Autopsy Inconclusive, Smith’s Son On Medication
September 18, 2006 by staralicious
Filed under Anna Nicole
Daniel Smith was on prescription anti-depression medication when he died at the hospital bedside of his motherr, a pathologist who did a second autopsy on 20-year-old Daniel Smith said Monday.
Forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht said Daniel was being treated for depression that began about four to six weeks earlier, but he did not know whether the medication played any role in his death, which came three days after his celebrity mother gave birth in the Bahamas.
Wecht, speaking by phone from Miami a day after conducting the autopsy in the Bahamas, said he’s still awaiting toxicology tests to determine the cause of death.
He said he and the Bahamian coroner who did the first autopsy agreed there was no evidence that Daniel Smith died from a “suicidal overdose.”
Wecht said he spoke to the psychiatrist who treated Daniel Smith and was told the dosage of the antidepressant medication was “quite low” and that the depression “had to do with a girlfriend.”
He did not provide further details and said others, including Anna Nicole Smith’s attorney Howard K. Stern, said Daniel Smith had seemed to be in good spirits in the days before his death.
“He was delighted. He was happy to be there with his mother and his sister,” Wecht told The Associated Press.
Wecht said he spoke to the psychiatrist who treated Daniel Smith and was told the dosage of the antidepressant medication was “quite low” and that the depression “had to do with a girlfriend.”
He did not provide further details and said others, including Anna Nicole Smith’s attorney Howard K. Stern, said Daniel Smith had seemed to be in good spirits in the days before his death.
“He was delighted. He was happy to be there with his mother and his sister,” Wecht told The Associated Press.
Earlier, Wecht said the autopsies have ruled out several natural causes and that the results of the drug and chemical analyses could take weeks. Investigators have said they did not find evidence of drugs in the room or obvious signs of a crime.
Wecht ruled out several potential natural causes including heart disease, stroke, or a “congenital anomaly.” He also said there was no indication of foul play.
“I don’t find anything that would cause me to believe there is something in terms of some traumatic injury having been inflicted, or somebody having done something to him in some cryptic manner that could not be observed,” he said.
A hearse took Smith’s remains from the morgue to a funeral home making arrangements to return the body to California. [Source]
[tags]anna nicole, daniel smith, hearse, autopsy[/tags]
Comments