Doctors Testify In Anna Nicole Overdose Trial

A doctor who treated the troubled model Anna Nicole Smith testified Wednesday that even though he believed her to be addicted to prescription drugs, he still treated her with those very prescription drugs to alleviate her chronic pain syndrome. "People with substance abuse disorders have the right to pain relief," testified Dr. Victor Kovner, at the trial of Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, who bought his practice, and inherited his clients. Kovner later added that he believed she had a substance disorder so severe, “she could become addicted to Jello.”

Kapoor, Dr. Khristine Eroshovich and Smith’s boyfriend-lawyer Howard K. Stern have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to provide Smith with excessive drugs and to prescribing to an addict. They are not charged with causing her 2007 death from a drug overdose. Though Kapoor was reportedly warned by Kovner to be careful not to get too close to his celebrity clients, Kapoor was photographed with Smith at a Gay Pride Parade in 2005, and prosecutors are claiming their personal relationship clouded his judgment as a doctor. –ANDREW BANKIN