As for his exact relationship with Smith, who married Texas oil tycoon J Howard Marshall II in 1994 when he was 89 and she was 26 and who has been fighting his family over his estimated $500 million fortune since his death in 1995, Kapoor said, "You have to respect my privacy and the doctor-patient privacy."

Over two weeks ago the celebrity news web site TMZ.com wrote that `Michelle Chase' was an alias Smith used in a pharmacy receipt for a methadone prescription given by Dr S Kapoor.

Methadone is a commonly prescribed painkiller used to treat drug addiction, especially of heroin, and in detoxification and maintenance programs. Some two million Americans use it every year, according to the Federal Drug Administration.

Key Pharmacy in the San Fernando Valley filled the prescription and sent it to 'Vicky Marshall' in the Bahamas. Vickie Marshall is Anna Nicole Smith's legal name. The pharmacy could not comment on the allegations, also citing privacy issues.

Smith's son Daniel, who died in the Bahamas last September three days after his mother gave birth to a daughter, had methadone and alcohol in his blood.

'Dr Kapoor's treatment program for Anna Nicole Smith was at all times medically sound and appropriate,' his attorney Ellyn S Garofalo said in a statement. 'We are confident that responsible authorities will agree and that Dr Kapoor will cooperate with any inquiries by the Medical Board of California.'

She would not say if Kapoor prescribed methadone for Anne Nicole Smith, but she asserted that methadone is approved for use by pregnant patients.

Asked about the widely held belief that many Hollywood celebrities ask prescriptions to be made in another name so that they can avoid the media, she said, 'The media frenzy surrounding Smith's life and tragic death underscores why public figures may choose to use pseudonyms in order to protect the privacy of their medical treatment.'

Photograph: Jim Ruymen/AFP/Getty Images

Also see: Shyamalan's next: The Happening

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