Jackson: last dose of deadly drug ‘meant nothing’ says doctor

THE doctor convicted of killing Michael Jackson defended himself in a television interview recorded just days before a jury found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Conrad Murray, who remained silent during his trial, defended his use of the anaesthetic propofol to help Jackson sleep on NBC’s Today show.

“I think propofol is not recommended to be given in the home setting, but it is not contraindicated,” he said.

The cardiologist also said Jackson had been using the substance long before the pop star met Murray.

Questioned by the show’s host Savannah Guthrie, Murray said it was not necessary for him to monitor Jackson because he had given him only a small dose of propofol, and he said that was the reason he did not mention it to paramedics when they arrived at Jackson’s mansion.

He said: “That’s a very sad reason, because it was inconsequential – 25 milligrams and the effect’s gone. Means nothing.”

Guthrie asked: “Well, you told them about the other drugs, but you didn’t tell them about propofol?”

“Because it had no effect,” Murray said. “It was not an issue.”

The coroner would subsequently find that Jackson, 50, died of “acute propofol intoxication” after a huge dose of the drug complicated by other sedatives.

Murray’s defence tried to show that Jackson gave himself an extra dose of propofol while Murray was out of the room, but prosecution experts said there was no evidence of that.

Asked if he became distracted by phone calls, e-mailing and text messages, Murray said: “No I was not.”

“When I looked at a man who was all night deprived of sleep, who was desperate for sleep and finally is getting some sleep, am I gonna sit over him, sit around him, tug on his feet, do anything unusual to wake him up? No,” Murray said.

He insisted Jackson was not on an infusion that would stop his breathing, adding: “I was not supposed to be monitoring him at that time because there was no need for monitoring.”

Other doctors testified at Murray’s trial that leaving a patient alone after giving him an anaesthetic was a deviation from the standard of care expected.

In one exchange, Murray suggested that had he known that Jackson had a problem with addiction to medications he might have acted differently. Experts testified that he should have researched Jackson’s medical history before he undertook his treatment for insomnia.

On the day Jackson died, 25 June, 2009, Murray said he believed he had weaned the singer off propofol, the drug Jackson called his “milk”.

But when Jackson could not sleep, Murray told Today, he gave the entertainer a very small dose of propofol.

In retrospect, he said he probably should have walked away when Jackson asked for propofol. But he said he would have been abandoning a friend.

Murray, 58, was hired by Jackson at a promised salary of £94,000 a month to accompany the singer on his This Is It concert tour to London.

Murray is now being held in Los Angeles County Jail awaiting sentencing on 29 November and could face up to four years in prison. His lawyers plan to appeal the verdict.