Deepak Chopra: Jackson doctors fed Oxy-contin, Demerol addiction

Officials have identified the doctor present when Michael Jackson
collapsed as Dr. Conrad Robert Murray, a board-certified Las Vegas
cardiologist with over twenty years of medical experience, according to
NBC news. Here, we see a wax figure of Michael Jackson on display at
Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in Shanghai, China.
AP Photo-Eugene Hoshiko

Officials have identified the doctor present when Michael Jackson collapsed as Dr. Conrad Robert Murray, a board-certified Las Vegas cardiologist with over twenty years of medical experience, according to NBC news.
 
Meanwhile, Deepak Chopra, speaking with Keith Olbermann said that Jackson had approached Chopra in the past to ask for Oxy-contin. Chopra described his friend Michael Jackson as deeply resistant to discussion about addiction matters, but also clearly struggling with addiction, and with doctors willing to enable that addiction. Chopra called such doctors 'legalized pushers,' and went on to say that his longtime friend, Michael Jackson, had been victimized by such doctors.

Police have spoken with Dr. Murray briefly, but are reportedly seeking to interview him more fully, as he was attending to Jackson's medical needs, and likely administered any drugs the pop star ingested before his death.

Dr. Murray was reportedly hired by the concert company to attend to Jackson's medical needs up to and through Jackson's 50 show comeback tour in London beginning July 13th, according to the LA Times.

Jackson had reportedly been attending regular rehearsals and returned sometime after midnight the previous night. The next morning, Jackson reportedly received a Demerol injection at about 11:30 a.m. The injection may have been too strong, because reports are that the singer stopped breathing (a symptom consistent with Demerol overdose).

The family of Michael Jackson says that Demerol injections killed the legendary star and that he was just a skeleton of his former self at the time of his death, according to TMZ.com. TMZ cites a close member of Michael Jackson's family as telling TMZ that Jackson received a daily injection of Demerol, a synthetic narcotic similar to morphine, and that he received a shot at 11:30 AM, shortly before he collapsed and died.

In 2007, Jackson was sued by a Beverly Hills pharmacy for unpaid prescription bills of about $100,000, or, about $10,000 a month. The situation was resolved "amicably," and the pharmacy, Mickey Fine, claimed the bill had been paid. Given the current situation, the question of who prescribed those drugs, and for what condition, naturally arises. Authorities continue to investigate.

The toxicology report will take 4-6 weeks to complete. In the mean time, police have placed a security hold on the autopsy results, pending further investigation.