ANNA NICOLE SMITH MAY BE EMBALMED

Anna Nicole Smith

A decision will be made today on whether Anna Nicole Smith's body can be embalmed. A Florida medical examiner warned the 39-year-old's remains were decomposing and should be released immediately for burial, prompting Judge Larry Seidlin to order another hearing.Seidlin said: "We are going to figure out whether we're going to embalm her or not."The judge is presiding over a legal row between Anna Nicole's lover and lawyer Howard K. Stern, her mother Virgie Arthur and her former lover Larry Birkhead. Seidlin is yet to decide if Stern or Arthur has the right to bury her. Stern wants to bury the model in the Bahamas, while Arthur wants her buried in her home state of Texas. Birkhead is determined to ensure her DNA is preserved for his paternity battle against Stern for Anna Nicole's five-month-old daughter Dannielynn. Seidlin ordered new DNA samples to be taken from the former Playboy Playmate's body yesterday, and wants all samples to be taken before Anna Nicole is buried so her body won't have to be exhumed. He said: "When we bury her, I want it to be forever."Birkhead fears previous DNA samples may have been switched and won a ruling for a new swab to be reviewed by his own medical expert. Anna Nicole died on February 8, after being found unconscious in Hollywood's Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Her death came during a time of personal grief - her 20-year-old son Daniel died five months ago just days after she gave birth to Dannielynn.