Michael Jackson’s dad refiles lawsuit against doctor

Michael Jackson’s father has re-filed a lawsuit against the late pop icon’s doctor, alleging negligence in treatment before the singer’s death and when he was found unconscious.

The 24-page lawsuit, filed at the Los Angeles Superior Court this week – after a federal court rejected it in June – claims that Conrad Murray spent 47 minutes on the phone while Michael Jackson was dying on June 25, 2009.

Joseph Jackson is seeking unspecified damages from Dr Murray and others, including a Las Vegas pharmacy said to have supplied the powerful sedative drugs administered to the 50-year-old in the run-up to his death.

“Defendants negligently did not recognise Michael Jackson’s life-threatening distress, which defendants caused through their use of inadequate equipment, personnel and monitoring,” said the suit, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

Michael Jackson’s father had already filed a suit with a federal US court on June 25 this year, the anniversary of his son’s death, but it was dismissed because the court said it was not within its jurisdiction.

The re-filed wrongful death suit again sets out in grim detail the alleged events in the hours leading up to the singer’s death, and the immediate aftermath. It notes that Dr Murray initially told investigators that he found Michael Jackson not breathing shortly before 11 a.m. at his Los Angeles home, but that a 911 emergency call was not made until 12.22 p.m.

The 57-year-old doctor later changed his version of events, after police discovered that he had spent 47 minutes talking on the phone, allegedly in relation to his medical business in Nevada and Texas.

“Defendants were negligent and acted below the standard of care by conducting their Texas and Nevada medical practice business outside of (Jackson’s) immediate presence for 47 minutes while (Jackson) was unconscious.”

Once Michael Jackson was taken to hospital, Dr Murray failed to divulge the singer’s medical background or full details of the drugs he had taken, and even allowed him to be misidentified by the false name of Soule Shaun, the lawsuit says.

Michael Jackson was found to have died after being injected with a powerful cocktail of sedatives and painkillers including Propofol, to help him sleep. Dr Murray was charged with involuntary man-slaughter in February this year. A judge has set a deadline of early January for prosecutors to gather evidence in that case.