Skip navigation

Jackson medical records subpoenaed

Officials are in the process of reconstructing the Jackson’s medical history

Video
  Jackson’s dermatologist speaks out
Following an interview with Larry King at CNN's studios in L.A., Dr. Arnold Klein, Michael Jackson's dermatologist, speaks out about Jackson's tragic death.

Access Hollywood

Slideshow
Image: Michael Jackson: The face of change
  The face of change
During his brilliant career, Michael Jackson changed not only music, but also his appearance. See how his looks evolved over the course of his fame.
Access Hollywood
updated 5:16 p.m. ET July 12, 2009

The L.A. County coroner’s office has subpoenaed files and records related to the care of Michael Jackson, the Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday.

Officials are in the process of reconstructing the Jackson’s medical history following his death on June 25. Toxicology results from his subsequent autopsy are still several weeks away and cause of death has been deferred.

A source told the Times on Wednesday that “any and all” Jackson medical records had been subpoenaed, “including radiology and psychiatric records.”

Story continues below ↓
advertisement | your ad here

An attorney for Dr. Arnold Klein, Jackson’s friend and dermatologist, confirmed to the newspaper that the doctor had received a subpoena.

The Times previously reported that at least three doctors were part of the investigation. According to the newspaper’s sources, such an investigation could be necessary to determine the star’s cause of death. A drug, such as the anesthetic Diprivan, reportedly found in Jackson’s Holmby Hills home, goes through the body quickly and thus might not appear in toxicology tests.

Anesthesiologist Paul Wischmeyer told the newspaper that Diprivan would be “probably undetectable” in the bloodstream 20 minutes after a dosage, but that alternate tests could be done to look for evidence of the drug.

“You can find it in the urine,” he said. “It wouldn’t be a test a coroner could do, but they could send out for it.”

Dr. Klein appeared on CNN’s “Larry King Live” on Wednesday, where he told King that he had prescribed Jackson the painkiller Demerol, but had warned him about Diprivan.

“I told him he was absolutely insane,” Klein said, having allegedly discovered that the singer was using the drug while on tour in Germany.

He defended his own prescriptions to Jackson, adding, “If you took all the pills I had given him in the last year at once, it wouldn’t do anything to you.”

Copyright 2009 by NBC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.