Jackson’s doctor never told hospital staff about anaesthetic

AN EMERGENCY department doctor told jurors yesterday that Michael Jackson’s personal physician never mentioned that he had given the singer the powerful anaesthetic propofol.

But Dr Richelle Cooper admitted the disclosure probably would not have saved the King of Pop.

She recounted her conversations with Dr Conrad Murray on the day Jackson died, telling jurors in Los Angeles that he told her that he had only given the singer the sedative lorazepam.

She said under defence questioning that had Murray mentioned the anaesthetic, it probably would not have allowed doctors to save Jackson’s life as he was “clinically dead” by the time he arrived at the hospital.

Murray, 58, has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and his defence lawyers claim Jackson gave himself a fatal dose of sedatives and propofol.

Authorities say Murray administered the fatal dose and acted recklessly by providing Jackson the drug as a sleep aid.

Dr Cooper testified she never asked Murray to sign a death certificate because, after he was brought to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Centre, Jackson became her patient.

Dr Cooper also told jurors about trying to speak to Jackson’s children after he was pronounced dead at the hospital at 2:26pm on June 25, 2009.

“They were crying,” Cooper said. “They were fairly hysterical.”

Prosecutors yesterday began to bring Murray’s phone records into the trial, which are a central part of their case.