Authorities believe that anesthetic killed Jackson

JOURNAL WIRE REPORT

Published: July 28, 2009

LOS ANGELES -- Michael Jackson's personal doctor administered a powerful anesthetic to help him sleep, and authorities believe that the drug killed the pop star, a law-enforcement official told The Associated Press yesterday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing, said that Jackson regularly received propofol to sleep, relying on the drug like an alarm clock. A doctor would administer it when he went to sleep, then stop the intravenous drip when he wanted to wake up. On June 25, the day that Jackson died, Dr. Conrad Murray gave him the drug through an IV sometime after midnight, the official said.

Although toxicology reports are pending, investigators are working under the theory that propofol caused Jackson's heart to stop, the official said. Jackson is believed to have been using the drug for about two years and investigators are trying to determine how many other doctors administered it, the official said.

Murray's lawyer, Edward Chernoff, has said that Murray "didn't prescribe or administer anything that should have killed Michael Jackson." When asked yesterday about the law-enforcement official's statements, he said: "We will not be commenting on rumors, innuendo or unnamed sources."