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Jacksons v AEG Timeline Legal
Jackson’s dermatologist faces medical board hearing
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 7 December 2011
Michael Jackson’s dermatologist Dr Arnold Klein has been subpoenaed by the Medical Board Of California to face various allegations made against him, some of which indirectly relate to his treatment of the late king of pop.
Although he has not been accused of any criminal conduct, according to TMZ, Klein will appear before the Board on 15 Dec to face questioning about various claims that have been made, including that he self-prescribed narcotics, used false names on narcotic prescriptions, illegally handed out drug samples to famous patients and committed gross negligence by practising while afflicted with multiple sclerosis.
As previously reported, Klein’s name was raised by the defence in the trial of Conrad Murray, the doctor found guilty of causing Jackson’s death by negligently administering the drug propofol as a cure for insomnia. Team Murray claimed that one of the reasons Jackson was suffering such bad insomnia was because, unbeknownst to Murray at the time, the singer had been receiving doses of the pain killer Demerol from Klein.
Although officially used as part of treatments being conducted by the dermatologist, the Murray defence argued that Klein was actually feeding Jackson’s addiction to the painkiller medication, and that the singer subsequently suffered withdrawal symptoms from the drug, resulting in insomnia. Which in turn resulted in his dependency on propofol, a dependency Murray then fed, albeit reluctantly if his lawyers are to be believed.
The judge hearing the Murray case said any allegations against Klein were not relevant to the former’s manslaughter trial, because there was no Demerol in Jackson’s system when he died, so Klein’s actions – whatever they may have been – were in no way linked to the singer’s demise. As such the Murray team’s allegations against Klein – part of an only hinted at theory that a number of doctors had been inappropriately feeding Jackson’s various addictions for years – were only touched on briefly during the doctor’s court hearing.
