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Late night talk show host Larry King had a bout with depression after having heart surg...

An autopsy revealed that Michael Jackson died of a lethal overdose of the anesthetic pr...

Thirty-two year old actress dies from cardiac arrest. She had type 2 diabetes and a thy...

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Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson (1958-2009). American singer/songwriter/dancer Michael Jackson was known to his fans as the King of Pop. He first found fame singing with his brothers as a member of The Jackson Five; the group had several smash hits like “I Want You Back.” As a solo artist he was a wildly successful innovator, creating crossover music and complex dance routines and his hit song “Thriller” electrified the fledgling MTV.

Michael collapsed suddenly with heart failure just as he was getting ready to go back on tour. He wasn’t breathing when paramedics arrived at his rented mansion and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

An autopsy has revealed that the powerful anesthetic drug propofol, or Diprivan, caused his death, and that his personal physician Dr. Conrad Murray had given him a 25 mg dose through an IV drip. Steady infusions of Propofol must be carefully monitored, either with an EKG machine, which would have sounded an alarm when Jackson’s pulse became low, or with a pulse oximeter, which reads the oxygen saturation in the patient’s blood and again would have sounded an alarm when Jackson’s breathing slowed dangerously. Neither device was found in Jackson’s mansion and Murray had apparently gone to the restroom when Jackson died.

Murray had earlier given Jackson doses of Valium, Ativan and Versed (anti-anxiety medications and a sedative). He had been trying to wean Jackson off propofl, which Jackson called his "milk."

A nurse/nutritionist, Cherilyn Lee, told ABC News that Jackson had suffered from chronic insomnia and rarely slept for more than a few hours. A few days earlier he had asked her to get him some propofol to knock him out and she’d refused, saying "you might not wake up the next morning. You don't want that."

Some months earlier, Jackson had asked Dr. Dwayne James, director of NutriMed Health Care Porterville, to get the drug for him. When James refused, telling him that it would be crazy to take it outside a hospital setting where he could be monitored by an anesthesiologist, Jackson had begged him to find an anesthesiologist if that was what it took. He had apparently taken the drug before, reportedly on his HIStory tour in the mid-90s, and “slept like a baby.” There were rumors at the time that he was travelling with an anesthesiologist.

Jackson had multiple health problems. As well as using many prescription medications he suffered from the autoimmune connective tissue disease lupus, although it was in remission. Lupus can often be harmful to the heart because it causes inflammation and tissue damage, and recent studies indicate that it may cause plaque build-up and artery damage. Lupus is usually treatable with corticosteroids and immunosuppressants although there is currently no cure.

Jackson also is rumored to have dieted chronically, possibly to the point of anorexia nervosa, first trying to achieve and then maintain dancer’s body. He often suffered dizzy spells....View full story

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