Michael Jackson seemed dead, doctor mum on drugs: Paramedic

AFP | Oct 1, 2011, 05.02AM IST

LOS ANGELES: Michael Jackson seemed to have been dead for some time when paramedics got to his LA home, one said on Friday, adding that his accused doctor denied having given him propofol, the drug that killed him.

Conrad Murray also denied to first responders that Jackson had an underlying illness, saying he was treating him only for exhaustion and dehydration, said Richard Senneff, the head of the team reacting to a 911 call on June 25, 2009.

Murray, accused of manslaughter over the singer’s death, told the arriving paramedics that Jackson had been “down” since shortly before the 911 call was placed, the paramedic told the Los Angeles Superior Court.

“‘It just happened right when I called you,'” Senneff cited Murray as telling him when they arrived at the Jackson mansion at 12:26pm that day, some five minutes after the 911 call was received at 12:21pm.

Senneff said that claim seemed inconsistent with Jackson’s condition, which was not of someone whose heart had only just stopped beating.

“There were multiple observations .. his skin was very cool to the touch,” said Senneff. “His eyes were dry and his pupils were dilated,” and his heart was “flatlining” when hooked up to a monitor.

Murray also told them that he had only given Jackson a small amount of lorazepam, a sedative. “He never mentioned the word propofol,” said Senneff, referring to the drug blamed for the star’s death at the age of 50.

The paramedics spent over half an hour trying to revive Jackson, using a combination of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), heart-reviving drugs and direct intubation to get air into his lungs.

At 12:57pm, doctors at the UCLA Medical Center, with whom Senneff was in contact, said they were ready to pronounce Jackson dead, given the lack of response to any of the efforts to revive him.

But Murray insisted they transport him to hospital, said the paramedic, who subsequently traveled with Murray, Jackson and two other medics in the ambulance to the UCLA.

Jackson was eventually pronounced dead at 2:26pm. Murray, 58, faces up to four years in jail if convicted in the long-awaited trial, which is due to last five weeks.