http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25981646-2703,00.html
Michael Jackson doctors in strife as death declared homicide Robert Lusetich, Los Angeles | August 26, 2009 Article from: The Australian ONE or more of Michael Jackson's doctors could face manslaughter charges after it was revealed yesterday that the troubled entertainer was killed by "lethal levels" of a powerful anaesthetic. The focus of the police investigation into Jackson's shock death has been on Conrad Murray, who was at Jackson's bedside when he died in Los Angeles on June 25. Dr Murray, who had been in financial trouble before being hired earlier this year - at a salary of $US150,000 ($178,750) a month - to be Jackson's personal physician, has admitted giving the fallen King of Pop a cocktail of drugs, including propofol (Diprivan), an operating room anaesthetic, in an attempt to cure insomnia. New details of the death of Jackson, who would have turned 51 this Saturday, emerged yesterday after court documents pertaining to a search of Dr Murray's Houston offices and storage facilities were made public. In making a case for the search warrants, police said the Los Angeles Coroner had concluded that Jackson's death was a homicide in that it was caused by the actions of another. The Coroner said Los Angeles police had asked for no public statements while they were continuing with their investigations. But in asking a Texas judge to approve the search warrants, police believed they would find "evidence of the crime of manslaughter". Although Dr Murray has been the primary target of the investigation, the documents released yesterday made it clear investigators were still determining whether Jackson died as the result of a single doctor administering a single combination of drugs or as the result of a long-term pattern of many doctors over-prescribing him drugs. It is very rare for doctors in the US to be charged in these kinds of cases, but not unprecedented. The documents released yesterday painted a disturbing picture of a man who would do anything in order to obtain drugs. According to the affidavits lodged with the search warrants, Jackson had a roster of half a dozen doctors who prescribed him drugs, excluding two in Germany who had allegedly introduced him to propofol. Jackson used numerous aliases in order to obtain prescriptions, usually potent sedatives and painkillers, drugs to which insiders said Jackson had been addicted since he suffered serious burns when his hair caught on fire while filming a Pepsi commercial in 1984. Among the aliases Jackson used at different pharmacies were Jack London, Mick Jackson, Frank Tyson - the name of one of his former "special friends" - Omar Arnold, Josephine Baker, Fernand Diaz, Paul Farance and Bryan Singleton. During his interview with detectives, it is alleged Dr Murray said Jackson "was very familiar with the drug (propofol) and referred to it as his 'milk'." The drug has a milky appearance. He also said he suspected Jackson received drugs from other doctors after observing needle marks on the singer's hands and feet. Dr Murray told police he had been giving Jackson propofol for about six weeks intravenously, along with other drugs, because the singer needed powerful drugs just to sleep. He became concerned about the possibility of addiction to propofol and decided to wean Jackson off the drug. For two nights before the death, he administered a different drug cocktail and Jackson was able to sleep. But the night before his death, Dr Murray gave Jackson Valium at 1am and stayed beside him all night, trying different drugs to induce sleep. Finally, at 10.40am, he relented and gave Jackson propofol. "After approximately 10 minutes, Murray stated he left Jackson's side to go to the restroom," it's alleged the physician told police. "Murray stated he was out of the room for about two minutes maximum. Upon his return, Murray noticed that Jackson was no longer breathing." Dr Murray attempted to resuscitate Jackson and injected him with flumazepil in an attempt to reverse the effects of the sedatives in his system. But it was 82 minutes before an ambulance was called to the mansion Jackson had been renting in the neighbourhood of Holmby Hills. The documents released yesterday also allege Dr Murray did not tell paramedics or doctors he had given Jackson propofol. More mysterious was the fact that Dr Murray's mobile phone records show that he made three separate calls, totalling 47 minutes, in the aftermath of finding that Jackson had stopped breathing. He had said that during this time he was administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Experts questioned the way Dr Murray mixed drugs such as lorazepam (Ativan) and Valium, which dramatically slow down a person's breathing. "If you are going to put on top of that some propofol, you are not only standing on thin ice, but starting to jump up and down on that ice," John Dombrowski, director of the Washington Pain Centre. "If you don't have someone who knows how to manage respiratory depression, you're going to die. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
