|
|
| Ten Thousand Motels |
Report: Osbourne Blames Doctor for Drugs
LOS ANGELES - Rocker Ozzy Osbourne claims he was overprescribed a host of powerful anti-psychotic and tranquilizing drugs by a Beverly Hills physician, leading to a 42-pill-per-day habit that also accounted for his perplexing behavior on the hit TV series "The Osbournes."
Osbourne's claim, supported by credit card records and other receipts, was reported Saturday on the Los Angeles Times' Web site.
The 55-year old rock star said he was prescribed Valium, Dexedrine, Mysoline and other powerful drugs, which medical experts asserted were, on its face, not proper for any one patient to take at one time.
Osbourne's doctor, David Kipper of Beverly Hills, has been investigated for overprescribing drugs to other celebrity patients, the newspaper reported.
The California Medical Board moved to revoke Kipper's license last week, accusing him of gross negligence in his treatment of other patients. No action has been taken.
Kipper did not immediately return calls to The Associated Press seeking comment. He declined comment in the Times article, saying in a statement that "ethical and medical privacy laws" barred him from discussing patient care.
"I have only good wishes for Mr. Osbourne and for his family and for their good health," the statement said.
Kipper's attorney, John Harwell, told the newspaper: "I can tell you that virtually every allegation you are reporting is inaccurate, incomplete or ... false."
Osbourne and his manager-wife, Sharon, believe the amount of drugs given to the rocker caused his oft-disoriented behavior on "The Osbournes." The show depicted many instances of Osbourne, glassy-eyed and mumbling, falling or acting in a stupefied, bizarre fashion.
"I was wiped out on pills," said Osbourne, who fired Kipper in September, more than a year after becoming his patient. "I couldn't talk. I couldn't walk. I could barely stand up. I was lumbering about like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. It got to the point where I was scared to close my eyes at night afraid I might not wake up."
Osbourne claimed he originally sought Kipper's assistance in June 2002 to kick a dependence on prescription narcotics, and was successfully treated with a 10-day detoxification regiment. But he turned to Kipper again when his wife was diagnosed with colon cancer, and soon was ingesting a host of pills that were allegedly used to treat his anxiety and depression.
Medical experts who reviewed Osbourne's prescription records said they could not make definitive judgments without examining Osbourne and knowing his medical history. But the doctors said the battery of medications prescribed by Kipper appeared excessive for any patient.
"The amount and potency of drugs being prescribed to this patient was outrageous," said Dr. Greg Thompson, director of the Drug Information Center at County USC Medical Center.
Kipper charged the couple $650,000 for his services until they fired him three months ago, the Times reported. The medications he prescribed cost them an additional $58,000.
Kipper carries a Screen Actors Guild card and has had bit parts in several films, including "As Good As It Gets," "Jackass: the Movie" and "Shallow Hal."
Sharon Osbourne said the family decided to fire Kipper after she and her husband attended a Chicago Cubs game, where the singer slurred his way through a rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." The scene was replayed repeatedly on national TV.
Osbourne's music fame began in the late 1960s with Black Sabbath, a British rock quartet. He began a solo successful career in 1979.
In March 2002, MTV launched its unscripted series about Osbourne's home life, portraying him as the doting patriarch of a dysfunctional family. The show was an immediate sensation, attracting record audiences for a cable show and spawning a multimedia cottage industry of books, DVDs, a clothing line, playing cards and other merchandising spin-offs.
Osbourne said he liked Kipper but realized he was under the spell of his doctor and prescription drugs.
"Looking back on it now, I see Dr. Kipper as sort of a friendly villain," Osbourne said. "He comes off as a really nice guy � that is, until you get the bill."
|
|
|
| Steel Wheels |
Boo hoo Ozzy.
You got a real rough life. Oh the woes of being a filthy rich rock star...masking your addiction while a useless family (and a tv audience) watch. Blame everyone else but yourself. "They made me take 42 pills a day!"
Try walking a mile in my shoes old timer. Get outta my life, as Howard Stern would say.
|
|
|
| SHINE A LIGHT |
 oh for crying out loud,get a life!i am soooooooooo tired of the "blame game".they force-fed him 42 pills a day??? i think not. |
|
|
| Martha |
It is classic behavior for an addict (and the family/enablers) to deny their responsibility of the actions of using/abusing their drug(s) of choice and getting to a state of being totally out of control and potentially near death. Ozzy and Sharon are in denial about the disease even though they admit to Ozzy's alcoholism. Sharon thinks she can control Ozzy's disease. Ozzy goes along with this thinking. That is just where they are in terms of the illness and it is an illness. They are not alone in this type of thinking. In fact, they are in the company of millions of other families...including mine. I pray that they find recovery and wellness. Until then, may God bless them. |
|
|
| SHINE A LIGHT |
martha...yes, i think that is exactly what i was trying to say. but, it still gets on one's nerves to listen to the whining about it. as steel wheels so eloquently said...try walking in the shoes of others. that having been said, i must add that i do not envy the life of an addict, rich or poor. |
|
|
| Factory Girl |
Ozzy must re-examine his family life, and his overbearing wife, Sharon.
Yeah, someone is going to shove 42 pills down his throat every bleepin' day. He's responsible. |
|
|
| Ten Thousand Motels |
42 Pills A day! Common sense should tell someone that's f**ked up. |
|
|
| glencar |
Is this a surprise? But yet the initial season of "The Osbournes" was awesomely funny. I just wish it didn't involve an ongoing addiction. |
|
|
| gotdablouse |
Ozzy seems to be on the way out...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=9&u=/ap/20031208/ap_on_en_tv/osbourne_accident |
|
CHAT
ROOM aka THE FUN HOUSE] [
RESTROOMS]