Rush Limbaugh will not face charges in Palm Beach County, Florida, for the bottle of Viagra found in his luggage that was prescribed in his doctor's name, prosecutors said last week.
The 55-year-old conservative radio commentator was detained for more than three hours at Palm Beach International Airport on June 26 after he returned on his private plane from a vacation in the Dominican Republic.
The state attorney's office said Dr. Steve Strumwasser's name was on the Viagra bottle, not Limbaugh's. Strumwasser, who is Limbaugh's psychiatrist, told authorities he ``agreed to have his name on the label in an effort to avoid potentially embarrassing publicity for the suspect,'' according to a filing by the prosecutor's office.
"Thus, the medication contained in the subject pill bottle was legitimately prescribed to the suspect by his physician," the filing said.
It is generally not illegal under Florida law for a physician to prescribe medication in a third party's name if all parties are aware and the doctor documents it correctly, said a spokesman for the state attorney in Palm Beach County.
However, since the doctor wrote the prescription in Miami-Dade County, the case has been forwarded to prosecutors there for review.
Charges could have nullified a deal Limbaugh reached with prosecutors last month in which a single "doctor shopping" charge was deferred for 18 months, so long as Limbaugh does not get arrested.
Limbaugh was accused of illegally deceiving multiple doctors to get overlapping painkiller prescriptions. He denied the charges but acknowledged he was addicted to painkillers.
The Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office also said it forwarded the matter to the state Department of Professional Regulation and the Department of Health to determine if the doctor breached ethics.
While Limbaugh is avoiding publicity, Shao Xiaoshan is courting it.
The Chinese actress who played Hollywood movie star Zhang Ziyi's naked body double in The Banquet wants her name in the movie's credits, state media reported on Friday.
The Banquet, a Feng Xiaogang-directed film set for release in China in the autumn, stars Memoirs of a Geisha actress Zhang and features several body doubles to play her in nude and fight scenes, the Nanfang Daily newspaper said.
Shao said she was paid 20,000 yuan (US$2,500) for shooting several nude scenes in comments carried by the paper.
"Feng Xiaogang was very satisfied with my body, and asked me to play the `naked double,'" the paper quoted Shao as saying.
But the actress feared a lack of exposure, hearing that her name would not appear in the credits and having her calls ignored by the director, the paper said.
"Zhang Ziyi at Venice told the whole world's journalists that her naked back was someone else's, so I just want everyone to know that it was mine," Shao said.
The movie's producer, Huayi Brothers & Taihe Movie Investment Co., questioned Shao's motives.
"The movie hasn't even screened yet. How could she know that her name isn't in the credits? Isn't this clearly a beat-up?" the paper quoted Wang Zhongjun, the production company head, as saying.
Huayi's deputy head, Xu Li, said Shao's name wouldn't appear in the credits due to contractual issues.
RSS