Friday, February 09, 2007

Notes on a Press Conference


The Anna Nicole Smith autopsy press conference is in progress. Here's the liveblog.

Dr. Joshua Perper, the chief medical examiner for Broward County, kicks things off.

He thanks a bunch of people first. That's nice. Can we move on?

He introduces the Chief of Police, Charlie Taggert, who extends his sympathy and thanks a bunch of people. He says they plan to investigate thoroughly. He says no evidence exists to indicate that a crime occurred. They found no illegal drugs at the scene -- only prescription medicines. They are not releasing the names of those medicines. This incident will remain an open investigation until all tests are completed by the medical examiner's office.

Okay, the Doc's back. Heh. He makes reference to "Mrs. Nicole Smith." He says she had apparently been sick for several days from a stomach flu. Confirms that a bodyguard provided CPR, then medics transported her to the hospital. Patient was "virtually dead on arrival" and declared dead at 2:40 pm. Broward County assumed jurisdiction.

Autopsy excluded any type of physical injury as the cause of death -- no blunt force trauma, gun shot wounds, stab wounds, etc. I'm glad they had a crack medical team on-hand to determine that. They did find a minor bruise on her back, apparently attributable to a fall in the bathroom several days back. Autopsy revealed "subtle findings" in the heart and gastrointestinal system, pending microscopic verification. They also found "a small amount of blood" in her stomach, related to her being in terminal shock just before she died.

They are not yet making a determination on cause of death. They have to run a bunch of tests still. Doc gives us the laundry list of these. They estimate it will take 3-5 weeks to make a final determination. They plan to make "optimal efforts to expedite" this process, due to public interest in the case.

"No such indication" that Anna overdosed. They did not find any pills in her stomach. They don't have final results of the toxicology tests, but, in terms of what the naked eye can see, there were no pills. Doc seems to think that, if she'd taken a massive amount of pills, in keeping with a suicide overdose, there would still be visible pills in her stomach. But he hasn't completely ruled out an overdose.

"It is a possibility" that this might be a natural death. He says there are 3 major possibilities:

1) Natural causes
2) Medication or chemicals
3) Combination of the two.

Fascinating.

More later...

Update: Read Part 2 here.

Anonymous said...

lt is a sin what Happened to that poor mixed up Child..Her life wasn't that of a happy person and with the press hounding her only made it more unbareable for her..Why oh why can the press just leave well enough alone..lt wasn't good enough that her husband died Then her son..Last but lest her now whats going to happen to that little girl..Now she will have to read all the bad things that were said about her Mom..Please for God Sakes leave well enough alone and let thing be..

Anonymous said...

Don't usually involve myself in blogging BUT I am hoping that if we all just take a minute and just glance back in time from Anna's life. A young beautiful livingin a world where sex and beauty outshine everything good and....she turns to dancing and than Mega Corp...PLAYBOY gives her the opportunity of a lifetime????
Her beauty and lack of self worth make her a porn for the warped people who encourage selling their body and making tons of $$$ vs. working in another profession struggling to make ends meet The Real World. Than she loses her son who was her best friend our children usually are!! They know us and love us inspite of ourselves. I have heard from friends who have suffered the unfortunate loss of a child and they all say there is nothing worse.
Anna gave life to Dannielynn and they captured her in her worst moment they thought but as a mother of four and the Grammie of four she looked like a woman who had just sacrificed her all to bring a life into this world. Sad that the media wants to overexpose people like Anna who struggled each day for recognition the only way she knew and than....her son's death the irony of this world she so didn't deserve that horror.
I pray to God that this all goes away soon and that Anna's Mom takes Dannielynn home minus the glamour and $$$ and gives her a good life HOPEFULLY, Grandma has accessed Anna's past and will give this child the gift of a NEW BEGINNING.
For those of you who have a God take a moment in time to pray for Anna, her family and anyone who has been impacteed by this sad event.

GOD BLESS ANNA

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