Prolongued Battle Over Anna Nicole's Body Is Disrespectful

Anna Nicole Smith had many fans and also many people who derided her while she was alive. Anna was labeled anywhere from a ruthless gold-digger to a kind, loving, even naive, in a good way, person. Now Anna has been dead for three weeks, and a ruthless mother won't let her be buried where she wanted to be put to rest.



While the battle over baby Dannielynn is justified, and Anna's opinion that she should be with Howard K. Stern, Smith's late companion, has to have a lower priority than the child's interests, I think that in the matter of her own body and burial place, it's pretty much mandatory that her last wishes would be listened to.It's quite appalling that Virgie Arthur, Anna's estranged mother, can raise such objections as the fact she would need to pay thousands to visit her daughter's grave in Bahamas. Stern's lawyer told an appeals court Tuesday that her estranged mother was trying to "place her in death where she never wanted to be in life" - Texas, reports AP.One's dead body isn't an object to be argued about like people see fit. It deserves a certain respect. That was not the case with Anna's body, which laid unembalmed for quite a while and now is still pending burial, even though the Broward County medical examiner's office warned it's decomposing faster than expected.It's quite clear Smith should be buried in the Bahamas next to her son, Daniel, who died in September, as Dannielynn's court appointed guardian decided, in agreement with Stern and Birkhead. Saving Virgie Arthur, who didn't seem to care much about her daughter while alive, some bucks in plane tickets isn't a reason even worth considering.Arthur on Friday filed an emergency motion to block Smith's remains from being removed from the Broward County medical examiner's office, where they have been kept since her Feb. 8 death, pending her appeal of Seidlin's ruling.The Florida's Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach, Fla., also received papers from the guardian for Anna Nicole Smith's baby Richard Milstein and attorneys for Howard K. Stern. The court will hold hearings on Wednesday and eventually it's quite obvious they will decide in favor of Stern-Milstein-Birkhead in this matter and against Arthur.Stern, Arthur and Larry Birkhead, one of Smith's former lovers, who also appears to be the most likely father of her daughter, also are involved in a custody hearing in the Bahamas. "I think he's doing what he thinks is best and I'm doing what I think is best," Birkhead said of Stern's actions, according to UPI.Of his custody suit, Birkhead said, "What kind of dad would I be if I didn't fight for my daughter?"Arthur's actions are just a delay, with virtually no chances of winning. Judge Larry Seidlin already pointed out Dannielynn is, under Florida law, the next of kin.However, Arthur's lawyer, Roberta G. Mandel, said her client was willing to take the fight to the state Supreme Court."This mother is a mother who deserves the right to bury her child," Mandel said.In an earlier court filing, Milstein noted that "every witness including (her mother Virgie) Arthur testified that Anna Nicole Smith expressed an interest in being buried in either California or the Bahamas."It seems the continuous profanation of Anna Nicole's body, by denying her a dignified and already too-delayed burial, will not stop anytime soon.Meanwhile, "Access Hollywood" has quoted an expert who claims Anna's death might have been the result of her ongoing lupus disease, which exacerbates after childbirth. Bob Lahita, a physician and professor of medicine at Mount Sinai Medical School, said about 60 percent of lupus patients develop fibro myalgia, which can cause chronic and extreme pain all over the body, which would possibly prompt the prescription of painkillers.Anna, known as a prescription drug abuser, would have needed a much higher dose of painkillers to achieve normal effect.