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AP told propofol did kill Jackson

By | Published on Tuesday 28 July 2009

Dr Conrad Murray did administer a powerful anaesthetic to Michael Jackson just twelve hours before the late king of pop suffered the cardiac arrest that killed him, or so says an unnamed law enforcement official who has spoken to the Associated Press about the ongoing investigation into Jacko’s untimely demise.

Bringing together various rumours that have been circulating since Jackson’s death, the official apparently told the AP that the singer regularly received the intravenous drug propofol, or Diprivan, to help him sleep, even though that is a highly unusual use of the prescription medication usually used in surgery.

The insider claims Murray administered a shot of the drug just after midnight on the day Jackson died. Though those much previously reported toxicology reports commissioned by the LA coroner are still pending, investigators are seemingly convinced it was the propofol shot that killed the singer.

Murray has previously denied administering drugs to the singer prior to Jackson’s death, though it’s possible the twelve hour gap between administration and cardiac arrest meant that the medic didn’t consider himself to have given the singer any medication “immediately prior” to his demise. A slightly more ambiguous statement issued by Murray’s lawyer more recently said that the doctor “didn’t prescribe or administer anything that should have killed Michael Jackson”.

As previously reported, the spotlight has been increasingly focused on Murray as investigations into Jackson’s death continue, and one of the medic’s offices was searched by investigators last week after officials named him as a suspect in a manslaughter investigation.

If the unnamed source is right, and assuming Murray didn’t give Jackson an actual overdose of the drug – deliberately or negligently – it will be interesting to see if the authorities or courts consider the medic to be liable in any way for the late singer’s ending.

Obviously such medication comes with risks even when administered carefully and professionally. But given comments by others close to Jackson, it is likely the singer insisted receiving the drug, despite being made aware of attached risks. Though whether compliance or even the insistence of the patient is enough to exonerate Murray of any liability for the potentially, and in this case actually, fatal consequences of using a drug like propofol remains to be seen.



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