LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Doctors who tried to revive Michael Jackson at a Los Angles hospital testified yesterday that the singer’s personal physician never told them he gave him the anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid.
The testimony came as the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr Conrad Murray entered its second week. Medical examiners have determined Jackson, 50, died on June 25, 2009 from an overdose of propofol and sedatives.
Emergency doctors at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles said that Jackson was already dead when he arrived there. Nevertheless, lengthy attempts were made to revive him before he was pronounced dead at 2.26 pm.
“My assessment when he arrived was that he was clinically dead,” emergency room doctor Richelle Cooper said.
Murray told doctors that he had given Jackson only the sedative lorazepam.
Cardiologist Thao Nguyen said she could not get Murray to explain to her how much time passed between when he gave Jackson the lorazepam, and when the singer stopped breathing.
“He said he did not have any concept of time, he did not have a watch,” Nguyen told jurors.