CNN's Don Lemon speaks exclusively with friends and family members about Michael Jackson's last days in "Michael Jackson: His Final Days," at 8 p.m. ET Friday on CNN.
Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Michael Jackson's father filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court against Dr. Conrad Murray on Friday, the anniversary of the pop star's death, Joe Jackson's lawyer said.
The suit alleges that Murray gave paramedics and doctors false information about the "polypharmacy" of drugs Michael Jackson had been given and hindered efforts to revive him in an ambulance and at UCLA Medical Center, according to a copy obtained by CNN.
The suit said that "other parties responsible for Michael Jackson's death" would be added but that the plaintiff "has not yet gathered sufficient information regarding their potential liability or responsibility."
A complaint filed by Joe Jackson with the California medical board this month also named AEG, the company that was producing his son's comeback concerts.
Murray was hired to serve as Jackson's personal doctor two months before the London debut of the concerts were set.
The Los Angeles County coroner ruled that Michael Jackson's death was caused by an overdose of propofol, a powerful anesthesia that Murray has acknowledged the pop star used to help him sleep.
Joe Jackson attorney Brian Oxman obtained a court order this year giving him medical records from UCLA Medical Center, where Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009.
The suit also alleges that Murray delayed calling for paramedics for over an hour, after he found Jackson not breathing minutes after he injected him with propofol to help him fall asleep. The suit contends that Murray used the time to hide evidence of drugs he had been giving Jackson.
When the ambulance carrying Michael Jackson from his home arrived at the emergency room at 1:13 p.m., he was identified as "Soule Shaun," the suit said. He had "no pulse, blood pressure, spontaneous respiration or heartbeat," it said.
Murray, who had taken over control of resuscitation efforts from paramedics, said nothing to emergency room doctors about the propofol or "other drugs" he had given Michael Jackson earlier in the day, it said.
It quoted a report written the next day by one of those doctors, who wrote that Murray told them "the patient had been working long hours but had not been ill."
"The only reported medications reported for the patient were valium and Flomax," Dr. Richelle Cooper wrote. "There is no history of drug use by the patient as reported by Dr. Murray."
A police report said Murray told investigators two days later that "he was afraid Michael Jackson was addicted to propofol."
"He had a history of addiction, and the defendant was trying to wean him off the drugs, yet he told Dr. Cooper two days earlier that Michael Jackson had no drug use history," the suit said.
The toxicology results included in the autopsy report said the propofol level found in Michael Jackson's body was equal to what would be used to sedate a patient for major surgery.
Murray, who has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death, did not give him that much of the anesthesia, his defense lawyer said recently.
"There is no way that Dr. Murray pumped Michael Jackson full of propofol sufficient for major surgery," attorney Ed Chernoff said. "No way. I would stake anything that I own on this fact."
The lawsuit contends that Jackson showed "neurological, pulmonary, and amnesia signs" in his final weeks as he rehearsed in Los Angeles for the London shows.
It said Jackson borrowed jackets from others and used a heater at rehearsals "to control the shivering."
"In May and June, 2009, Michael Jackson was confused, easily frightened, unable to remember, obsessive, and disoriented," the suit said. "He has impaired memory, a loss of appetite, and absence of energy. He was cold and shivering during the summer rehearsals for his show, and as shown in photographs and motion pictures of him, he uncharacteristically wore heavy clothing during the rehearsals, while other dancers wore scant clothing and were perspiring from the heat."
No comments:
Post a Comment