HOLLYWOOD - Anna Nicole Smith's longtime companion Howard K. Stern insists the tragic model would still be alive today if she hadn't refused medical help before her death.
In a statement released late on Monday, Stern revealed he and other friends and aides had urged Smith to check into a Florida hospital after her temperature spiked, but, fearing a "media frenzy," she insisted on sleeping off her fever.
In announcing the cause of death as an accidental drug overdose earlier on Monday, medical examiner Dr. Joshua Perper revealed the model should have already have been in the hospital at the time of her death.
Perper said Smith had been suffering from stomach flu, a 105-degree fever and an infection from repeated drug injections.
In a statement released by Stern's lawyers, Smith's companion reveals his girlfriend refused emergency care in the days before her death because "she did not want the media frenzy that follows her."
He claims both he and Smith's physician begged her to seek proper medical help, but "Anna called the shots in Anna's life and everyone close to her knows that."
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