LOS ANGELES — Michael Jackson’s personal doctor spoke out for the first time on Sunday, denying circulating reports that he provided the pop star with prescription drugs.
Dr. Conrad Murray’s attorney, Edward Chernoff, told The Associated Press that his client only prescribed drugs requested by Jackson to treat specific areas of pain.
“Dr. Murray has never prescribed nor administered Demerol to Michael Jackson,” said Chernoff. “Not ever. Not that day. … Not Oxycontin (either) for that matter.”
Chernoff said Murray discovered Jackson unconscious in bed and immediately began to administer CPR.
“He just happened to find him in his bed, and he wasn’t breathing,” said Murray’s attorney. “Mr. Jackson was still warm and had a pulse.”
Speculation into what may have caused Jackson’s death began quickly Thursday after the 50-year-old superstar was pronounced dead from an apparent cardiac arrest. Brian Oxman, a former Jackson family attorney and friend, hinted to reporters that prescription drugs may have played a role in Jackson’s death. He claimed that the pop star used the drugs to fight pain suffered as a result of a previous stage fall.
“I said one day, we’re going to have this experience. And when Anna Nicole Smith passed away, I said we cannot have this kind of thing with Michael Jackson,” Oxman said on Friday’s “Today” show. “The result was, I warned everyone, and lo and behold, here we are. I don’t know what caused his death. But I feared this day, and here we are.”
The Los Angeles County Coroner’s office completed their autopsy of Jackson on Friday. While they have yet to determine an exact cause of death, their initial findings did determine that the music icon had been taking prescription medication.
There have been claims that Jackson was given an injection of Demerol less than an hour before he went into cardiac arrest, but a spokeswoman referred to Murray as “a witness to this tragedy,” not a suspect in the singer’s death.
Murray has been cooperating with authorities and spent three hours answering questions from investigators on Saturday.
