Anna Nicole Smith: Psychiatrist speaks about addiction

Anna Nicole Smith: Psychiatrist speaks about addiction

Dr. Nathalie Maullin, the psychiatrist who treated Anna Nicole Smith for drug dependency during her pregnancy said that she found Smith uncooperative and hostile, while she tried to set up a program to wean her off prescription painkillers.

The doctor was to continue her testimony on Tuesday as prosecutors sought to show that the celebrity model was addicted to painkillers supplied by defendants in a drug case.

Maullin took the stand Monday after a disruption in the testimony of witness Larry Birkhead resulted in the disappearance of a member of the prosecution team, from the courtroom.

In her testimony on Monday, Maullin described her contact with Smith when she checked into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in April 2006, pregnant and in apparent withdrawal from pain and anti-anxiety medications. She was in distress, sweating, having spasms in her arms and legs and her eyes were dilated.

She said Smith had decided to "go cold turkey" and stop all drugs when she became pregnant, resulting in withdrawal.

Maullin said, on contacting Smith's physician, Dr. Sandeep Kapoor (one of those now charged in the case), she learned that he had prescribed seven different drugs to Smith during the time she was seeking relief from pain.

According to Maullin, Smith was least interested in her suggections of a new regimen including hypnosis and acupuncture.

Maullin recalled: "She wouldn't engage, she didn't make eye contact, she was very hostile. It was, 'Give me my medication and leave me alone.'"

"On asking a question, Smith would reply - 'Ask Howard.'" Maullin added.

She discussed with Dr. Sandeep Kapoor and Stern her belief that Smith was addicted and that she should be in a structured rehab program.

She also  tried to regulate the former model's use of methadone for pain and remove her from a number of drugs known as benzodiazepans, during Smith's hospital stay.

Kapoor's attorney, Ellyn Garofalo, has said the doctor gave Smith "sound and appropriate" treatment. Attorney Steve Sadow, representing Stern, has said his client shouldn't be blamed for Smith's death because he was relying on the doctors to treat her.