Michael Jackson Autopsy

Michael Jackson’s father has filed a wrongful death suit against the doctor accused of giving the star a lethal overdose of sedatives.

Joe Jackson accused Dr Conrad Murray of professional negligence and alleged he tried to hide the fact he’d given Michael the anaesthetic Propofol – usually only administered in hospitals – which authorities say killed him. Jackson Snr is seeking damages of over £50,000.

The lawsuit also names clinics the doctor runs in Nevada, Las Vegas and Houston, claiming they didn’t properly supervise Murray.

Michael died on 25 June 2009 following a cardiac arrest at his LA home. Murray had been treating the star in the run-up to his comeback tour at London’s O2 Arena.

The civil suit will run at the same time as the criminal trial against the physician, which is expected to begin next year. He has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

As the suit was filed, Murray’s attorney released a statement asserting the doctor’s innocence. “We’d like to remind people that Dr Murray has not been found guilty of anything and we believe his innocence will be proven in a court of law. We’ve been told we were going to be sued for months so today’s filing is no surprise to us.”

Michael Jackson’s doctor Conrad Murray is due in court today (April 5) over involuntary manslaughter charges.

Dr Murray, who has pleaded not guilty to giving the late King of Pop a lethal dose of an anesthetic, is set to appear at Los Angeles Superior Court for the preliminary hearing, reports BBC News.

Up to 15 of Jackson’s relatives are set to attend the hearing, along with fans and journalists.

Dr Murray faces having his licence suspended during the proceedings.

However, court documents have revealed that the medic’s ability to pay for his legal defence relies on him being able to continue practising.

At the hearing, it is expected that a judge will assigned to the case and a date will be set for another preliminary hearing, where it will be decided if there is sufficient evidence for a jury trial.

Reports in the US have suggested Dr Murray’s legal team will argue that Jackson’s death was caused when the singer injected himself with Propofol.

Last month, it was reported by Reuters that Michael Jackson’s father Joe Jackson is planning to sue doctor Conrad Murray for wrongful death.

Michael Jackson’s former doctor, who is facing a manslaughter charge following the singer’s death last June, has returned to work in Nevada.

Dr Conrad Murray was bailed for $75,000 (£48,000) after pleading not guilty to “unlawfully” killing the star, at a court in Los Angeles earlier this week.

If convicted he may face four years in jail. He is due back in court in April.

Dr Murray’s lawyer, Edward Chernoff, has stressed the 56-year-old intends “to keep practising medicine”.

Miranda Sevcik, a spokeswoman for Dr Murray and Mr Chernoff, said the doctor was making arrangements to work out of another physician’s office in Las Vegas, having closed his own premises in the city last August.

“We’re not sharing the location because the doctor’s primary concern is for his patients’ privacy,” said Sevcik.

Under the terms of his bail, Dr Murray is allowed to continue to practise medicine, but cannot use certain drugs.

Judge Keith Schwartz told Dr Murray on Monday: “You may not under any circumstances use any anaesthetic agents, specifically Propofol.

Dr Murray, a cardiologist, continues to operate his other practice in Houston, having resumed work there in November.

He is licensed to practise medicine in Nevada, Texas and California, although the California Medical Board is preparing to seek removal of his licence there.

Insomnia

Jackson died at his home on 25 June last year at the age of 50. His death was ruled as homicide, mainly caused by the anaesthetic Propofol.

Dr Murray had been hired to be Jackson’s personal physician last spring as the singer prepared for his comeback concerts in London.

He told police he had been giving Jackson Propofol as part of his treatment for insomnia, according to an affidavit made public in August.

But he has always maintained he neither prescribed nor administered anything that should have killed the singer.

Prosecutors had filed one count of involuntary manslaughter.

A hearing has been set for 5 April in Los Angeles.

The coroner’s post mortem report into Michael Jackson death has finally been made public, almost eight months after the star passed away.

The document has been released following the charging of Dr Conrad Murray with the star’s manslaughter earlier this week.

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The 51-page report released by the Los Angeles coroner contains lurid details of Michael Jackson’s physical condition and explains how his death on June 25 came to be ruled as a homicide – explaining the singer’s death as a result of ”acute propofol intoxication.”

Propofol is the anaesthetic the report claims was administered by Dr Murray in a “non-hospital setting” without “recommended medical equipment or care standards”.

It continues that Dr Murray “did unlawfully, and without malice, kill Michael Joseph Jackson” by acting “without due caution and circumspection”.

The medic was treating the singer for insomnia ahead of his comeback This Is It live dates at London’s O2 Arena.

Diagrams of the star’s dead body list a number of scars and needle marks and say his hair was sparse and attached to a wig and that hs lips and eyebrows had been tattooed.

