和谐英语

您现在的位置是:首页 > 英语新闻 > 英语娱乐新闻

正文

娱乐英语新闻:Jackson's personal physician ordered lots of anesthetic: pharmacist

2011-01-11来源:和谐英语

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Conrad Murray, the late pop icon Michael Jackson's personal physician, had ordered a number of drugs shortly before the superstar died, including 255 vials of propofol, the potent sedative which was ruled as the killer drug that claimed the life of the singer, a pharmacist testified on Monday.

Murray, a 57-year-old cardiologist who was hired by Jackson for 150,000 dollars a month to care for him, never told him the name of his patient or patients, the pharmacists told a preliminary hearing held in Los Angeles Monday.

The purchase was carried out during the time leading up to the singer's June 25, 2009 sudden death in his newly rented Holmby Hills estate.

The cover art for the posthumous Michael Jackson album titled "Michael" is pictured in this undated publicity photograph. The album is set for release December 14, 2010.

The drug is an powerful anesthetic which is generally administered in a hospital or clinical setting. Prosecutors contend that Murray administered propofol to Jackson some time that day between 10:40 and 11 a.m. and failed to adequately monitor him.

The doctor simply "abandoned his patients," Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said.

In a hearing held Friday, Elissa Fleak, a Los Angeles County Coroner's Office investigator, testified that 12 vials of propofol were found in Jackson's house in the days after the singer died, some of them already open.

An empty propofol bottle on the floor near the pop superstar's bed was found, she said. Five of Murray's business cards were also found in a light blue and brown bag which contained nine vials of propofol, the investigator said.

Also on Friday, Nicole Alvarez, a 29-year-old actress with whom Murray has a son in March 2009, testified that the doctor received some packages at her Santa Monica apartment while he was staying there at various times between March 2009 and June 2009. The packages were not for her and there was no reason for her to examine them, Alvarez noted.

Murray is accused of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the King of Pop's death. The preliminary hearing is held to help Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor determine if there is enough evidence to put the doctor on trial. If convicted, Murray faces up to four years behind bars.

The hearing is expected to last about two weeks. The prosecutors would call medical experts as witnesses to testify about Murray's conduct.