Anna Nicole Son's Second Autopsy Inconclusive

[stu]

Anna Nicole Smith may need a do-over on her do-over.

 

 

A private pathologist flown in from the United States to perform a second autopsy on the former Playmate's 20-year-old son, Daniel, over the weekend was unable to determine the cause of the young man's sudden death.

 

 

However, Cyril Wecht, who previously consulted in the investigations of the deaths of Elvis Presley, JonBenet Ramsey and Laci Peterson, was able to rule out several possible culprits.

 

 

The 75-year-old pathologist said that his examination on Sunday indicated there was no sign of heart disease, stroke, cancer, systemic infection, pulmonary embolism or "congenital anomaly."

 

 

"I think that we have a tragic death of a young man, and ultimately the cause is going to be determined," Wecht said.

 

 

Shortly after Daniel's death on Sept. 10, reports surfaced that there may have been fatal doses of antidepressants in his system. While authorities quickly dismissed the notion, Wecht did confirm that the boy was on prescription antidepressants at the time of his death.

 

 

Wecht told the Associated Press that Daniel had begun taking the medication to treat depression that "had to do with a girlfriend" four to six weeks prior to his passing. The pathologist stressed, however, that the dosage was "quite low" and that there was no evidence of a "suicidal overdose."

 

 

He also sided with Bahamian head coroner Linda P. Virgill, whose office labeled the death "suspicious" and "unnatural" because there was no indication that Daniel was unhealthy and that there was no sign of foul play.

 

 

"I don't find anything that would cause me to believe there is something in terms of some traumatic injury that was inflicted or somebody having done something to him in some cryptic manner that could not be observed," he said.

 

 

The inconclusive results don't signal an end to Wecht's involvement in the case, though. In fact, it may just be the beginning.

 

 

He has ordered a second round of comprehensive tests, including a toxicology screening, to compare with those already completed in the Bahamas, and he has also sent for Daniel's medical records from the U.S. Wecht said it could take anywhere from two weeks to four months for conclusive results.

 

 

The uncertainty of the second autopsy casts even more of a mystery on the shocking death.

 

 

Last week, Virgill told reporters she believed she knew the cause of Daniel's death but was still awaiting the results of a toxicology test for confirmation. She said she would not reveal her findings until the completion of an inquest, scheduled to begin Oct. 23 and run through November.

 

 

As part of the investigation, authorities will take testimony from everyone who had contact with the young man prior to his death, including that of his mother and her legal sidekick Howard K. Stern, both of whom were in the room at Nassau's Doctors Hospital when Daniel was found dead.

 

 

Daniel had arrived in the Bahamas Sept. 9 and went immediately to the private hospital, where Anna Nicole was recovering from giving birth to a daughter via Cesarean section just three days earlier.

 

 

Anna Nicole found her son slumped in a chair in her hospital room early Sunday morning and hospital staff attempted to resuscitate the boy for more than 20 minutes before declaring him dead.

 

 

One of her lawyers, Michael Scott, said that the tremendous grief coupled with a sedative, resulted in the 38-year-old TrimSpa model experiencing memory loss of the tragic event.

 

 

Now, however, Scott says Smith is doing much better.

 

She "is doing well," he said Sunday, adding that Smith "wants everyone to stop jumping to conclusions, take a breath, step back and await the outcome of any reports from Dr. Wecht and Dr. Raju [who performed the initial autopsy] and to await the outcome of any coroner's proceedings."

 

Aside from his consultations on celebrity cases, the Pittsburgh-based Wecht is known for his criticism of the Warren Commission's ruling that a lone gunman killed John F. Kennedy. He is also facing federal charges of using staffers when he was the Allegheny County coroner to work on his own private practice, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Wecht stepped down from the post in January and claims he's innocent.

 

Meanwhile, Daniel's body has been transferred to a Nassau funeral home and will likely be sent back to the U.S. later this week. Funeral arrangements are pending in California.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20060918/en_cel...2&printer=1