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      Jackson 'healthy' before fatal jab

      Published Thursday, 01 October 2009
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      Michael Jackson was in good health before being given the anaesthetic that killed him, a leaked post mortem report revealed.


      The report shows Jackson wasn't the sickly man portrayed by some.

      It says his arms were covered with punctures, his face and neck were scarred and he had tattooed eyebrows and lips - but overall he was a fairly healthy 50-year-old.

      Jackson's 136lbs were in the acceptable range for a 5ft 9ins man and his heart was strong. He had some arthritis and lung damage.

      But the report said none of those issues were life-threatening and that he died from the injection his personal physician gave him to sleep.

      His lungs were the most seriously affected, with chronic inflammation and he had reduced capacity that might have left him short of breath.

      However, according to the document, the lung condition wasn't serious enough to be a direct or contributing cause of death.

      "His overall health was fine," said Dr Zeev Kain, chairman of the anaesthesiology department at the University of California, Irvine, who read the report. "The results are within normal limits."

      Jackson died after his personal physician, Dr Conrad Murray, administered the anaesthetic propofol and two other sedatives to get the chronic him to sleep, court documents state.

      Propofol, normally a surgical anaesthetic used in operating rooms, acts as a respiratory depressant and requires constant monitoring.

      When Murray realised Jackson was unresponsive, he tried to revive him but Jackson never regained consciousness.

      Although the full autopsy report hasn't been released, the coroner's office recently announced Jackson's death was a homicide caused by "acute propofol intoxication," with the other sedatives a contributing factor.

      They said the standard of care for administering propofol wasn't met and the recommended equipment for monitoring, precision dosing and resuscitation was missing.

      © Press Association
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