Anna Nicole Smith doctors say they wanted to help

Two doctors accused of fuelling the drug dependence of the late model-turned-reality-TV star Anna Nicole Smith told a court they were only trying to help her, and claimed the media unfairly targeted them.

Former Playboy model Ms Smith died in February 2007 from an accidental prescription overdose in Florida, aged 39, though the doctors are not charged over her death.

Physicians Sandeep Kapoor and Khristine Eroshevich prescribed medication for her, in collaboration with her former companion Howard K. Stern, which fuelled her addiction, prosecutors have said.

But their attorneys insisted that Mr Kapoor, 42, and Ms Eroshevich, 62, have been singled out unfairly.

Ms Eroshevich’s attorney Bradley Brunon said in closing arguments that his client rushed to try help Ms Smith after the death of her 20-year-old son from a drug overdose.

“She’s essentially on an emergency mission... Her single, entire purpose was to help this woman,” Mr Brunon said, telling the jury witnesses “saw her caring for Anna Nicole Smith.”

“And what’s her reward? She gets dragged through this... She gets publicly humiliated,” Mr Brunon maintained.

Mr Kapoor’s attorney maintained that her client was acting in “good faith” and had a “legitimate medical purpose” in prescribing medication to Ms Smith.