LOS ANGELES – Michael
Jackson's arms were covered with punctures, his face and neck were
scarred and he had tattooed eyebrows and lips, but he wasn't the sickly
skeleton of a man portrayed by tabloids, according to his autopsy
report obtained by The Associated Press.
In fact, the Los
Angeles County coroner's report shows Jackson was a fairly healthy
50-year-old before he died of an overdose. His 136 pounds were in the
acceptable range for a 5-foot-9 man. His heart was strong with no sign
of plaque buildup. And his kidneys and most other major organs were
normal.
Still, Jackson had health issues: arthritis in the
lower spine and some fingers, and mild plaque buildup in his leg
arteries. Most serious was his lungs, which the autopsy report said
were chronically inflamed and had reduced capacity that might have left
him short of breath.
However, according to the document, the lung 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
anesthesiology department at the University of California, Irvine, who
reviewed a copy of the autopsy report for the AP. "The results are
within normal limits."
Kain was not involved in the autopsy. The full autopsy report has not been released publicly, but the AP obtained a copy.
Jackson
died at his rented Los Angeles mansion June 25 after his personal
physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, administered the anesthetic propofol and
two other sedatives to get the chronic insomniac to sleep, court
documents state. Propofol, normally a surgical anesthetic used in
operating rooms, acts as a respiratory depressant and requires constant
monitoring,
Murray told police he left the room to use the
bathroom and phone records show he also made calls for 47 minutes
around the time Jackson encountered problems. When Murray realized
Jackson was unresponsive, he began frantic efforts to revive him, but
Jackson never regained consciousness and was declared dead at the
University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center.
The
coroner's office announced last month that Jackson's death was a
homicide caused by "acute propofol intoxication," with the other
sedatives listed as a contributing factor. They said the standard of
care for administering propofol was not met and the recommended
equipment for patient monitoring, precision dosing and resuscitation
was missing.
Murray is the target of what Los Angeles police
term a manslaughter investigation. The decision on criminal charges
will come from the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.
Murray has been interviewed twice by police.
Except for a
brief video posted to YouTube, Murray has not spoken publicly since
Jackson's death. In the video, he said: "I told the truth and I have
faith the truth will prevail." Murray's attorney, Edward Chernoff,
previously has said nothing Murray gave Jackson "should have" killed
him.
Jackson was declared dead a little more than two hours
after paramedics were called. Evidence of the desperate struggle to
save the star were evident on his body. He had chest bruising and
cracked ribs from CPR, and a mechanical device known as a balloon pump
was inserted into his heart to try to restart it, according to the
autopsy report.
Jackson's body was taken by helicopter to the
coroner's office where the following morning Chief Medical Examiner
Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran and Dr. Christopher Rogers carried out an
extensive review and ordered a toxicology screening to look for drugs
in his system.
Aside from propofol and the sedatives, the only
substances found in his system were the local anesthetic, Lidocaine,
sometimes used to numb injection sites and ephedrine, a commonly used
resuscitation stimulant.
No other drugs _ legal or otherwise _ were detected, nor was any alcohol.
Kain
said he was surprised that three other sedatives, known as
benzodiazepines, were present with propofol. Anesthesiologists
sometimes mix one "benzo" with propofol to help put a patient under,
but using three increases the danger for the patient.
"People
don't mix the benzodiazepines together because they interact with each
other and increase the risk of respiratory arrest," Kain said, adding
it was likely Jackson first stopped breathing and then suffered cardiac
arrest.
The autopsy findings cut off a potential defense for
Murray _ that Jackson hid serious pre-existing conditions that
increased the risk of death from the drugs he willingly took. Even if
he did hide a condition such as his weakened lungs, a prosecutor could
argue Murray should have detected the condition before administering
drugs, said Michael Brennan, a clinical law professor at the University
of Southern California who specializes in criminal defense.
"A
doctor has some obligation to know what his patient's physical
condition is," Brennan said. "The doctor is going to try to
substantiate whatever the patient told him ... and not simply rely on a
patient's descriptions of his physical condition."
At the time
of his death Jackson was preparing for a series of comeback concerts in
London. Rehearsals were rigorous and there were questions about whether
Jackson would be physically able to hold up.
But aside from
his lungs, the autopsy report did not identify any serious physical
problems that might have limited Jackson's ability to perform. It also
provided details about his physical state from head to toes.
He
had a 3/4-inch scar behind his left ear and another apparent scar
behind his right ear. He had a scar beside each of his nostrils and
another, 4-inch scar on his right shoulder. He had a pair of additional
scars about 3-inches long at the base of his neck and smaller scars on
his arms and wrist. He also had a small scar near his navel and a
2-inch scar on the right-hand side of his abdomen.
Kain said
most of the scars appeared to be from plastic surgery though others,
like a scar on the knee, could have been from a medical procedure.
The
medical examiner found numerous punctures on both arms and on a knee
and ankle. The leg punctures could have been from intravenous therapies
not described in the autopsy report, Kain said.
Jackson had
several tattoos, all them cosmetic, including dark tattoos in the areas
of both eyebrows and under his eyes, and a pink tattoo around his lips.
He
was going bald at the front of his head, with his remaining hair
described as short and tightly curled. The bald part of his scalp was
darkened with what appeared to be a tattoo stretching across the top of
his head from ear to ear.
The coroner found depigmentation of his skin around his chest, abdomen, face and arms.
The coroner also found Jackson was actively producing sperm.
--AP
