
Where there are lambs, there will be wolves.
btw the wolves dress in sheep’s clothing – in other words, as your friends.
Let the young, the beautiful, the famous and the affluent beware.
rishika on March 13, 2009 at 11:45 AM
So,technically,going way out on this one,
Hopey was taking off the oxygen mask(banks lending ability)
and now Hopey has put the mask on,taking credit for saving
(almost killing the patient)!!(Sarc).
canopfor on March 13, 2009 at 11:46 AM
Let’s get them punished and jailed and let other doctors and pharmacists KNOW what will happen to them.
Isn’t Jerry Brown the greatest? Way to prioritize JERRY
originalpechanga on March 13, 2009 at 11:46 AM
That doctor is in SanDEEP KaPOOr POO.
jgapinoy on March 13, 2009 at 11:52 AM
But she was so lovely to look at.
rightside on March 13, 2009 at 11:52 AM
’cause they are generally bottom feeding blood suckers who can’t be trusted? Edwards, Cochran, Stern, etc, etc, etc, etc…..
Guardian on March 13, 2009 at 11:56 AM
Damn, not another slow news day?
RMCS_USN on March 13, 2009 at 12:00 PM
So what.
Static on March 13, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Indeed.
Kelligan on March 13, 2009 at 12:02 PM
She had all these cysts in her thigh and butt muscles from repeated injections of drugs. She had necrotic tissue and a fairly large and deep abscess in her buttocks — also caused by injections. I would think the abcess would cause her a great deal of discomfort, but she was probably too high to notice.
http://www.pathguy.com/anna.autopsy.pdf
Blake on March 13, 2009 at 12:17 PM
Well, when you looked at her when she didn’t have all that makeup on, yes, she was quite a beautiful woman. I don’t know who convinced her that taking your makeup tips from the local clown college was a good idea, but when she had all that makeup on it just made her look terrible.
ScoopPC11 on March 13, 2009 at 12:17 PM
I’m having trouble coming up with a snarky response to that little bit o’ wishful thinking, but I will say that I look forward to wall-to-wall coverage of this on FoxNews for the next two weeks.
Akzed on March 13, 2009 at 12:19 PM
OT, but I have a favor to ask of the readers here.
If you appreciate art, could you please click this link and vote 10 stars for this art? Afterward, you can browse more art from other new and breaking artists via the Saatchi Gallery.
My husband worked so hard on this piece, which is fiberglass and urethane interlocking modules, 30 pieces in all. The process is labor-intensive and takes a lot of time; it’s rather like making a surfboard. The prize is a show with a prestigious gallery, and he is at a disadvantage, since whole art schools are spamming the vote.
Thank you, if you took the time to vote here.
chunderroad on March 13, 2009 at 12:20 PM
The link isn’t working. I assume it was to your husband’s entry? I get a 404 error and the Saatchi page, but I don’t have any idea who to vote for, since there is no listing for a Mr. Chunderroad.
Blake on March 13, 2009 at 12:30 PM
Please don’t post this crap.
Of course it should read… Gold Digging Whore’s Pimp and Doctors Arrested..
Lost patience with this crap when Fox did a Fox News Alert with the siren announding…drum roll… that her body had been put on the plane.
roux on March 13, 2009 at 12:32 PM
Howard K. Stern wasn’t her boyfriend. He was her lawyer. Didn’t you watch the reality series, Ed?
Percy_Peabody on March 13, 2009 at 12:38 PM
What took so long? They were holding off so they could bail out The One when he would most need the distraction.
WOW! ANNA NICOLE SMITH!!!!
/yuck
funky chicken on March 13, 2009 at 12:41 PM
This should provide enough material to keep Greta busy for another year.
repvoter on March 13, 2009 at 12:51 PM
I’m glad Ed wrote about it. It re-emphasizes the point that there is nothing glamorous about addiction. Every scum bucket comes crawling out of the wood work to use you and your body becomes abscessed and scared.
Blake on March 13, 2009 at 12:52 PM
Whether you agree or not, the court found that the geezer really loved her and wanted to provide for her and that she treated him very well. So, I don’t see where anyone was taken advantage of.
I always hear people argue that a woman was only interested in the man’s money while ignoring the flip side of the argument that the man was only interested in the woman’s looks.
