Michael Jackson's doctor says others gave him propofol
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Michael Jackson's personal physician told investigators he was not the first doctor to give the pop star propofol, the powerful anesthetic that was one of the drugs to cause his death, according to court papers unsealed on Friday.
Dr. Conrad Murray, a target of the criminal probe into Jackson's death, recounted under questioning by a Los Angeles police detective that Jackson told him he was given propofol by two unnamed doctors in Germany, the affidavit states.
Murray, a heart specialist with offices in Houston and Las Vegas, was hired to care for Jackson while the singer prepared for a series of comeback concerts in the weeks before his sudden death in Los Angeles on June 25 at age 50.
The Los Angeles County coroner has ruled the death a homicide by overdose, determining that propofol and the sedative lorazepam were the main drugs that caused his death.
Murray previously had been identified as the target of a manslaughter probe, but Los Angeles prosecutors are still determining whether to seek criminal charges against any one of a number of doctors who treated the "Thriller" singer.
The latest affidavit was filed in support of a search warrant carried out in August at a Las Vegas pharmaceutical supply office where Murray bought propofol and other drugs later found in the singer's body, the affidavit states. Copies were made public Friday on celebrity news website TMZ.com.
Murray has admitted giving Jackson a 25-milligram dose of propofol the morning he died, according to police records. Murray told police he worried Jackson was addicted to propofol and was trying to wean him off the drug with smaller doses.
The latest affidavit says Murray recalled Jackson being vague when Murray asked who else was treating him and what drugs he was being prescribed.
Jackson mentioned two other doctors, his longtime dermatologist Dr. Arnold Klein and previous personal physician Allan Metzger, "had given him medicine and that it was not working," the affidavit states.
It also says Murray arranged at Jackson's request for another doctor in Las Vegas, identified as David Adams, to give the singer propofol, which he did in Murray's presence in "a third party cosmetologist's office."
The document also states that bottles of propofol were found in Murray's doctor's bag and on the bedside table of Jackson's home after his death.
(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
