One Doctor Prescribed 11 Drugs to Anna Nicole

April 5, 2007 — -- The Florida medical examiner investigating Anna Nicole Smith's death said he found 11 different prescription medications in the former Playboy playmate's hotel room -- all of them prescribed by one doctor within the last five weeks.

The drugs included Valium and other anti-anxiety medication, anti-seizure pills and muscle relaxants.

More than 600 pills -- about 450 of them muscle relaxants -- were missing, according to information obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request.

Khristine Eroshevich, a psychiatrist and Smith friend, authorized all the prescription medications in Hollywood, Fla., the medical examiner's office said. Eroshevich had traveled with Smith to Florida, according to the AP.

This has people asking: What responsibility does a physician hold when prescribing medication?

Doctor's Dilemma

Dr. Tim Johnson, ABC News' medical editor, said that a doctor was ultimately responsible for the medication he or she put into circulation.

"When one doctor prescribes 11 different drugs, that doctor has two main responsibilities," Johnson said. "One, to know who is taking the drugs and keep up with that patient's medical condition and adjust drugs accordingly."

Eight of the 11 prescriptions were written in the name of Howard K. Stern, Smith's companion, according to the medical examiner's records.

Johnson said that didn't get the doctor off the hook.

"Certainly you have a responsibility to know that, if you're giving them to somebody other than the person who is supposedly the patient, what's going on?" he said.

Johnson acknowledged that doctors were in many cases caught between a "rock and a hard place" when prescribing medications.

"On the one hand, if they prescribe too much medication for a patient … they could be in trouble, even criminal prosecution," Johnson said.

But there has also been a movement in health care to provide more adequate pain management and mental health management for patients.

"So if they prescribe too little, they could be subject to malpractice," Johnson said.