All posts containing the tag: "doctors"
Posted Jul 12th 2009 8:57AM by TMZ Staff
Doctors aren't the only ones in the cross hairs of authorities who want to find out how Michael Jackson scored various drugs, including anesthesia -- turns out Jackson knew his way around various dental offices as well.
As we have already reported, medical professionals have told TMZ Jackson was an "anesthesia addict," who would would seek out Propofol and other drugs that would sedate him or knock him out. Law enforcement is aware of this, sources say, and dental offices are part of their investigation.
Several Los Angeles doctors have told TMZ it was known in medical circles that Jackson used dentists to feed his habit.
A story just published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal buttresses the stories we've been reporting -- that Jackson had "doctor shopping" down to a science. According to the report, in 2003, a doctor (who spoke on the condition of anonymity) was summoned to Jackson's suite at the Mirage in Vegas.
The doctor says Jackson complained of a sore throat and cough and quickly determined it was a ploy to score prescription drugs. The doctor said, "The whole thing was staged. It was all a lie. They just wanted drugs. They wanted me to call in all these pills under someone else's name."
The doctor says when he refused to go along, Jackson's handlers intimidated him, saying doctors always helped the singer. The MD says at one point he said, "I'll see what I can do," and the handler "came up to me and put a finger in my chest and said 'You do that.'"
Filed under: Michael Jackson
Tags: anesthesia, body, dentist, dentists, doctor, doctor shopping, doctors, DoctorShopping, las vegas, LasVegas, Michael Jackson, MichaelJackson, mirage, overdose, propofol
Posted Jul 11th 2009 2:00AM by TMZ Staff
Michael Jackson had a way of picking doctors who became such close friends with him that the doctor-patient distinction became blurred.
Dr. Alex Farshchian from Miami was "awe-struck" by Jackson, according to former L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy Michael Laperruque, who worked security for Jackson. We obtained notes from an interview Laperruque had with detectives during the child molestation investigation in Santa Barbara. Laperruque said Dr. Farshchian was so enamored with Jackson, he invited the singer to stay at his house in Miami. Laperruque says Jackson took the doctor up on his offer and ended up staying in his converted garage. The question -- why would Jackson settle for such accommodations?
Laperruque told detectives "Farshchian may have been over prescribing medication."
Dr. Arnold Klein was Jackson's longtime friend and Beverly Hills dermatologist. Klein bragged on Larry King that he has slept in the same room as Jackson and shared a close bond with him, going on numerous vacations with the singer. One of Jackson's drivers told the coroner Jackson would spend 3 - 4 hours in Klein's office and come out looking disoriented. A former bodyguard said he also saw Jackson leave Klein's office looking out of it. And powerful prescriptions were found at Neverland -- prescribed by Dr. Klein. The prescriptions were written for Frank Tyson, who worked for Jackson. A former bodyguard said Jackson would use Tyson's name to score drugs. Klein has said he prescribed Demerol for Jackson, a drug to which Jackson was addicted.
Dr. Allan Metzger, who practices in West Hollywood, went on one of Jackson's concert tours and was close to him. He even videotaped the singer's wedding to Debbie Rowe. Dr. Metzger received a public reprimand for prescribing drugs to Janet Jackson under an alias. Dr. Metzger would not tell us whether he ever prescribed drugs to Michael under an alias. He told us he has not been Jackson's doctor for years, but he spoke with him as recently as last April about medical issues and personal matters.
Some medical experts suggest it's a bad idea for doctors to become close to their patients because the doctors must retain the power to say "no" when the patient wants something that is not medically appropriate. Whatever his motives, Michael Jackson had a talent for picking doctors who were more than happy to pick him as a friend.
Filed under: Michael Jackson
Tags: doctors, Michael Jackson, MichaelJackson
Posted Jul 8th 2009 11:25AM by TMZ Staff
Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Michael Jackson's family has given the LAPD a list of doctors they believe may have misprescribed drugs to Michael Jackson -- and we've learned Dr. Arnold Klein is on that list.
Dr. Klein came out swinging today on TV, denying he ever prescribed powerful painkillers to Jackson. But the family has its suspicions and passed its concerns along to detectives.
Filed under: Michael Jackson
Tags: doctors, dr. arnold klein, Dr.ArnoldKlein, drugs, lapd, Michael Jackson, MichaelJackson
Posted Jul 5th 2009 9:30AM by TMZ Staff
As law enforcement officials comb through medical records to determine who supplied and administered the anesthesia Propofol and other drugs to Michael Jackson, we've learned there may be a fail-safe way of getting at the truth.
It's no secret -- especially in a celebrity town like L.A. -- some doctors use pseudonyms for celebrity patients and sometimes their medical charts somehow get "lost." But we've learned most doctors leave an indelible footprint when it comes to treating patients.
Many doctors -- especially ones with big practices -- use medical software systems from MD Systems, NexTech and other companies. These companies provide the software that makes it easy to input billing data.
Doctors typically input the patient's name, billing amount, type of treatment, type of drugs prescribed and administered, and date of service. Here's the thing -- that data cannot be deleted from the server.
The system allows doctors to add other data like medical charts, and those things can be deleted. But if someone deletes that info, the software shows the name of the user who did it and the date it was done.
Bottom line -- the basic billing information will not go away.
As we reported days ago, law enforcement found Propofol inside Jackson's house. Propofol is an anesthesia, which should never be administered outside a hospital, and it's looking like that drug killed Jackson. If cops find who supplied it and who administered it, the docs could well be prosecuted for manslaughter.
Filed under: Michael Jackson
Tags: billing, death, died, doctors, drugs, jackson, michael jackson, MichaelJackson, overdose, propofol
Posted Jul 4th 2009 5:42AM by TMZ Staff
Michael Jackson made the rounds at L.A. doctors' offices, often getting anesthesia for minor outpatient procedures -- procedures that did not require anesthesia.
Medical sources say Jackson would get cosmetic surgery, collagen injections, Botox and acne treatment for which he would often be put under or sedated, even when it was not medically necessary.
One medical source described Jackson as "an anesthesia addict."
We're also told Jackson would get controlled substances, such as Demerol, during and after these minor procedures.
The question now -- which docs were happy to oblige the singer?
As we first reported, police found the anesthesia Propofol in Jackson's house after he died, and it's looking like that's the drug that killed him.
Filed under: Michael Jackson
Tags: anesthesia, arrests, botox, demerol, docs, doctors, drugs, MD systems, MdSystems, michael jackson, MichaelJackson, narcotics, propofol
Posted Jun 30th 2009 1:45PM by TMZ Staff
We now know what the LAPD was after when it got a search warrant for Michael Jackson's home.
The warrant was specifically targeted to find controlled substances and paraphernalia -- in particular needles.
Filed under: Michael Jackson
Tags: death, died, doctors, drugs, michael jackson, MichaelJackson, needles, paraphernalia
Posted May 15th 2009 3:45PM by TMZ Staff
We got some boring video footage of Lisa Rinna in Beverly Hills yesterday (click here to see that), but more importantly, it ignited an intense discussion in the TMZ newsroom -- does 45-year-old Lisa have a better body than 43-year-old Cindy Crawford?!?
Remember -- it's just the body. Choose wisely.
Filed under: Hot Bodies, Hot Mamas
Tags: bikini, cindy crawford, doctors, fake, lisa rinna, surgery
