Death of Michael Jackson
On June 25, 2009, the American singer Michael Jackson died of acute propofol intoxication in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 50. His personal physician, Conrad Murray, said that he found Jackson in his bedroom at his North Carolwood Drive home in the Holmby Hills area of the city not breathing and with a weak pulse; he administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to no avail, and security called 9-1-1 at 12:21 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (UTC–7). Paramedics treated Jackson at the scene, but he was pronounced dead at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood at 2:26 p.m.[1]
Date
June 25, 2009
2:26 p.m. (Pacific Daylight Time)
Homicide by acute propofol intoxication
4 years in prison (paroled after 1 year and 11 months)
On August 28, 2009, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner concluded that Jackson's death was a homicide.[2] Jackson had been administered propofol and anti-anxiety benzodiazepines lorazepam and midazolam by his doctor.[3] Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in November 2011, and was released in 2013 after serving two years of his four-year prison sentence with time off for good behavior.[4][5]
At the time of his death, Jackson had been preparing for a series of comeback concerts, This Is It, due to begin in July 2009 in London in the United Kingdom. His death triggered reactions around the world, creating unprecedented surges of Internet traffic and a spike in sales of his music.[6] A televised memorial service, held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, had an estimated 2.5 billion viewers.[7][8][9] In 2010, Sony Music Entertainment signed a US$250 million deal with Jackson's estate to retain distribution rights to his recordings until 2017 and to release seven posthumous albums of unreleased material over the following decade.[10][11]
Investigation
Autopsies
Jackson's corpse was flown by helicopter to the Los Angeles County Coroner's offices in Lincoln Heights, where a three-hour autopsy was performed the next day (June 26) on behalf of the Los Angeles County Coroner by the chief medical examiner Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran.[29] The Jackson family arranged for a private, second autopsy, a practice that could yield expedited, albeit limited, results.[30] After the preliminary autopsy was completed, Craig Harvey, chief investigator for the coroner's office, said there was no evidence of trauma or foul play.[31]
On August 28, 2009, the Los Angeles County coroner classified Jackson's death as a homicide, determining that Jackson died from acute propofol intoxication, exacerbated by the anxiolytic lorazepam, and less significantly midazolam, diazepam, lidocaine, and ephedrine. The coroner kept the complete toxicology report private, as requested by the police and district attorney.[2]
The autopsy report revealed that Jackson was otherwise healthy[32] for his age (age 50) and that his heart was strong; his most significant health issue was that his lungs were chronically inflamed, but this did not contribute to his death.[33] His other major organs were normal and he had no atherosclerosis except for some slight plaque accumulation in the arteries in his leg.[34][35] The Associated Press reported that his weight was within the acceptable range.[35]
Law enforcement agencies
Jackson's death was investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD)[36] and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); the latter agency had the authority to investigate issues otherwise protected by doctor-patient confidentiality, allowing it to trace the complex trail of prescription drugs supplied to Jackson.[37]
On August 28, 2009, LAPD announced that the case would be referred to prosecutors.[2] Because the LAPD did not secure Jackson's home and allowed the Jackson family access to it as well before returning to remove certain items, the department raised concerns by some observers that the chain of custody had been broken.[37][38] The police maintained that they had followed protocol.[38] California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced that his office was helping the LAPD and DEA to create a statewide database of all medical doctors and prescriptions filled.[39]
The LAPD subpoenaed medical records from doctors who had treated Jackson. Police considered, but did not bring, homicide charges against those who had supplied drugs to Jackson.[40][41]
Drug-use allegations
Marc Schaffel, Jackson's former video producer, said that the singer had used propofol, alprazolam (generic name for the benzodiazepine Xanax) and sertraline (generic name for the SSRI antidepressant Zoloft).[42] Other drugs included omeprazole, hydrocodone, paroxetine, carisoprodol, and hydromorphone.[43] After his death, police found several drugs in his home, which included propofol. Some of these drugs had labels made out to fraudulent names, and others were unlabeled.[44][45] A 2004 police document prepared for the 2005 People v. Jackson child abuse trial said that Jackson was taking up to 40 alprazolam pills a night.[40] Alprazolam was not found in his bloodstream at the time of death.[3] Jackson's friend A. J. Farshchian stated that Jackson was scared of drugs.[46]
Eugene Aksenoff is a Tokyo-based physician who had treated Jackson and his children on a few occasions, and he expressed concern about Jackson's use of various drugs.[47] He said that Jackson asked for stimulants so that he could get through some demanding performances, but Aksenoff said that he refused to prescribe them. He recalled that Jackson had chronic fatigue, fever, insomnia, and other symptoms, and he took a large amount of drugs. He suspected that one of the major factors causing these symptoms was excessive use of steroids or other skin-whitening medications.[48]
His sister Janet Jackson claimed that their family tried to stage an intervention in early 2007 when Michael was living in Las Vegas.[49] She and a number of their brothers allegedly traveled to his home but were turned away by security guards who were ordered not to let them enter. He was also rumored to have refused phone calls from his mother. However, the family denied that they had tried to intervene.[50]
