After shocking the entire world with his sudden death in late June 2009, a new documentary claims that Michael Jackson obtained drugs using 19 phoney IDs.
The ‘King of Pop,’ who was 50 years old, was discovered unconscious in his Los Angeles home after experiencing cardiac arrest brought on by the anesthetic propofol, which was apparently frequently prescribed by Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray.
Jackson’s death was determined to be a homicide, and Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and given a four-year prison sentence, serving just under two of those years in jail.
Although Murray was given the blame for Jackson’s death, a new documentary titled “TMZ Investigates: Who Really Killed Michael Jackson” that will air on Fox next month claims that Jackson had been abusing drugs in alarming amounts for most of his life and was allegedly given easy access to do so by a variety of other doctors, some of whom never spent a day in jail following the legend’s passing.
The LAPD investigator investigating Jackson’s death, Orlando Martinez, was quoted in the New York Post as saying, “It’s a lot more nuanced than just: Dr. Murray was at his bedside when he died.”
“Conditions had been building up to his death for years, and all of these different doctors had let Michael set his own terms, get the medications he wanted when he wanted them, and receive them where he wanted. He was killed today because of all of them, he continued.
Jackson had been ingesting propofol in ‘Gatorade’-size bottles at the time of his death, according to Ed Winter, the assistant chief coroner for LA County. According to Murray, propofol “was the only way he could go to sleep, especially when he was getting ready for a tour.” In many ways, the medical community encouraged his obsession with the drug. The documentary reveals that throughout his career, Jackson also developed addictions to other drugs.
In an interview with TMZ Executive Producer Harvey Levin in November 2009, renowned Hollywood dermatologist Arnold Klein admitted to giving the superstar the opioid Demerol as well as other drugs. Levin said it was “routine” for MJ to go get high on Demerol “for hours at a time” at Klein’s office.
Additionally, it was revealed that Klein allegedly maintained false records on Jackson as their relationship shifted from one of a doctor and patient to one more akin to a friendship. According to Winter, Jackson created 19 fictitious aliases to acquire various drugs, and Klein maintained a special journal detailing which prescriptions were filled under each fictitious name.
“Doctor shopping was how Michael acquired all of these medications. According to Dr. Harry Glassman, Jackson’s plastic surgeon, “He had multiple, different doctors that he was involved with. He would go to ‘Doctor A’ and ask for a sedative, and then he would go to ‘Doctor B’ and may ask for the same one.
Things came to a head in 2009 as Jackson was getting ready for his “This Is It” tour and his behavior started to cause director Kenny Ortega concern. “Paranoia, anxiety, and obsessive-like behavior are clearly present. The best course of action, in my opinion, is to bring in a reputable psychiatrist as soon as possible to assess him, Ortega wrote in a worried email during practice.
According to the New York Post, Jackson continued to practice for the tour that had sapped him so much until the day before he passed away on June 25. This was another contributing factor to his own demise.
According to the source, Martinez acknowledged that Murray had unfairly suffered as a result of events that weren’t entirely his fault. We knew that several doctors had carried out what Dr. Murray had done and that they had done so for many years, he continued.
