The Doctor Is Out

We’ve been following the Winona Ryder shoplifting case, of course, and last week we mentioned that an overabundance of prescribed narcotics appeared to be a factor in her erratic behavior. She had these drugs on her when she was apprehended for shoplifting last year: liquid Demerol, liquid Diazepam, Vicoprofen, Percodan, Valium, Morphine Sulfate and Endocet.

It’s a small world after all: one of the doctors who aided and abetted Winona down the path to a soft, gauzy world, Dr. Jules Lusman, also improperly prescribed narcotics to Courtney Love, according to investigative report by the California Medical Board as revealed by the invaluable Smoking Gun:

In a blistering October 28 revocation order (which took effect December 6), the Medical Board of California cited Dr. Jules Lusman, 49, for numerous acts of unprofessional conduct, including the excessive prescription of narcotics. The medical board’s 41-page decision notes that Lusman’s behavior “might have been the subplot of a Raymond Chandler novel,” one that focused on a doctor “catering to the demands of wealthy and/or famous drug seekers…the doctor in question working on a cash-and-carry basis.”

….According to the report, Lusman last year provided painkillers and other drugs to Love and Ryder without examining them, a practice the board termed an “extreme departure from the standard of care.” In Love’s case, Lusman prescribed injectable Demerol, syringes, and sedative hypnotics. Ryder received Percoset, Xanax, and other drugs from Lusman.

But to top it off, Reason’s new blog, Hit and Run, points us to the news that litigious Miss Love has threatened the Smoking Gun with legal action for printing the Medical Board report excerpts:

Courtney Love doesn’t want you to read these documents.

Lawyers for the rock star yesterday (12/10) sent TSG a four-page letter threatening legal action if the site did not immediately remove excerpts from an explosive investigative report by the California Medical Board. “My client, who is not shy about asserting her legal rights, has authorized the commencement of all necessary litigation if the Story is not immediately removed from your website,” wrote attorney Paul Karl Lukacs. “You have been warned….

What to do? Print that too, of course.