Murray appeared in court yesterday and pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

Michael Jackson’s arms were covered with puncture marks, his face and neck were scarred by plastic surgery and he had a bald spot covered by a tattoo, as well as tattooed eyebrows and lips, an autopsy into his death has revealed.

The singer was also suffering from arthritis in his lower spine and some fingers and his lungs were chronically inflamed which might have left him short of breath.

However, the autopsy report showed the 50-year-old singer was generally healthy for his age before he died of an overdose in June.

He was not emaciated and weighed 136 pounds (62 kg), which was within the normal range for his height, and his heart was strong. His kidneys and other major organs were normal.

According to the document his lung condition was not serious enough to be a direct or contributing cause of death.

Dr. Zeev Kain, chairman of the anesthesiology department at the University of California, Irvine, who reviewed a copy of the autopsy report, said: “His overall health was fine. The results are within normal limits.”

The autopsy report showed that Jackson had a 2cm scar behind his left ear and another apparent scar behind his right ear.

He had a scar beside each of his nostrils and a 10cm scar on his right shoulder. There were two additional scars, each about 7.5cm long, at the base of his neck, and smaller scars on his arms and wrist. Dr Kain, who was not involved in conducting the autopsy, said most of the scars appeared to be from plastic surgery.

Jackson also had several tattoos, all of them cosmetic, including dark tattoos in the areas of both eyebrows and under his eyes, and a pink tattoo around his lips.

He was going bald at the front of his head, with his remaining hair described as short and tightly curled.

The bald part of his scalp was darkened with what appeared to be a tattoo stretching across the top of his head from ear to ear.

The report, which was leaked to the Associated Press, also found Jackson was actively producing sperm.

It showed there had been a desperate struggle to save Jackson. He had chest bruising and cracked ribs from CPR and a mechanical device known as a balloon pump had been inserted into his heart to try to restart it.

Jackson died at his rented Los Angeles mansion on June 25 after his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, administered the anesthetic propofol and two other sedatives to get the chronic insomniac to sleep, according to court documents.

Propofol, normally a surgical anesthetic used in operating rooms, acts as a respiratory depressant and requires constant monitoring.

Apart from propofol and the sedatives the only substances found in Jackson’s system by the autopsy were the local anesthetic Lidocaine, sometimes used to numb injection sites, and ephedrine which is a commonly used resuscitation stimulant.

No other drugs, legal or illegal, were detected, nor was any alcohol.

The coroner’s office announced last month that Jackson’s death was a homicide caused by “acute propofol intoxication” with the other sedatives listed as a contributing factor.

Dr Murray is the target of what Los Angeles police term a manslaughter investigation. A decision on criminal charges will come from the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

In a video posted to YouTube, Dr Murray has said: “I told the truth and I have faith the truth will prevail.”

His attorney, Edward Chernoff, has previously said nothing Dr Murray gave Jackson “should have” killed him.

Michael Jackson’s family are preparing for the late pop star’s private funeral at a cemetery in Los Angeles.

Mourners are expected to gather at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park, more than two months after Jackson died of a lethal cocktail of prescription drugs.

Security will be tight and police have urged fans not to turn up.

The “extraordinary” funeral costs will be covered by Jackson’s estate after lawyers for his mother Katherine asked a judge to sign off on the expenses.

Criminal charges

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff authorised the estate to pay for the burial.

Attorney Jeryll Cohen said: “The expenses are extraordinary. However, Michael Jackson was extraordinary.”

Mr Cohen said one of the reasons that costs were so high is because 12 burial plots have been bought, though it has not been revealed what purpose they will serve.

Last week, Jackson’s death was ruled a homicide by the Los Angeles coroner.

The verdict increases the chances of criminal charges being brought, although no one has been named a suspect.

Jackson, known for such hits as Bad, Thriller and Smooth Criminal, was originally due to be buried on 29 August – which would have been his 51st birthday.

However, the date was pushed back to allow more time for the planning of the ceremony.

Jackson joins a long list of famous stars who have also been buried in the Forest Lawn cemetery.

Screen stars Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn and Clark Gable have all been laid to rest there.

Michael Jackson’s death certificate has been amended to reflect his cause of death as homicide.

The document has been changed to specify that his death was caused by “injection by another”.

Investigators had concluded that a powerful concoction of prescription drugs killed the pop star.

The coroner’s further homicide verdict increases the chances of criminal charges being brought against Jackson’s doctors.

‘Hoax videos’

Jackson died at his Los Angeles home in June, aged 50.

Police have interviewed his personal physician Dr Conrad Murray but he has not been named as a suspect. He has strenuously denied any wrongdoing.

Jackson is expected to be buried in a private sunset ceremony in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in California.

Only close family and friends of Jackson will be in attendance for the event.

Meanwhile, a hoax video apparently showing the singer emerging from a coroner’s van has emerged.

