Police to further interview personal doctor Conrad Murray on drugs Michael Jackson took the day he died of a sudden cardiac arrest
Police want to further interview Michael Jackson’s personal doctor, Conrad Murray, who was paid by the firm promoting his concerts at London’s O2 arena.
The singer insisted the cardiologist be hired as his full-time personal doctor while he prepared for his gruelling comeback tour in Britain.
Randy Phillips, president and CEO of concert promoter AEG Live, said it was “almost a contractual condition” that Jackson have Dr. Conrad Murray at his side in the United States and abroad.
Phillips said Jackson “insisted” on Mr Murray’s employment at a “substantial” but undisclosed fee despite being told by AEG officials that “some of the best doctors in the world are in London”.
“He just said, ‘Look, this whole business revolves around me. I’m a machine and we have to keep the machine well-oiled,’ and you don’t argue with the King of Pop,” added Mr Phillips.
The Los Angeles County Coroner said no signs of foul play have been found but has ordered more tests, meaning the cause of Jackson’s death will not be known for several weeks.
“There was no external trauma or foul play,” said Harvey at a press conference outside the County Coroner’s office in Boyle City, Los Angeles. “We knew he was taking some prescription medication.”
Tohme Tohme, a Jackson family spokesman, said Las Vegas-based Dr Murray had been the singer’s personal doctor for about a year but Mr Phillips said he understood the relationship had been ongoing for about three years.
Los Angeles Police Department insisted the doctor has been co-operative and do not consider him a criminal suspect. “We do not consider him to be uncooperative at this time,” said Deputy Chief Charlie Beck. “We think that he will assist us in coming to the truth of the facts in this case.”
He added officers had spoken to Dr Murray immediately after Jackson’s death but now wanted to carry out “an extensive follow-up interview”.
Reports in the US suggested Jackson had stopped breathing after taking an injection of the prescription drug Demerol, a commercial name for pethidine, which can cause cardiac arrest if too large a dose is given.
Police are treating Jackson’s home as a potential crime scene, sealing off the room in which he collapsed.
A police spokesman said prescription drugs had been found inside the house.
A silver BMW was one of two vehicles towed away from Jackson’s rented house on Friday. A spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery and Homicide Unit, which is conducting the investigation, said: “The car belonged to Mr Jackson’s personal physician.
“It was impounded as police have been unable to interview him and the car could contain medication or other evidence for the coroner.”
A recording of the 911 emergency call released on Friday began with an unidentified man saying: “I need an ambulance as soon as possible... we have a gentleman here that needs help, he has stopped breathing. We’re trying to pump him but he’s not breathing.”
The caller, who says the patient is 50 but does not name him, is asked whether anyone saw what happened. “We have a personal doctor here,” he replies. “The doctor is the only one who was here.”
Police are anxious to take statements from everyone who was at Jackson’s rented home in the exclusive Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles, which was once owned by actor Sean Connery.
Reports have been circulating for years that Jackson was addicted to several prescription drugs, including Demerol and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax.
The Jackson family lawyer, Brian Oxman, compared Jackson’s death to that of Anna Nicole Smith, the former Playboy model who was found dead two years ago at a hotel in Florida, with an overdose of prescription drugs blamed for her death. Mr Oxman said: “I warned against this situation. I thought his problem was severe. I made reference to what happened to Anna Nicole Smith, but this exceeded it in severity. I warned everyone, and lo and behold, here we are. I don’t know what caused his death. But I feared this day, and here we are.”
Mr Oxman, who was at the UCLA hospital with the Jackson family, said Jackson first started taking pain medication after his hair caught fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial in the early 1980s. The drugs became a regular part of his life, Mr Oxman said, when Jackson later fell off a stage and suffered a broken leg and a cracked vertebra.
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