
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 22, 1995                   TAG: 9501240051
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

NURSE SAYS HEIRESS WAS VICTIM OF FOUL PLAY

A nurse who cared for the late tobacco heiress and philanthropist Doris Duke charged in court papers made public Friday that she ``did not die of natural causes'' in her Beverly Hills, Calif., mansion in 1993, but instead succumbed to a ``massive sedation regime'' instigated by her butler.

``Miss Duke did not ask that a lethal dose of morphine be given to her and she was not aware this was being done,'' Tammy Payette, the nurse, charged in an affidavit submitted to the court handling the probate of Duke's $1.2 billion estate.

The judge handling the probate appointed Richard Kuh, a former New York district attorney, as limited temporary administrator of the estate with power to look into the allegations. She ordered him to report back within 45 days. California law enforcement authorities said Friday that they had not been apprised of the contents of Payette's affidavit.

Payette said that despite being on the mend after suffering a stroke, Duke was given increasingly large doses of sedatives by a physician at the request of Bernard Lafferty, Duke's butler and adviser. Lafferty, a co-executor of Duke's estate, is to inherit $5 million plus a lifetime annuity of $500,000 a year.

The cause of death was listed as progressive pulmonary edema.

In a statement issued by Chen Sam, his public relations counsel, Lafferty called the charges ``McCarthy-esque smear tactics.''

by CNB