Jackson doctor’s behaviour ‘strange’

Michael Jackson’s doctor acted with “gross negligence”, experts told a jury as prosecutors neared the end of the involuntary manslaughter case.

Dr Conrad Murray should have never given Jackson propofol as a sleep aid, Dr Nader Kamanger, a sleep expert, told the court in Los Angeles.

“It’s beyond a departure from the standard of care into something unfathomable,” he said.

Dr Kamanger said that, even if Jackson did somehow give himself the fatal dose of a drug, Murray would still be at fault.

“Here you have a patient that may potentially have a substance abuse problem,” Dr Kamanger said. “It sounds like he had a substance abuse problem.”

He also noted that Murray left the singer alone in his bedroom on 25 June, 2009, with a variety of drugs readily available. Jackson’s death, he said, was “a foreseeable complication”.

Dr Alon Steinberg, a cardiologist, said Murray’s admission that he did not call emergency services for at least 20 minutes, and his ineffectual resuscitation efforts, left Jackson with little chance for survival.

“Every minute counts,” Dr Steinberg said, adding that even a five-minute delay could be the difference between life and death.

He called Murray’s behaviour “strange” and, along with Dr Kamanger, criticised the cardiologist for trying to perform CPR on Jackson’s bed rather than a hard surface.