German channel RTL posted the footage on YouTube and received 880,000 hits in one day.

Heike Schultz, spokeswoman for the network, said it had been an experiment.

“We wanted to show how easily users can be manipulated on the internet with hoax videos,” she said.

“Therefore, we created this video of Michael Jackson being alive, even though everybody knows by now that he is dead – and the response was breathtaking.”

Los Angeles police say they will refer the case of Michael Jackson’s death to prosecutors after the city coroner officially ruled that his death was a homicide.

In a statement, the coroner said that Jacko’s unlawful death was caused by “acute propofol intoxication”.

As well as propofol, powerful prescription drugs including lorazepam, midazolam, diazepam, lidocaine and ephedrine were found in Jackson’s body, the statement said.

Separately, the Los Angeles Police Department said its investigation into the singer’s death was ongoing, but that officers would refer the case to prosecutors for possible criminal charges to be filed.
A probe into Jackson’s death has focused on several doctors who were caring for the singer when he died, particularly his personal physician, Dr Conrad Murray.

Warrants used to search his office have revealed he is the subject of a manslaughter investigation.

He has admitted giving injections of propofol to Jackson to treat his insomnia in the weeks before his death in June.

The coroner said Jackson’s autopsy report would not be released in full as police had requested that some details be withheld.

The statement reveals a shopping list of drugs in Jackson’s body – but it must be pointed out that these are just the headline findings.

“Dr Murray said he was trying to wean Jackson off propofol – and this statement doesn’t include such details.

“To qualify homicide, in the US this just means the death was caused by the actions of another person.

“It can include murder, but doesn’t necessarily mean murder, as it can also cover a range of other charges including involuntary manslaughter.”

Medical experts said the cocktail of drugs apparently given to Jackson was extremely dangerous and police would need to determine whether administering it was tantamount to medical negligence.

Jackson is to be buried at a cemetery in Glendale, California on September 3, his family announced last week.

They had originally planned to bury him on Saturday – the day he would have turned 51.

The Los Angeles county coroner has ruled Michael Jackson’s death was caused by a lethal combination of powerful sedative drugs.

Conrad Murray, a cardiologist who treated Jackson for insomnia, told a Los Angeles police official that he had injected Jackson with propofol in the hours before his death on 25 June in a rented mansion in Los Angeles. The drug is an anaesthetic used during surgery, and is typically administered intravenously in a hospital setting.

In a sworn affidavit, Los Angeles detective Orlando Martinez said that Murray admitted to giving the 50-year-old singer a veritable cocktail of drugs to help him sleep the night before he died.

Murray had been Jackson’s personal physician for about six weeks, and told investigators that another doctor had introduced Jackson to propofol, which investigators said the pop star obtained using several aliases.

Martinez said that the Los Angeles County chief coroner Dr Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran reported Jackson had a lethal level of propofol in his blood.

Murray told police he used it to help Jackson sleep, and that he worried Jackson had become addicted to it. He said he tried to wean Jackson off the drug, which Jackson called his “milk”. Murray said Jackson had injection marks on his hands and feet.

Murray said he was monitoring Jackson’s pulse and oxygen levels as he administered the sedatives during the night, and that Jackson remained awake despite several injections of drugs. Jackson requested and demanded an injection of propofol, Murray said.

Murray told investigators that about 10:30am on 25 June, Murray left Jackson for less than two minutes to use the restroom, and that Jackson was not breathing when he returned. Murray began CPR, injected more drugs, and another aide summoned help.

Federal drug enforcement agents were unable to find records of Murray’s purchase of propofol and have sought medical records from a handful of other physicians who had treated the singer.

Martinez also stated that in April, Jackson offered to pay another physician any price to obtain propofol. The physician declined. Murray has gone into virtual hiding since Jackson’s death. In his only public statement, he said in a video posted on YouTube that he had told the truth and “the truth will prevail”.

The spokesman for the Jackson family says Michael Jackson will be laid to rest at Holly Terrace in the Great Mausoleum at Glendale Forest Lawn Memorial Park on Saturday, August 29 at 10 AM. That would have been Michael’s 51st birthday.

Randy Jackson said that he and his brothers will serve as pallbearers at Michael Jackson’s burial service.

Here’s the message issued by Randy – ” I will be there … and yes the brothers will carry him from the hearse to the front of the mausoleum.”

Randy, his brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon were the pallbearers at the Staples Center Memorial last month.

Now, the family is preparing for the private burial which is set to take place August 29 at Glendale Forest Lawn – on what would have been Michael’s 51st birthday.

The Great Mausoleum – where stars like Clark Gable and Jean Harlow were laid to rest – is considered a private area, where only property owners and family members are allowed to go. It’s monitored by security cameras to catch any trespassers who snoop around.