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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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Hint of drugs in Jackson death
Source: Agencies |
June 27, 2009, Saturday
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Print Edition
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AUTHORITIES are seeking to clear up the mystery surrounding Michael Jackson's death, including whether prescription drugs could have been a factor.
An autopsy was planned yesterday, though results weren't likely to be final until toxicology tests could be completed, a process that could take several days and perhaps weeks.
Police in Los Angeles said they were investigating, standard procedure in high-profile cases.
Brian Oxman, a former attorney of Jackson's and a family friend, said he was concerned about Jackson's use of painkillers and he warned the singer's family about possible abuse.
"I said one day, we're going to have this experience. And when Anna Nicole Smith passed away, I said we cannot have this kind of thing with Michael Jackson," Oxman said yesterday on NBC television. "The result was, I warned everyone, and lo and behold, here we are. I don't know what caused his death. But I feared this day, and here we are."
The 50-year-old musical superstar died on Thursday, just as he was preparing for a series of 50 concerts starting July 13 at London's 02 arena.
He died at UCLA Medical Center after being stricken at his rented home in a posh Los Angeles neighborhood. Paramedics tried to resuscitate him for nearly three-quarters of an hour, then rushed him to the hospital, where doctors continued to work on him.
His brother Jermaine said it was believed that Jackson suffered cardiac arrest at his home. Cardiac arrest is an abnormal heart rhythm that stops the heart from pumping blood to the body. It can occur after a heart attack or be caused by other heart problems.
Jackson's death brought a tragic end to a long, bizarre, sometimes farcical decline from his peak in the 1980s, when he was popular music's premier all-around performer, a uniter of black and white music who was the first African-American artist to be featured prominently on MTV.
Jackson dominated the charts and dazzled even more on stage.
His 1982 album, "Thriller" -- which included the blockbuster hits "Beat It," "Billie Jean" and "Thriller" -- is the best-selling album of all time worldwide.
Jackson ranked alongside Elvis Presley and the Beatles as the biggest pop sensations of all time.
He united two of music's biggest names when he was briefly married to Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie.
Yet after selling more than 61 million albums in the US and having a decade-long attraction open at Disney theme parks, Jackson died reportedly awash in about US$400 million in debt, on the cusp of a final comeback after well over a decade of scandal.
In 2005, he was cleared of charges that he molested a 13-year-old cancer survivor at Neverland in 2003. He had been accused of plying the boy with alcohol and groping him, and of engaging in strange and inappropriate behavior with other children.
An autopsy was planned yesterday, though results weren't likely to be final until toxicology tests could be completed, a process that could take several days and perhaps weeks.
Police in Los Angeles said they were investigating, standard procedure in high-profile cases.
Brian Oxman, a former attorney of Jackson's and a family friend, said he was concerned about Jackson's use of painkillers and he warned the singer's family about possible abuse.
"I said one day, we're going to have this experience. And when Anna Nicole Smith passed away, I said we cannot have this kind of thing with Michael Jackson," Oxman said yesterday on NBC television. "The result was, I warned everyone, and lo and behold, here we are. I don't know what caused his death. But I feared this day, and here we are."
The 50-year-old musical superstar died on Thursday, just as he was preparing for a series of 50 concerts starting July 13 at London's 02 arena.
He died at UCLA Medical Center after being stricken at his rented home in a posh Los Angeles neighborhood. Paramedics tried to resuscitate him for nearly three-quarters of an hour, then rushed him to the hospital, where doctors continued to work on him.
His brother Jermaine said it was believed that Jackson suffered cardiac arrest at his home. Cardiac arrest is an abnormal heart rhythm that stops the heart from pumping blood to the body. It can occur after a heart attack or be caused by other heart problems.
Jackson's death brought a tragic end to a long, bizarre, sometimes farcical decline from his peak in the 1980s, when he was popular music's premier all-around performer, a uniter of black and white music who was the first African-American artist to be featured prominently on MTV.
Jackson dominated the charts and dazzled even more on stage.
His 1982 album, "Thriller" -- which included the blockbuster hits "Beat It," "Billie Jean" and "Thriller" -- is the best-selling album of all time worldwide.
Jackson ranked alongside Elvis Presley and the Beatles as the biggest pop sensations of all time.
He united two of music's biggest names when he was briefly married to Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie.
Yet after selling more than 61 million albums in the US and having a decade-long attraction open at Disney theme parks, Jackson died reportedly awash in about US$400 million in debt, on the cusp of a final comeback after well over a decade of scandal.
In 2005, he was cleared of charges that he molested a 13-year-old cancer survivor at Neverland in 2003. He had been accused of plying the boy with alcohol and groping him, and of engaging in strange and inappropriate behavior with other children.
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