Rep. Kennedy to Sign Up for Drug Treatment

By Johanna Neuman and Willem Marx

May 6, 2006 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writers

WASHINGTON — Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, saying he had no memory of a highly publicized early-morning accident in which he plowed his car into a security barricade near Capitol Hill, announced Friday that he would be checking himself into the Mayo Clinic for treatment of addiction to prescription drugs.

The Democrat from Rhode Island, whose father is Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), blamed his accident on the interaction of two prescription drugs he took Wednesday night -- Ambien, for sleeplessness, and Phenergan, for nausea.

A police report on the crash, which occurred at 2:47 a.m. Thursday, described him as “unsteady on his feet,” with “slightly slurred” speech and “red and watery” eyes.

“I simply do not remember getting out of bed, being pulled over by the police or being cited for three driving infractions” after the accident, Kennedy said, his voice occasionally cracking as he spoke at a packed news conference on Capitol Hill. “I am deeply concerned about my reaction to the medication and my lack of knowledge of the accident that evening.”

He said he had been fighting addiction to prescription drugs, as well as bouts of depression, since he was a young man.

Kennedy, 38, also revealed that he had checked into the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., for treatment in December “for addiction to prescription pain medication.” He returned to his duties in the House “reinvigorated and healthy,” he said.

He did not elaborate on the drugs that spurred the treatment in December. Neither Ambien nor Phenergan is categorized as a pain medication.

Some medical experts expressed doubt that taking those two drugs alone would have caused Kennedy’s actions the night of the accident.

“With his history of ... drug abuse [involving pain killers], to all of a sudden have an incident of impairment and assume it’s Ambien, [that] makes me question whether it wasn’t a relapse,” said Dr. Clifford Bernstein, director of the Waismann Institute in Beverly Hills, which treats addiction to pain medications.

At his news conference, Kennedy said, “The recurrence of an addiction problem can be triggered by many things that happen in everyday life, such as taking a common treatment for a stomach flu. That’s not an excuse for what happened Wednesday evening, but it’s a reality of fighting a chronic condition, for which I’m taking full responsibility.”

The incident added another chapter to what some refer to as “the Kennedy curse.”

Two of Patrick’s uncles, President Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.), were assassinated. His father drove a car off a bridge at Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts -- an accident in which a female passenger died. Edward Kennedy swam to safety, but waited eight hours before reporting the accident.

Tragedy has shadowed several members of the family’s next generation.

John F. Kennedy Jr., the president’s son, died when the small plane he was piloting crashed in 1999. Robert Kennedy’s son Michael was killed in an accident in 1997 while playing football on a ski slope, and another son, David, died of a drug overdose in 1984.

“There’s certainly a streak of recklessness in the family, despite how much they’ve achieved,” said Ron Kessler, author of a book on the clan’s patriarch, Joseph P. Kennedy.

Rep. Kennedy, who won his House seat in 1994, has been in the middle of other controversies. In 2000, he was captured on a surveillance camera shoving a security guard at Los Angeles International Airport after she told him his luggage was too large and had to be stowed. She sued, and he settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

In 2001, the Coast Guard was called after an argument between Kennedy and a girlfriend on a yacht. The woman reported he had been drinking.

In this week’s traffic accident, Kennedy was cited for driving on the wrong side of the road, driver inattention and driving with lights off. The case has raised questions not only about Kennedy’s behavior, but also about whether he received preferential treatment from the Capitol Police, who handled the case.

Union officials representing the force’s rank-and-file members have alleged that officers sought to give Kennedy a breath test, but that higher-ups overruled them and drove Kennedy home.

Friday night, a notice on the force’s website said an investigation into the accident was continuing. “Appropriate action will be taken as necessary,” the statement said.

Through his office, Kennedy has denied drinking any alcohol the night of the accident. And his office released a letter Friday from Congress’ attending physician, Dr. John Eisold, stating that he had treated Kennedy for gastroenteritis Tuesday night.

“You were prescribed Phenergan to help treat your symptoms,” Eisold said. “The side effects of Phenergan include drowsiness and sedation. Also, review of your medical record shows that you were prescribed Ambien on April 25, 2006 to assist with insomnia.”

A story in the Boston Herald on Friday quoted an unnamed waitress at the Hawk ‘n’ Dove, a popular Capitol Hill bar and restaurant, as saying that Kennedy had been drinking there the night of the accident.

But the establishment’s manager, Paul Meagher, told The Times, “We’ve checked our records and there’s no evidence Patrick Kennedy was in here.”

The police report on the accident said Kennedy crashed his 1997 Mustang controvertible into a security barrier after driving in a wrong lane and forcing a police cruiser to “use evasive maneuvers in order to avoid a collision.”

According to the report, Kennedy told officers he was “headed to the Capitol to make a vote.” But the chamber had ended its session several hours earlier -- the last vote on the House floor was recorded at 9:06 p.m. Wednesday.

Darrell West, a professor at Brown University in Providence, R.I., said Friday he doubted the incident would tarnish Kennedy’s hold on his House seat.

“In his home district, I think he is immune because he has a demonstrated track record of serving the people ... and his political views are very much in sync with Rhode Island,” said West, author of a biography on the congressman.

West added: “I think people will appreciate the fact that he is seeking help, and not denying that there is a problem.”

As he left the podium at his news conference, Kennedy was asked if he planned to resign from office. He shook his head no.

“I need to stay in the fight,” he said.

Times staff writers Denise Gellene in Los Angeles, Elizabeth Mehren in Boston and Maura Reynolds in Washington contributed to this report.