Anna Nicole's Doc Kept Hidden Records
A doctor accused of conspiracy to provide prescription drugs to Anna Nicole Smith kept a hidden stash of her medical records in his home, a medical board investigator testified Wednesday.
Investigators found files containing Smith's medical records hidden in the kitchen and on the floor of a closet in the home of Dr. Sandeep Kapoor after Smith died from an accidental drug overdose, investigator Jon Genens said.
Authorities later seized another set of records at the office of Kapoor's attorney. All the records were either in the name of Smith or Michelle Chase, a pseudonym she used, Genens said.
The two sets of files were for the same dates but included slightly different information, he said.
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Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry said the secreting of information at the house could be interpreted as "guilty knowledge." He did not elaborate during the preliminary hearing.
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Kapoor, Dr. Kristine Eroshevich and Smith's boyfriend-lawyer Howard K. Stern are charged with illegally funneling drugs to Smith. All have pleaded not guilty.
The hearing now in its third week is to determine if there is enough evidence for them to stand trial.
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Genens said medical files found in the closet contained a note saying, "benzo addicted? To avoid." The apparent reference to addiction to sedatives known as benzodiazopines was missing from the second set of files for the same day, he said.
The files in the closet also referred to "opioid dependence on methadone," but the language was omitted from the records at the attorney's office, Genens said.
In an earlier interview, Kapoor had said he did not usually keep medical records at this house, the investigator said.
Deputy District Attorney Renee Rose tried to elicited testimony from Genens that investigators also found a file at Kapoor's home on his treatment of Smith's son, Daniel, who died of a drug overdose in 2006.
But Judge Perry said he would not allow any testimony about Daniel's death.
"I'm trying to keep the content of this report out of the hearing because we are going down what I call the sensationalism road," Perry said. "I don't think we have to get into Daniel Smith."
Defense attorney Steve Sadow accused Rose of raising the matter to get it into the newspapers.
Earlier, expert witness Dr. James Gagne withdrew a piece of his testimony criticizing the dosages of methadone prescribed by Kapoor for Smith.
Gagne said he misunderstood records kept by Kapoor and now believes the methadone prescriptions were not a major issue in the case.
However, Gagne stood by earlier testimony that Kapoor gave Smith excessive dosages of opiates and sedatives.
By Linda Deutsch