Schwarzenegger Wins Case vs. Doctor

Friday, January 26th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BERLIN (AP) â€” A Berlin court has ordered a heart specialist to pay Arnold Schwarzenegger $4,700 and retract a statement that the actor would die of heart disease, a court spokeswoman said Friday.

The court found Dr. Willi Heepe guilty of slander on Thursday for making the statement during a 1998 radio talk show about the relationship between anabolic steroids and heart disease, the spokeswoman said.

Schwarzenegger underwent successful elective heart-valve replacement surgery to correct a congenital condition. The bodybuilder-turned-movie star since has made a full recovery.

The actor's lawyer argued that Heepe had never examined his client and therefore could make no such statement.

``This reconfirms that the record must be set straight that I am in excellent health,'' Schwarzenegger said in Los Angeles Thursday.

At Schwarzenegger's request, the damages imposed on Heepe will be paid to the Special Olympics Germany.