Jackson drug cocktail was ‘recipe for disaster’

The combination of drugs given to Michael Jackson on the day he died was a “recipe for disaster”, an expert said at the manslaughter trial of the star’s doctor Conrad Murray.

Dr Murray’s decision to give propofol on top of two other sedat-ives, along with other failings, produced a “perfect storm” which led to the King of Pop’s death on June 25, 2009, said critical care specialist Nader Kamangar.

The 58-year-old doctor is being accused of involuntary man-slaughter in the singer’s death, which was primarily due to “acute propofol intoxication” combined with the sedatives lorazepam and midazolam, according to coron-ers.

“Ultimately this cocktail was a recipe for disaster,” Dr Kamangar told Los Angeles’ Superior Court, wrapping up a short third week of testimony in the five-week trial.

Giving the drugs was exacerbated by Dr Murray’s failure to keep records of the drugs he administered, and his failure to do proper tests to find the cause for Mr Jackson’s insomnia.

“I think this was the perfect storm ... that ultimately culmin-ated in his demise,” he said.

The trial last week heard a police interview with Dr Murray in which he recounted trying to help Michael Jackson to sleep at his mansion in LA, where he was rehearsing for a series of comeback concerts in London.

From around 1 a.m. he gave the star a series of drugs, starting with a valium capsule, but also including two 25 mg infusions each of lorazepam and midazolam.

Only at 10.40 a.m., when Mr Jackson was still awake, did he agree to give him 25 mg of propofol, an anesthetic which the star had regularly used as a sedative to help him sleep.

Dr Murray claimed that, after the singer finally went to sleep, he left his bedside for only two minutes to go to the bathroom, only to return to find the singer not breathing. He scrambled to revive him but delayed calling 911, ringing Mr Jackson’s personal assistant instead. The star was eventually rushed to the UCLA Medical Center but was pronounced dead at 2.26 p.m.

Dr Murray ’s defence lawyers have claimed that Mr Jackson was a desperate addict who could have given himself an extra dose of propofol while the doctor was out of the room.

But in a surprise move on Wednesday they dropped a claim that the singer could have drunk the propofol, while leaving open the possibility he could have injected it via an intravenous tube inserted into his leg.