Michael Jackson’s Doctors Avoid Charges for His Death
The California Attorney General’s office has announced that it won’t seek charges against seven doctors and one nurse who were under investigation following Michael Jackson‘s death for prescribing drugs to the King of Pop. A spokeswoman for Attorney General Jerry Brown said that the investigators did not find sufficient evidence, CNN reports. However, one unspecified doctor who knowingly provided drugs to Jackson under one of the star’s aliases could be disciplined by the California medical board. While the Attorney General’s office declined to name the physicians in their probe, it’s believed that Jackson’s dermatologist Arnold Klein, whose practice was searched in the days following Jackson’s death, and the singer’s nurse Cherilyn Lee, who was subpoenaed by authorities, were among those investigated.
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Conrad Murray, Jackson’s personal physician, remains the lone suspect in Jackson’s death. As Rolling Stone previously reported, Murray was charged with involuntary manslaughter; Jackon’s death was ruled a homicide due to acute Propofol intoxication. An additional autopsy report found a large amount of the anti-anxiety drug lorazepam in Jackson’s system, which “would have accentuated the respiratory and cardiovascular depression from propofol,” causing Jackson to go into cardiac arrest. Murray pleaded not guilty in court to the charges.
Last month, Murray’s lawyer Ed Chernoff mapped out the doctor’s defense strategy, claiming that either a third party or Jackson himself administered the fatal dose of Propofol, a powerful sedative usually limited to surgical operations and hospital use, when Murray left the room for two minutes on the night of June 25th, 2009. While an aesthesia expert told the coroner that it would be “difficult” for Jackson to self-administer the Propofol, Murray’s legal team argues that it is possible. Due to his role in Jackson’s death, the California Attorney General has twice attempted to have the state’s medical board revoke Murray’s license to practice in California, but the judge overseeing Murray’s case has rejected the Attorney General’s bid. Murray’s trial is expected to begin in the fall.
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