Michael Jackson’s Killer: 

OD, AAD, or AIDS?

(Part 2)

Whatever Michael Jackson’s disease was, it seems indisputable that it caused him excruciating pain, both physical and psychological. Thus in his final years he was ingesting Demerol, Dilaudid Vistaril, Xanax, Zoloft, Prosac, Proilosec, and Ritalin on a daily basis and at a monthly cost of $48,000. In his last days, he begged his nurse for an IV of Propofol used in general anesthesia for major surgery. 

Such a superhuman habit was rivaled by only Elvis himself. Like his father-in-law, too, Michael carried his narcotics in a huge suitcase filled with pre-loaded syringes and IV bags. In spite of his consumption, he, like Elvis, suffered from insomnia and, when he managed to briefly fall asleep, he had nightmares of being murdered. 

Jackson completed several hospital detoxes but afterwards soon fell off the wagon again. So, too, had Elvis, John Lennon, Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia, and Kurt Cobain. Family and friends tried to get Hendrix and Morrison to detox, but failed. 

Of all the stars, Jackson and Elvis were the only prescription junkies. Both had coast-to-coast Dr. Feelgoods and had the prescriptions made out in other names. 

Elvis’s enabler was Dr. George Nichopoulos, aka “Needle Nick.” Nick prescribed 10,000 sedatives, amphetamines, and narcotics in the last eight months of his patient's life. Several years before, when he threatened to cut off his supply, the King shot him. After Elvis’s fatal OD, Dr. Nichopoulos was tried for second-degree murder and acquitted, but lost his medical license. Elvis’s father, Vernon, tried to have him assassinated in a football stadium. 

Michael’s own last personal physician was Dr. Conrad Murray. Like Dr. Nick, he tried to administer CPR to his patient. Murray’s explanation for waiting a half hour to call an ambulance was that he couldn’t find a corded phone and didn’t know the address of the house he had been living in with his patient for two weeks. Similar delays in calling the authorities occurred at the death scenes of other stars; in all these cases, narcotics were removed from the premises. 

The LAPD reportedly removed prescription drugs from the trunk of Dr. Murray’s Mercedes. His Houston-based lawyer now states that Dr. Murray never injected Michael Jackson with Demerol as has been alleged, nor had he ever prescribed him narcotics. The coroner discovered pill residue in the star’s stomach and injection sites all over the body. Four were fresh injections to the heart. 

According to ABC news, in 2002 Murray’s Houston medical clinic was closed for being what authorities called a ‘pill mill.” 

In any case, the fundamental question remains: What was the real cause of Michael Jackson’s death? Pending further autopsy and toxicology results, the original stated cause goes unchallenged: Cardiac arrest. But what caused this? An overdose of Demerol, as alleged by many? 

But, even if so, why were such massive doses of Demerol and other narcotics being administered? Which brings us full circle and back to the original mystery. The kind of mystery beneath which lies not just one cause, but many and not all of them physical. 

So, in the end, as with the other legendary stars, we may one day discover how the King of Pop died, but it is unlikely that we will ever understand why.