Expert contests Jackson drug theory

An expert in the powerful anaesthetic blamed for Michael Jackson’s death has told jurors there is no way the singer could have caused his own death by swallowing the drug.

Dr Steven Shafer was testifying on what is expected to be the final day of the prosecution’s involuntary manslaughter case against Jackson’s doctor Conrad Murray. Murray’s defence lawyers had suggested the swallowing theory might be a centrepiece of their case.

Dr Shafer also said it is impossible for any of the drug that is swallowed to enter the bloodstream, where coroner’s officials found the drug after Jackson’s death in June 2009.

Defence attorneys have said they have abandoned their theory, but it was included in a report by their propofol expert Dr Paul White. Dr White is expected to testify during the defence’s case, which will begin tomorrow.

Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. He was Jackson’s personal doctor for about two months before the singer’s unexpected death.

Dr Shafer told jurors yesterday that 17 violations by Murray each put Jackson’s life at risk. Many concerned modern lifesaving equipment that Murray lacked when he gave Jackson propofol in the bedroom of his rented mansion to fight the singer’s insomnia, but Dr Shafer said among the cardiologist’s worst transgressions was he put his own interests ahead of Jackson’s.

He likened the cardiologist to an employee, akin to a housekeeper, who would not tell his boss no.

“Saying yes is not what doctors do,” he testified. “A competent doctor would know you do not do this.”

Dr Shafer, who helped write the guidelines and warnings included with every vial of propofol, repeatedly said Murray’s actions were unconscionable, unethical and illegal.

He said Murray’s case is unlike any he has seen before.

“We are in pharmacological never-never land here, something that was done to Michael Jackson and no one else in history to my knowledge,” he told jurors.

Dr Shafer’s testimony tied together pieces of the prosecution’s case against Murray laid out over four weeks. He reminded jurors that Murray had bought more than four gallons of propofol to use on the singer during his employment, was on the phone in the hours before Jackson’s death and delayed calling for help when he found the singer unresponsive.

“The worst disasters occur in sedation and they occur when people cut corners,” Dr Shafer said. In Jackson’s case, “virtually none of the safeguards were in place”.

Testimony has shown that Murray took no notes on his treatment of Jackson and did not record his vital signs in the hours before the singer’s death.

Dr Shafer is expected to eventually address another defence theory that Jackson caused his own death by swallowing several pills of the sedative lorazepam without Murray’s knowledge.

Prosecutors have said coroner’s officials recently conducted tests that showed the levels of lorazepam in Jackson’s stomach were far lower than defence attorneys have led jurors to believe.