July 2, 2009

Final Moments of Pop Sensation Michael Jackson

By Gil Kaufman (MTV.com)

The King of Pop was in good health before his sudden demise, according to his promoter. Randy Phillips, CEO of AEG Live, was at the hospital when Jackson was rushed in, suffering from cardiac arrest.

Speaking to England's Sky News, Phillips said he received a call from the singer's manager, Frank DiLeo on the morning of Jackson's death, imploring him to go to Jackson's Beverly Hills mansion. Paramedics had been summoned as Jackson had stopped breathing.

"They brought him in on a stretcher and they put him into the emergency room," Phillips said. "I was sitting in a chair right outside the ... operating room, and there was tons of activity, and they were trying to resuscitate him and save him and working really hard, the doctors, nurses, everybody ... I sat there ... it seemed, honestly, it seemed like an eternity. But it took about an hour, an hour and a half before the nurse came out and told Frank and I that there was no hope."

Phillips said he was in shock upon receiving the news. "Having been with him the night before and watching him engaged and really kicking into the whole thing ... I guess first the kids, they were around the corner in a room and who was going to tell them? That was the first thing that hit my mind. And then the fact that we've all lost this incredible talent."

According to him, Jackson's cardiologist, Conrad Murray, broke the news of his death to the singer's three children.

"I stood at the doorway when they went in and they told them and just the look of fear in their faces ... it was hard," Phillips said. "I'll think about that the rest of my life. But they seem to be doing really well now." Phillips said he had tried to dissuade Jackson from hiring Murray as his personal doctor because of the costs involved, but that the strong-willed singer insisted on having Murray on staff throughout the rehearsals and the run of English shows, saying he had been his personal physician for more than three years.

"Michael told me, 'You don't understand. My body is the machine that fuels this business and I need personal care and I want a doctor 24/7 like President Obama would have and this is my doctor,' " Phillips explained.

Previously, Michael had repeatedly begged his nurse for a powerful sedative, used by medical professionals, to treat his chronic insomnia. She refused his requests. Attorneys for Murray have denied that the doctor injected Jackson with any of the strong pain medications he is said to have been taking prior to his death.

A lawyer representing Murray said the doctor found Jackson unconscious but with a weak pulse, and spent more than 25 minutes trying to revive him. He did not call 911 for 30 minutes because there was no landline in Jackson's room and the doctor did not know the address of the rented Los Angeles mansion Jackson was staying in.

Transcripts of the 911 calls have led some to question whether Murray could have done a better job administering CPR to Jackson. The caller in the tapes is heard saying that Murray was performing the life-saving technique on a bed, not on a hard surface such as a floor, which the dispatcher suggested and which medical professionals recommend. A lawyer for Murray has explained that Jackson was lying on a very firm bed and that the doctor braced the singer's back with his hand while administering chest compressions with his other hand. Murray's car was towed from the mansion as evidence on the day of Jackson's death by police, but officials have said that the doctor is not a suspect in the case.