Murray sought lifesaving gear, nurse for Jackson
LOS ANGELES — The doctor charged in Michael Jackson’s death had requested lifesaving gear and a nurse from the concert promoter organizing the singer’s London shows, documents obtained by The Associated Press reveal.
But neither request appeared to be in place when Jackson died June 25, 2009, after Dr. Conrad Murray administered a mixture of sedatives, including the anesthetic propofol, in an attempt to get the chronic insomniac to sleep.
Propofol is very powerful and usually is administered only in medical settings with emergency equipment on hand. Patients are normally constantly monitored.
Murray was alone when he gave the drugs to Jackson. After he realized the sedated star was not breathing, he performed CPR but was unable to revive him. He performed CPR on the singer while he was in bed instead of moving him to the hard floor, an action that was criticized after Jackson’s death.
The doctor has pleaded not guilty to an involuntary manslaughter charge in Jackson’s death. His proposed contract with promoter AEG, which included a monthly fee of $150,000, was not finalized before the singer’s death. Murray never received payment for his services.
The request for a heart resuscitation machine and a nurse are revealed in e-mails and a contract drafted by AEG Live and sent to Murray.
The documents are included in a complaint filed by Jackson’s father, Joe, to the California Medical Board against AEG Live, accusing the promoter of Jackson’s comeback tour of engaging in the “unlawful practice of corporate medicine.”
Michael Roth, an AEG spokesman, said company officials had not seen the complaint and he could not comment on it or the contract. Murray’s lawyer Ed Chernoff also declined to comment.
“AEG hired, directed, controlled and demanded Dr. Conrad Murray, a medical doctor, to medicate Michael Jackson, provide Jackson with dangerous medical services, and to give Michael Jackson controlled substances and other drugs without providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation equipment or nursing assistance as it had promised in writing it would provide,” the complaint states.
Murray’s request for the CPR equipment was first made to a concert tour business manager, an e-mail message shows. The complaint states Murray also requested a nurse, and the doctor’s proposed contract called for AEG to hire a “qualified assistant medical person.”
The complaint states Murray signed the document a day before Jackson’s death.
