ANS’ The Beginning of the End: Is There A Doctor in the House?

Due to California legislated budget cuts, a mandatory state furlough every third Wednesday of the month precluded further testimony yesterday, but here are the festivities from Tuesday and Thursday.

TUESDAY: Addiction specialist Dr. Nathalie Maulin continued her testimony Tuesday, stating ANS displayed all the classic symptomology of an addict stemming from drug withdrawals while pregnant with Danielynn.  Despite ANS’ allegiance to “do anything” for her unborn daughter, she haughtily discontinued treatment within a week, firing off choice lines such as “give me my medications and leave me alone.”  Her vacillating between angst and stoic silence (or, as Maullin stated, “I think she wanted to tune out”) was partly fueled by HKS’ stance that no rehabilitation efforts were necessary.  Maulin stated the buzz word “addict” never came up in conversations between her, Kapoor or HKS, but did recall a conversation she had with Kapoor: she asked Kapoor if he thought ANS was “addicted” and his response was a chuckle combined with his admission that indeed she had issues with alcohol.

Next, a series of pharmacists took the stand, beginning with Steve Mazlin.  Shortly after Danielynn’s birth, Mazlin was approached by Eroshevich to fill a prescription for chloral hydrate (a powerful sleep aid), as well as provide a recommendation for a fast-acting anti-anxiety medication.  Mazlin dispensed a dire warning about the effects of chloral hydrate, a respiratory depressant:  Unless you want your picture on the cover of the National Enquirer, I wouldn’t give her chloral hydrate.  Eroshevich decided to purchase it anyway, as well as Lorazepam/Xanax for anxiety.  ANS’ 2007 autopsy results showed – guess what – chloral hydrate was a key ingredient in the capsule cocktail swimming in her system.

A second pharmacist, Romeo V. Par, testified that Eroshevich visited him in October 2006, to purchase the drugs Xanax, Valium and Klonopin for a patient named “Charlene Underwood.”  Surprise, surprise, both Valium and Klonopin also showed up in ANS’ autopsy report.  Underwood was the name of a former colleague of Eroshevich, and – according to the prosecution – one of the names used as a pseudonym to secretly procure drugs for ANS.  Judge Perry allowed the “real” Underwood very little time on the stand, expressing his desire the prosecution move the case along.  Lady Justice is similarly antsy….

THURSDAY: A third pharmacist, Ira Freeman of Valley Village, testified he flatly refused to fill 6 scripts Kapoor requested on Eroshevich’s behalf on September 15, 2006.  “I called Dr. Kapoor,” Freeman said. “I said, ‘This is crazy. This is pharmaceutical suicide. The dosages are way out of whack.’ I said I wouldn’t fill it, and no pharmacy in California would. The more I thought about it, the more concern I had that if she got hold of those medications, it could have fatal consequences.”  Under questioning by the defense, Freeman said over the previous five years he had filled prescriptions for ANS (using the name “Michelle Case” to protect her privacy), he never saw any “red flags” that the requested drugs and dosages were unreasonable. However, this particular request so concerned Freeman that he personally arranged for Eroshevich (who was in the Bahamas with ANS at the time) to speak with noted toxicologist Greg Thompson by phone. Thompson was so disconcerted Eroshevich wanted to prescribe – as an example – 8 times the recommended dosage of the hypnotic drug Dalmane, that he warned her to “forget the paparazzi and get [ANS] to a hospital.”  He later confided to Freeman that Eroshevich was “way out of her league” because of her unfamiliarity with the medications she was ordering.  Freeman also stated Kapoor kept prescribing drugs to ANS after the September fiasco, but in smaller doses.  Freeman said the stress of the publicity after Smith’s death affected his own health, especially after the celebrity Web site TMZ.com published a copy of the faxed list of medications requested on that fateful day.

In earlier testimony, ANS’ part-time bodyguard Maurice Brighthaupt stated “she just didn’t want to deal with life after the death of her son” and he described ANS as “manipulative” when she wanted something. This manipulation was present in her dealings with Eroshevich, and he described their relationship as being more mother-daughter than doctor-patient.  Eroshevich – in her trips to the Bahamas to treat ANS – would sometimes substitute placebos for the many pills ANS regularly took for her complaints of pain and depression.  “She was very concerned that we needed to wean her off the medications,” Brighthaupt said.

Yes, we’ve heard Eroshevich so often say the drugs she prescribed were part of a well-meaning attempt to care for a difficult patient grappling with grief, postpartum depression and an oppressive media spotlight.  But, we can’t help but scratch our heads with the ethical dilemma presented when a big star requires such a large amount of drugs.  Hopefully, the next few weeks of testimony will unravel more of the distressing details.  Get your gavels ready.  I know I have mine.

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