Blake on March 13, 2009 at 12:57 PM
Interesting take. I see this more as a story of karmic justice. Anna Nicole/Vicky took advantage of an old, feeble man (Marshall) because she wanted his money. Then Anna Nicole/Vicky herself was taken advantage of by people who wanted her money.
What goes around comes around — or we reap what we sow (for those who prefer the Biblical version).
AZCoyote on March 13, 2009 at 12:57 PM
So where’s Bobby Trendy in all of this?
patriette on March 13, 2009 at 1:05 PM
I didn’t follow ANS’s life very closely — I just watched a few episodes of the reality show. But from what little I saw, she seemed like she was almost constantly under the influence of some kind of substance, and wasn’t very bright. It’s also clear that she legitimately loved her son (the one who died).
It’s a terrible shame that nobody stepped in and put a stop to the abuse of this poor woman before she died. For what it’s worth, I’m glad someone was able to step in and pull Britney Spears back from the cliff before something like this happened to her.
Serious mental illness and substance abuse problems are no laughing matter, even when they happen to celebrities.
Outlander on March 13, 2009 at 1:26 PM
Her butt — not so much.
Blake on March 13, 2009 at 1:50 PM
Get right with God now because you never know when you will be knocking at death’s door. And if you’re one of those who thinks he’s got things all figured out you’d better be sure because you’re betting your life on it.
apacalyps on March 13, 2009 at 2:44 PM
It’s predictable only for those who actually think CA even has any business in this fiasco.
He’s been examined from one end to the other. Did he enable?
Yep.
So do millions of families with this problem.
Want to nail him?
Why?
It’s a joke, and as usual, my state is at the forefront.
AnninCA on March 13, 2009 at 3:07 PM
Ed, prosecutors are lawyers too, so, you were indeed making a joke about lawyers — just not all lawyers.
unclesmrgol on March 13, 2009 at 3:07 PM
Depends on where the medical license was issued, and where the prescriptions were written.
There will always be a minority of doctors who are perfectly willing to trade ethics for cash. If California believes these guys are among them and performed these acts in California, then courts in California are the proper venues for any charges or lawsuits.
unclesmrgol on March 13, 2009 at 3:12 PM
Greta will have a field day on this subject. I thought we were done with this case. Well, I hope justice is served.
jencab on March 13, 2009 at 3:47 PM
And don’t forget the fact that she may have still received a large chunk of the estate of her dead husband. That was probably more of an incentive to these dirtbags and to her bisexual baby daddy. Add in consideration of the inheritance from the old guy in texas and suddenly her addiction and demise becomes suspicious.
peacenprosperity on March 13, 2009 at 4:09 PM
Oh and I forgot about him. The other likely heir of her money dies of a drug overdose. If there is justice in the world, by the end of the day the baby is very wealthy and all the dirtbags surrounding her are prison receptacles.
peacenprosperity on March 13, 2009 at 4:12 PM
I’m singing the sevenfold “Amen”.
oldleprechaun on March 13, 2009 at 4:21 PM
Well at least they didn’t try to blame Bush/Cheney for it. Heaven forbid anyone blame the person who actually took all those drugs.
katiejane on March 13, 2009 at 4:25 PM
That might be even have its own question mark. Exactly what makes someone have a drug overdose after the birth of a beloved little sister, from a mom who is very close to him? That doesn’t add up, IMHO.
newton on March 13, 2009 at 5:33 PM
No, no question mark. The son’s death and Anna Nicole’s death was scrupulously reviewed.
There’s no connection.
Other than excessive scrips, there’s no reason for this other than Jerry Brown wants to run for governor again and is grandstanding.
AnninCA on March 13, 2009 at 8:34 PM
I say the whole thing is Obama’s fault. Worked for the lefty commies for eight years…………..
adamsmith on March 14, 2009 at 10:29 AM
I am all for justice
But when i have an army of mexican DRUG lords
all armed to the teeth with more weapons than the us army nation guard..
i think just maybe this prosecutor migth want to consider
Finding the leaders of these drug armies and putting them in jail..
instead of spendiing 5 million over 3 perscriptions that a large breasted dingbat took and died from?
Morons..
jcila on March 14, 2009 at 1:20 PM
I’m suprised that they haven’t tried to blame Bush for this too.
Where was the oversite?…lol.
pageram on March 14, 2009 at 7:17 PM
Just when you thought it was safe to watch the news again, they drag these dregs back out.
thekingtut on March 14, 2009 at 11:46 PM