What killed Michael Jackson? Mystery deepens :One day after Michael Jackson's sudden death, speculation was already turning on Friday to what killed the 50-year-old "King of Pop" just weeks before his long-awaited series of comeback concerts.
Jackson, a former child star who became one of the best-selling pop artists of all time before a descending into a strange and reclusive lifestyle, died on Thursday afternoon at a Los Angeles hospital, where he had been rushed in full cardiac arrest after collapsing at his nearby rental home.
His body was flown by helicopter from the hospital to the coroner's office late on Thursday. Brian Oxman, a spokesman for the Jackson family, told CNN on Thursday that the family had been concerned about his health and had tried in vain to take care of him for months. "Michael appeared at rehearsals a couple of times, he was very seriously trying to be able to do those rehearsals," Oxman said of Jackson's preparations for a series of 50 concerts that were scheduled to begin in London in July.
Authorities have scheduled an autopsy for Friday. But they cautioned that it could take weeks to determine a cause of death, which will likely have to wait for the return of toxicology tests. Those tests will determine if Jackson had any drugs, alcohol or prescription medications in his system. Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery Homicide division searched Jackson's home in the upscale Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles at the behest of Chief William Bratton. But they called the investigation an "every day" event. The London concert swing was billed as a comeback for Jackson, who dominated the pop charts during the 1980s with such hits as "Thriller" and "Billie Jean" and was credited with turning music videos into a costly and cinematic art form.
Doctors conducted an autopsy on the body of Michael Jackson on Friday but could not immediately determine what killed the "King of Pop," amid reports he had been injected with a narcotic painkiller shortly before collapsing. Jackson was in full cardiac arrest when paramedics arrived at his rented mansion in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon, with his personal physician trying desperately to revive him.
Michael Jackson 1958-2009 :
The 50-year-old pop superstar was rushed to nearby UCLA Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead without regaining consciousness. "The cause of death (determination) has been deferred, which means that the medical examiner has ordered additional testing such as toxicology and other studies," Los Angeles County Coroner's spokesman Craig Harvey said. "Those tests we anticipate will take an additional four to six weeks." Police said they were seeking to question Jackson's personal physician, identified by news media as Houston-based cardiologist Dr. Conrad Murray. Jackson's body will be released to family members after they choose a mortuary for funeral arrangements, Harvey said. There was no immediate word on when he would be laid to rest.
Celebrity website TMZ.com, citing an interview with an unidentified "close member" of the Jackson family, reported the entertainer was injected with Demerol about half an hour before he went into cardiac arrest. A dermatologist linked to the investigation into Michael Jackson's death has denied giving the star dangerous drugs as mystery shrouded the King of Pop's final resting place. As the dust settled on an emotion-filled Los Angeles memorial watched by up to one billion fans worldwide according to some estimates, attention returned Wednesday to the role of drugs in Jackson's tragic demise. Investigators are reportedly looking into five doctors who treated the superstar in the past and have zeroed in on a powerful sedative - Diprivan - discovered at Jackson's rented mansion after his death.
Diprivan is commonly used to induce unconsciousness in hospital patients ahead of major surgery and experts say it should only be administered by a trained anesthesiologist. Jackson's long-time dermatologist Arnold Klein on Wednesday denied he was the source of the drugs found but said he had often been concerned other medical professionals were supplying the singer with medications. "I didn't give him this crap that they're talking about," he told ABC television's Good Morning America. "How am I going to prescribe Diprivan when I don't understand how to use it?" Klein, who said he treated Jackson three days before his mysterious death on June 25, believes that any doctor found to have supplied the star with drugs should be prosecuted for manslaughter.
"I say that anyone who makes someone an addict or gives a person potentially dangerous substances directly to them to use, like propofol is a criminal," Klein said, referring to the generic name for Diprivan. "It becomes nothing more than a manslaughter, or something worse than that." Klein revealed that Jackson appeared to be in good health a few days before his death. "He was not in terrible pain when I saw him. He danced in the office. He was very happy and dancing," he said. "I saw nothing at that point in time that would make me worry whatsoever but I always was concerned about him because I always worried about other doctors," Klein said. "Here's the problem with Michael: no matter what he wanted, someone would give it to him," added Klein, saying he was not one of the five physicians reportedly under scrutiny by investigators. "I'm not one of the five doctors. I've not been examined by anyone, I've not been contacted by police in Los Angeles," he said. Unidentified sources close to the investigation told CNN and ABC that Jackson's body had been riddled with needle marks and collapsed veins consistent with intravenous use of a drug like Diprivan.
The Los Angeles coroner's office has said no final cause of death will be revealed until results of exhaustive toxicology tests are confirmed in the next four weeks. A death certificate released Tuesday stated the cause of Jackson's demise had been "deferred." Jackson's daughter Paris, 11, grabbed international attention with her heartbreaking comments at her father's memorial on Tuesday. Only the funerals of former President Ronald Reagan in 2004, seen by 35 million and Princess Diana in 1997, (33.2 million) attracted higher numbers. Jackson sold more than 750 million albums during a four-decade career that was tainted by repeated allegations of child abuse, his startling physical transformation and his eccentric behaviour.
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