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Michael Jackson |
A mixture of the powerful anesthetic propofol and the anti-anxiety drug lorazepam killed Michael Jackson, The New York Time reported, quoting a statement from the Los Angeles County Coroner Office.
"The manner of death has been ruled: homicide," the brief statement was quoted as saying.
The announcement was the first official confirmation of Jackson's cause and manner of death by local law enforcement officials since paramedics drove him, unconscious, from his home in Holmby Hills on June 25, according to the paper.
Mr. Jackson's death set off a multiagency investigation in three states into the role played by Jackson's personal physician at the time, Dr. Conrad Murray. Dr. Murray has denied any responsibility in Jackson's death.
The Times said Edward Chernoff, Dr. Murray's lawyer, criticized the coroner's office for releasing only a brief summary of the autopsy results, telling The Associated Press that it was "gamesmanship."
Search warrants filed in Texas by the police and unsealed earlier this week described how Dr. Murray administered propofol intravenously to Jackson because of his professed insomnia, left the singer's bedroom, and returned to find Jackson unconscious.
Coroners' officials said that along with propofol and lorazepam, Jackson also had several other drugs in his system when he died including midazolam, a muscle relaxant; diazepam, also known as Valium; lidocaine, a local anesthetic for needle burn; and ephedrine, a stimulant and decongestant, according to The New York Times.
Propofol, a sedative normally used to anesthetize patients for surgery, is extremely fast-acting. Medical experts say that if a patient receiving propofol is not carefully monitored with instruments that measure oxygen levels, blood pressure and heart rate, the drug can quickly cause problems. |
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