AUTOPSY TURVY 2

“Personal attacks are NOT allowed.”

BlogCritics.

“Liar, disgrace, dirt monger, scumbag. vile piece of filth, retarded, lowest form of human being, GTFO (Get the F**ck Out), Loser.”

Above are a few of the names readers have called the author of “Autopsy Turvy.” They express more about these Michael Jackson fans and fanaticism than about anyone else. Even so, allow the author of the piece to respond, not in kind, but in a respectful, reasonable manner for the record.

As the title indicates, the article is about the AUTOPSY -- not directly about Michael Jackson the man, the star, or the hero. Yes, he was the object of the autopsy, but the article's focus is on possible forensic bias in this report since the coroner is part of the DA’s office, and therefore pro-prosecution. 

I am aware that the LA Coroner’s office released a report on February 8. But this is not the complete version that will be debated in the trial. Craig Harvey, Chief Coroner Investigator & Chief of Operations, tells me: “We do not hold anything back except that which we are entitled to by law.” “EXCEPT” is the operative word. Meaning, at present, they are omitting what they can legally for strategic purposes. 

The defense is now complaining about not receiving all the records for proper discovery, and allegedly already threatening to file for a mistrial. One omission is the Reagan Medical Center report and other medical records from Jackson private doctors. On February 20, the media announced that Joe Jackson and his personal forensic expert were given access to this material, but are forbidden to disclose any of it. 

On the subject of possible serious pre-existing medical conditions: given MJ’s symptoms over the years, I discuss three possible causes the defense might concentrate on: lupus, alpha- antitrypsin deficiency, and AIDS. Dr. Klein diagnosed MJ with discoid lupus (and associated Vitiligo) in the late ‘80s. Critic MJMedia09 (Comment 38), who calls himself “the foremost expert on MJ,” generically attributes MJ’s symptoms to “lupus.” But the symptoms he mentions are of systemic lupus erythematosus, a different and far more dangerous and debilitating condition. 

As for AAD or AIDS, I NEVER wrote or implied that MJ definitely had one or the other; I asked – as the defense may do -- whether the coroner had investigated the POSSIBILITY of this or any other serious immunological condition.  

Why the hysteria at the mention of the possibility of AIDS? Or that biographers have claimed MJ was gay, and so might have been at higher risk for the tragic disease? Are we still in the medieval ‘80s when gays were vilified and AIDS patients exiled like lepers?  This is precisely why I mentioned Liberace: he refused to reveal his condition because he was petrified of homophobic denunciation and infamy. 

Readers accuse me of implying outlandish things. A writer assumes responsibility for what he WRITES, not what hypersensitive or zealous fans INFER. In no way was it scurrilously “implied” or “suggested” that Ryan White infected MJ with the HIV virus (Ms. French (65). In no way, did I absurdly suggest that “someone who has a friend that died from AIDS means that the person also has AIDS” (Dr. Mmlj (41)

Why then were Liberace, Freddie Mercury, and Ryan mentioned? Their AIDS deaths showed Michael first hand the ravages of the disease, and in the case of his fellow superstar, Liberace, the professional damage and stigma. Jackson family friend, Michael Tucker, told Randy Taraborrelli, “Of all diseases, AIDS is the one the Michael is most sensitive about.” So, after Ryan’s death, he had himself tested for HIV (see Taraborrelli, p. 438). 

But many MJ fans, here and elsewhere, call Taraborrelli a liar. Other biographers (Stacy Brown, Bob Jones, Ian Halperin, Darwin Porter, Diane Dimond, Maureen Orth, et al) who make claims they don’t like are called liars, as well. Each writer is accused of being a slanderous money-grubber who is maliciously circulating not a few lies, but an entire book of lies. Yet Michael, who has sued and been sued more than any other entertainer in history, never filed a libel action against any of them. Anyway, it seems that fans believe one and only one person regarding Michael Jackson: Michael Jackson himself. 

But is the star truly the gold standard of truth? In his autobiography, Moon Walk, Michael writes: “I’d like to set the record straight now… my nose was altered twice and I recently added a cleft to my chin, but that’s it. Period.” He told Oprah Winfrey, Martin Bashir, and others the same. Professional plastic surgeons estimate that he had fifty procedures or more. Who’s telling the truth? He many times insisted that he didn’t bleach his skin. Truly? He stated that he was a sperm donor for his fair-complexioned children and that Blanket’s mother was black. Really? 

Another reader (62) asks why, if Taraborrelli was “soooo close” to MJ, that his biography was unauthorized. Obviously because MJ didn’t want him exposing what he did. In fact, Taraborrelli’s literary agent stated that MJ offered him $2 million dollars to cancel his publishing contract. But MJ fans will likely call this yet another malicious lie. 

