The report confirms Michael Jackson had a rare skin condition which resulted in the loss of his pigmentation - making him look increasingly whiteLondon Times Reports
Far from being the sickly, underweight shell of man portrayed by the global media, Michael Jackson was in fact relatively healthy before his fatal drug overdose, it was revealed tonight.
According to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s report, the 50-year-old singer was just under 10 stone when he died, within the normal range for a man who stood at only 1.75 metres tall.
Meanwhile, his heart was strong with no sign of plaque buildup, and his kidneys and most other major organs were in good condition.
The autopsy also finally confirmed Jackson’s claim that he suffered from skin condition that resulted in the loss of skin pigmentation: his efforts to disguise it were probably the reason he appeared to turn from black to white in the late eighties.
The coroner said the depigmentation affected the skin on his chest, abdomen, face, and arms.
The autopsy also revealed just how much plastic surgery Jackson had undergone during his lifetime: he had 1.9 cm scar behind his left ear, and another scar behind his right ear. He also had scars beside each nostril, on his right shoulder, at the base of his neck, and additional, smaller scars on his arms, wrist, navel, and abdomen.
Jackson also had several tattoos, all them cosmetic, including one that covered a bald spot. He had other tattoos around both eyebrows and under his eyes, and a pink tattoo around his lips. The coroner also found that Jackson was actively producing sperm.
“His overall health was fine,” said Dr Zeev Kain, chairman of the anesthesiology department at the University of California, Irvine, who reviewed a copy of the autopsy report. “The results are within normal limits.”
But Jackson did have some health problems, including arthritis in his lower spine and some of his fingers, and a mild plaque buildup in his leg arteries. His most serious condition affected his lungs: they were chronically inflamed and probably causing some shortness of breath.
Puncture wounds were also found on both the singer’s arms and on one of his knees and ankles.
Jackson died at his rented Los Angeles mansion on June 25 after his personal $150,000-per-month doctor, Conrad Murray, administered propofol—a hospital-grade anesthetic—and two other sedatives to get the singer to sleep, according to court documents.
Propofol, normally used in operating rooms, can stop a patient from breathing and requires constant monitoring,
The coroner's office announced last month that Jackson's death was a homicide caused by "acute propofol intoxication” with the other sedatives listed as a contributing factor. It added that, in Jackson’s case, the ‘standard of care’ for administering propofol was not met, and that the recommended equipment for patient monitoring, precision dosing, and resuscitation was not being used.
Dr Murray is expected to be indicted on charges related to his patient’s death.
Aside from propofol and the sedatives, the only other substances found in Jackson’s system were a local anesthetic, Lidocaine (used to numb injection sites), and ephedrine, a commonly used resuscitation stimulant. No other drugs — legal or otherwise —were detected, nor was any alcohol.
Dr Kain, the specialist who analysed the coroner’s report, said he was surprised that three other sedatives, known as benzodiazepines, were present with propofol. He said that while anesthesiologists sometimes mix one ‘benzo’ with propofol to help put a patient under, using three of them at the same time was dangerous.
“People don't mix the benzodiazepines together because they interact with each other and increase the risk of respiratory arrest,” he said, adding that it was likely that Jackson stopped breathing before he suffered a heart attack.
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