Jackson Investigation Reportedly Centers on 5 Doctors
July 5, 2009— -- The heat is on for several of Michael Jackson's former doctors.
The Los Angeles Times is now reporting that investigators are focusing on at least five doctors who prescribed drugs to Michael Jackson.
ABC News will broadcast the Jackson memorial service live at 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 7.
Citing anonymous sources in law enforcement, the Los Angeles Times also reported that investigators found some prescription bottles in Jackson's home that had Jackson pseudonyms, as well as other bottles without labels. None reportedly had official prescription labels.
In the meantime, California Attorney General Jerry Brown has joined the investigation into Michael Jackson's death. The Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement is currently searching the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES), a database Brown says will be a critical part of the investigation. Employees will search for aliases as they help investigate Jackson's death, Brown told the AP.
The state database keeps track of which controlled substances are dispensed, the strength of those drugs, the quanitity, and to whom they are prescribed.
California doctors and pharmacies are required to report to the California Department of Justice every prescription that they write for tightly controlled drugs with a high potential for abuse.
CURES was instrumental during the Anna Nicole Smith case when the California Department of Justice conducted a two-year probe assisted by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Ultimately, Howard K. Stern, Smith's lawyer and longtime companion, as well as Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor, two of Smith's doctors, were arraigned earlier this year on charges of conspiracy to unlawfully prescribe a controlled substance and to prescribe, administer or dispense a controlled substance to an addict. They all denied the charges.
"What we have in this case is a conspiracy among three individuals," Attorney General Brown said during a March news conference on the Smith case. "Howard K. Stern is the principal enabler. Dr. Eroshevich and Dr. Kapoor are prescribing drugs excessively to a known addict and using false and fictitious names, all in violation of the law."
Brown said the case is expected to come to trial later this year.
Law enforcement sources have told ABC News they discovered the powerful sedative propofol in the home where pop icon Michael Jackson's suffered a fatal cardiac arrest last month.
The drug was just one of many among the pharmacopeia found in his Holmby Hills home. Officials have previously said that they believe the star was addicted to a daily dose of the pain medications OxyContin and Demerol and that Jackson was injected with Demerol shortly before his death June 25.
A lawyer for Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician, said the doctor had prescribed neither OxyContin nor Demerol to the pop icon. He has not commented on Diprivan.
Some of the findings appear to confirm reports by those close to Jackson, 50, that the singer had been abusing prescription drugs. On July 1, Los Angeles registered nurse and nutritionist Cherilyn Lee, who worked for Michael Jackson, came forward to saythe pop star begged her to help him obtain the drug in the days before he died.
The drug -- also known by the brand name Diprivan -- is most often used to sedate patients before a medical procedure, but it is also one that palliative care workers have been known to administer to terminal patients who are in pain or who have weeks or days to live.
Lee said during a call from a Jackson staffer she heard Jackson in the background requesting the sedative.
"He said, 'Find me an anesthesiologist. I don't care how much money they want. find me an anesthesiologist to be with me here overnight and give me this IV,'" she said.
Jackson, Lee said, said he was in extreme discomfort, was desperate for sleep and said that one side of his body was hot and the other side cold.
Lee said she wasn't familiar with the drug when he first asked for it three months ago, but after consulting with a doctor, she warned Jackson it could kill him.