Ian Halperin seems now to have topped Diane “Devil” Dimond on the MJ fan hate list. Virtually everything he writes in Unmasked is dismissed as a lie. But he concludes that MJ was innocent of molestation charges. Don’t fans agree? He writes that MJ was in desperately poor health and had six months to live. Another lie? Jackson died exactly six months later. A coincidence? Or was Halperin part of the murder plot suspected by many MJ fans?

Halperin is the first biographer to state that MJ handlers told him MJ suffered from Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency and might need a lung transplant. I identified this as a “virulent” disease. Dr. Mllj (41), “appalled at my erroneous medical information” misidentifies the condition as “Anti-Trypsin 1 Deficiency’. Moreover, the doctor, for all her touted education, apparently mistakes the term “virulent” (meaning rapid, severe, destructive) with “viral.”  

I’m well aware that AAD is genetic and never stated that it was “drug induced,” as another physician (Dr. Rodriguez (27) insists. She goes on to assert that I may need a “brain transplant” and should not be “writting” though one might suggest she herself learn to read more carefully and to spell (chornic, resucitative, recomendations, relects). 

A third physician of the group, Martha (56), might also refresh her reading skills. She charges that I have “attempted to diagnose MJ of AIDS posthumously because Ian Halperin suspected him of being gay.” I wrote nothing of the kind! I simply stated a well-established fact: a gay man, or blood transfusion recipient such as Ryan White, is at higher risk for contracting the HIV virus. 

The doctor goes on to declare that “most people with full blown AIDS are so debilitated they can hardly function without assistance.” Indeed, Jackson was often seen in wheelchairs and being carried by his bodyguards. Several nights before the final Staples performance, he collapsed on stage. True, he was animated on the last night. But on arrival he was reportedly listless and faltering – then he perked up. How? Medications can be used for this, as the doctor knows. MJ had availed himself of these chemical aids in the past, as have many other performers. Ephedrine, associated with amphetamine, was listed in the autopsy report. 

But maybe it was mostly just “pure will” that saw MJ through that performance, as it had with the 67-year-old ailing Liberace in 1986. Three months before his death, Mr. Showmanship, suffering from full-blown AIDS, performed a series of electrifying concerts at Radio City. Wrote his companion and biographer, Scott Thorson:  “He had no way of knowing if he’d be able to complete the agreed-on number of shows.” But as it turned out:  “Lee was at the top of his form, full of energy and good spirits.” 

“It was one of the extraordinary feats of entertainment history,” agreed another Liberace biographer, Darden Asbury Pyron. “Its heroism has few parallels… The showman was running on pure will… He had lost perhaps 50 pounds, yet still he hoofed with the Rockettes… The physical feat of flying onto stage [as Peter Pan] would have taxed the stamina of a young, healthy actor.” So, Liberace showed that it wasn’t “Impossible,” as Dr. Mmlj insists, to perform energetically in such a condition with or without stimulants. 

The doctor goes on to insist that “lack of narcotics in his system shows that he was no longer dependent on narcotics.” Is the term “narcotic” being used narrowly to indicate opiates? For laymen, the dictionary generally defines narcotic as any drug that “dulls the senses, relieves pain, and induces sleep.” Wouldn’t this definition fit six of the seven controlled substances the coroner found in MJ system: propofol, lidocaine, diazepam, nordiazepam, lorazepam, midazolam (versed)? As for other signs of possible drug abuse, Dr. Mmlj speculates that the “several puncture wounds” reported by the coroner were from the resuscitation injections administered by Dr. Murray and/or paramedics. In fact, the report states:  “There are numerous punctures over both arms. Additional punctures are present on the medial left and the medial right ankle.” So, it was more than “several.” And the resuscitative flumazenil is injected into the chest, not the appendages. 

Dr. Martha  (56) supports her colleague with this argument: “If MJ had been a chronic drug addict, why was his liver disease and toxin free?” Perhaps because the coroner and toxicologist failed to perform a full battery of liver tests or, if they did so, the information might be withheld from the current report. Again, this was the central thrust of my argument: there seems reason to believe the current autopsy report is incomplete and/or misleading. This may also account for the fact that the report made no mention of antiretrovirals in MJ’s system. 

A concluding note… Show Michael some respect, say many, let him rest in peace. The fact is, he WOULD BE left in peace if not for upcoming trial which will dig him up and subject him to a scrutiny as microscopic and unpleasant as any trial when he was alive. 

WHO is demanding this trial? Michael’s family and fans who want to see Murray convicted of manslaughter (though many want him for murder). The doctor’s defense lawyers have pledged “to fight like hell” for his exoneration. They will do anything and everything to prove self-destructive drug addiction on MJ’s part, as well as pre-existing potentially fatal medical conditions. This will mean challenging the veracity of the autopsy report. 

The issues introduced in my article are the tip of the iceberg. Fans want Murray punished, but justifiably they do not want Michael dissected and desecrated. This is impossible. The trial will get ugly. Murray will surely get bloodied, and perhaps convicted. But, in the  process, Michael and his memory will not be left unscathed. Fans should brace themselves for the downside of their demand for “justice.”