| No charges filed vs doctors in MJ case
STATE investigators probing the death
of the King of Pop Michael Jackson
have decided not to file charges against
seven doctors who treated him, authorities
said Wednesday.
The doctors were part of an investigation
by state Attorney General Jerry
Brown's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement,
spokeswoman Christine Gasparac
said. One doctor whose name
was not released has been referred to
the California Medical Board for prescribing
drugs to a Jackson alias, she
said.
Candis Cohen, a board spokeswoman,
declined to confirm the action, saying
complaints and investigations were
not public record.
Jackson's personal doctor, Conrad
Murray, has pleaded not guilty to
felony involuntary manslaughter in the
singer's death. Authorities say Murray
provided Jackson with a mix of sedatives,
including a powerful anesthetic
that killed him.
Murray was not among the seven
doctors involved in the state investigation.
Los Angeles police who investigated
the death had asked state and
federal investigators to look into the
prescribing practices of doctors who
previously treated the 50-year-old
pop star.
The federal Drug Enforcement
Agency has also stopped investigating
the actions of any other Jackson doctors,
agency spokeswoman Sarah Pullen
said.
"I am very disappointed," said attorney
Brian Oxman, who represents
Michael Jackson's father Joe Jackson
in a wrongful death lawsuit against
Murray. "The misuse of medications
by Michael Jackson in the last years
of his life was excessive and to fail to
bring that to the public eye is ignoring
reality."
The state investigation included the
search of a prescription drug database
that tracks doctors who prescribe controlled
substances. The database also
monitors the quantity and recipients of
those drugs.
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