Michael Jackson's Medications - a Prescription for Death

After an extensive investigation by the police and the coroners office, the death of pop star Michael Jackson has been ruled as a homicide. This investigation has been ongoing since the death of Jackson on June 25, 2009. Medical records were subpoenaed and thoroughly researched and the coroner has made a ruling based on the evidence from autopsy and tox-screen.

The L.A. County coroner's office reported that deadly levels of the very powerful anesthetic propofol came back in the tox-screen that was performed on Jackson after his death. The records were unsealed today Monday, August 24, 2009 when the report was made in Texas about the cause of death. According to the report from the L.A. Times, the court records revealed what happened in the hours previous to the death of Jackson through the eyes of Conrad Murray, Michaels personal doctor.

According to these records, Murray told LAPD detective that he had been treating Michael for insomnia with Propofol for about six weeks. When Murray began to think that Jackson was getting addicted to the drug, he then tried to use other methods and drugs to help with the insomnia that Jackson was experiencing.

He began to wean Michael off of the Propofol by lowering the dosage of that drug and adding in other drugs that would still give the desired effect of sleep. The two other drugs that Murray was using along with the Propofol were Lorazepam and Midazolam.

The day that Michael died, Murray attempted to help Jackson sleep without the use of the Propofol. He said that he administered Valium to Michael at about 1:30 A.M. and by 2 A.M. it had not worked. At that point, he gave Jackson an IV injection of Lorazepam. When 3 o'clock came around, Jackson was still unable to sleep so Murray gave him Midazolam. This process continued over the next several hours with Jackson still being unable to sleep.

At 10:40 A.M. 25 milligrams of Propofol were administered to Michael after he had continually demanded that it be given to him. Murray admits that he had given the drug Propofol to Jackson, but there is no proof that he in any way obtained the medication using either his medical license or his DEA number.

There were approximately eight bottles of Propofol in Michaels house along with other pills and vials that were prescribed by Dr. Arnold Klein, Dr. Allan Metzger, and Dr. Conrad Murray. Propofol was also found in the medical bag belonging to Dr. Murray who stated that he was not the first to give the drug to Michael.

Included in the drugs found in the house of Jackson were a list of sedatives other than the Propofol. In the process of investigation it was discovered that at least two doctors in Germany had administered this drug to Jackson, along with a doctor in Las Vegas. Murray says that no matter how many times he asked Jackson what types of other drugs he was being prescribed and what other doctors he was seeing regularly, he would always refuse to answer the question.

The reports say that Jackson fell asleep around 10:40 A.M. after which Murray left the bedside for a very brief time, no longer than two minutes, and returned to find that Michael was not breathing. According to Murray he had monitored Michael for at least 10 minutes and then needed a break to use the bathroom.

He then returned to Jackson's bedside at approximately 11 A.M. to find that he was not breathing and immediately began the attempt to revive Michael, including administering a drug that was supposed to reverse the effects of the Propofol.

LAPD is looking into this account of the events further. The major focus of the investigation has turned, however, to whether or not it is malpractice or negligence using an anesthetic that is usually used for surgery as a sleep aid and using it outside of the walls of a hospital. These are the hard questions to answer now and the answers will tell whether or not Murray will be facing a charge of involuntary manslaughter.

Lethal levels' of Anesthetic Propofol Killed Michael Jackson, L.A. Times.