Jackson 'was not as sickly as he seemed' before fatal overdose

Published on Thursday 1 October 2009 22:18

MICHAEL Jackson's arms were covered with punctures, his face and neck were scarred and he had tattooed eyebrows and lips, but he was not the sickly skeleton of a man he was sometimes portrayed as.

A newly released Los Angeles County coroner's report shows the pop star was a fairly healthy 50-year-old before he died of an overdose.

His weight of nine stone, seven pounds was in the acceptable range for a 5ft 9ins tall man. His heart was strong and his kidneys and most other major organs were normal.

However, according to the autopsy report, Jackson had health issues including arthritis in the lower spine and some fingers, and mild plaque buildup in his leg arteries.

The most serious problems were his lungs, which the report states were chronically inflamed and had reduced capacity, which might have left him short of breath.

However, according to the document, the condition was not serious enough to be a direct or contributing cause of death.

"His overall health was fine," said Dr Zeev Kain, chairman of the anaesthesiology department at the University of California, Irvine. "The results are within normal limits."

Jackson died at his rented Los Angeles mansion 25 June after his personal physician, Dr Conrad Murray, administered the anaesthetic propofol and two other sedatives to get the chronic insomniac to sleep, court documents state.

When Dr Murray realised Jackson was unresponsive, he began efforts to revive him but the star never regained consciousness and was declared dead at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Centre.

Last month, the LA coroner's office announced Jackson's death was a homicide caused by "acute propofol intoxication," with the other sedatives listed as a contributing factor.