Jackson Michael - 83 minutes: the doctor, the damage, and the shocking death of Michael Jackson

The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the authors copyright, please notify the publisher at: us.macmillanusa.com/piracy.

For Lucy and Tom

Matt

For Marc and Roland

Mark

Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.

J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Thursday, 25 June 2009. In time zones around the world, the news was dominated by one headline: Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, is dead.

* * *

Earlier that day, at 13:14 Pacific Standard Time (PST), an ambulance had arrived at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. Anxious to shield the identity of the patient it was carrying from the gathering press, the vehicle reversed up to the doors of the Emergency Room (ER) and a towel was placed over the face of the casualty. The ambulance was returning from a 911 emergency call placed at 12:21 PST, some 53 minutes earlier. Alberto Alvarez had made the call from a mansion in nearby Carolwood Drive.

This mansion, in the prestigious area of Holmby Hills, was being rented for $100,000 per month by a man who was once the biggest pop star in the world and who remained one of the most famous and fascinating figures on the planet: Michael Jackson.

Jackson was in Los Angeles to rehearse and prepare for his upcoming and eagerly anticipated This Is It comeback tour, which consisted of 50 sold-out shows in the UK at Londons O2 Arena and which was scheduled to begin in just 13 days time.

Jacksons rented property was only four minutes from UCLA. The 911 call was frantic with audible commotion in the background, including the angry voice of someone speaking in an undistinguishable foreign language:

911 Operator: Paramedic 33, what is the nature of your emergency?

Alvarez: Yes, sir, I need an ambulance as soon as possible.

911 Operator: Okay, sir, what is your address?

Alvarez: Los Angeles, California, 90077.

911 Operator: Is it Carolwood?

Alvarez: Carolwood Drive, yes [barely audible]

911 Operator: Okay, sir, whats the phone number youre calling from and [barely audible] and what exactly happened?

Alvarez: Sir, we have a gentleman here that needs help and hes not breathing, hes not breathing and we need to were trying to pump him but hes not

911 Operator: Okay, how old is he?

Alvarez: Hes fifty years old, sir.

911 Operator: Fifty? Okay, hes unconscious and hes not breathing?

Alvarez: Yes, hes not breathing, sir.

911 Operator: Okay, and hes not conscious either?

Alvarez: No, hes not conscious, sir.

Neither the 911 operator, nor the team of paramedics dispatched from Fire Station 71 in Bel Air to this emergency call were aware that the gentleman who was unconscious and not breathing was none other than Michael Jackson.

They didnt even initially recognise Jackson when they arrived at his beside at 12:26 (PST). Paramedic Richard Senneff, who testified at the 2011 trial into Jacksons death, said: And the patient, he appeared to me to be pale and underweight. I was thinking along the lines of this is a hospice patient.

For the next 31 minutes, Senneff and his team of paramedics worked tirelessly on Jacksons body to save his life. It appeared a futile task. All the evidence in front of them suggested that Jackson had gone into arrest long before they had arrived, but one man present in the room convinced the paramedics to continue. It had just happened, he said of the patients arrest. This man was Dr Conrad Murray, Jacksons personal physician.

Regardless of his assurances, Paramedic Senneff wasnt convinced. There is a lot of little variables. But all I can tell you is it was my gut feeling at the time this did not just happen, Senneff said at the 2011 trial.

Nevertheless, Senneff and his team continued though, despite their best efforts, they could not revive the King of Pop. Throughout the procedure, Richard Senneff was in contact with UCLA, whose doctors and nurses were relaying to him standard orders for the procedure via mobile phone.

At 12:57 (PST), Senneff and his team were advised over the mobile phone by Dr Richelle Cooper at UCLA that all attempts were futile, they had done all they could, and permission was given to pronounce the patient dead.

Dr Murray, however, was determined not to accept this pronunciation of death and, inspecting the patient himself, declared that he had felt a femoral pulse in Jacksons neck. Paramedic Senneff checked the same area. He felt nothing, but Murray implored the paramedics to continue, demanding that Jackson be transferred to UCLA for further care.

Richard Senneff discussed the situation with UCLA, relaying the conversation he had had with Dr Murray and explaining that the patients personal physician wasnt comfortable with the decision to stop treatment at that point. UCLA replied by asking if Dr Murray was willing to assume complete control of the call and, if so, whether he was also willing to accompany the patient in the ambulance to the hospital. Dr Murray responded categorically that he would assume control. In his statement to police, Dr Murray would later say:

I mean I love Mr. Jackson. He was my friend. And he opened up to me in different ways. And I wanted to help him as much as I can. You know, he was a single parent. You dont always hear that from a man. But he would state that, you know, he was a single parent of three. And I I always thought of his children, you know, as I would think about mine. So I wanted to give him the best chance.

With the paramedics now having relinquished authority, Jackson was placed on a gurney and put in the ambulance at 13:07 (PST). It was now over 40 minutes since the paramedics had first arrived at the scene.

As the ambulance slowly reversed out into the street, a bus carrying 13 tourists on a guided tour of the homes of Hollywood stars saw the drama unfold. This is Michael Jacksons estate everyone, the tour guide announced, so well find out later in the news what happened.

By this stage, the broadcasters, bloggers, paparazzi and the internet outlets were aware that something was happening with Michael Jackson, and the ambulance was followed by an increasing number of cars, motorcycles and helicopters as it made its way to UCLA.

Seven minutes later, the ambulance backed up to the UCLA Medical Center door. A crowd had already begun to gather and hospital security had yet to be deployed. Dr Murray asked, before Jackson was taken off the ambulance, whether a towel or something could be put over Michaels face. When this was done, the back doors of the ambulance were opened and the gurney carrying the body of Michael Jackson was rolled through the security corridor and right into the ER where Dr Richelle Cooper and her team of 14 staff were ready to go to work.

Dr Murray had also made his way into the ER and immediately came face-to-face with Dr Cooper who, just under 20 minutes earlier, had been prepared, according to LA County EMS Protocols, to pronounce Michael Jackson dead.

The first thing Dr Cooper wanted to know from Dr Murray, as Jackson was being placed on monitors, was Murrays interpretation of what had happened. He simply told her that the patient had not been ill but had been working long hours, that Jackson had had trouble sleeping and was dehydrated.