Demerol may have been the drug that killed Michael Jackson.
Jackson may have collapsed after receiving an injection of the legal over-the-counter painkiller that can as a side-effect cause cardiac arrest.Jackson is reported to have been addicted to the painkiller for a number of years.
The Sun newspaper reported a source as stating that, “Shortly after taking the Demerol he started to experience slow shallow breathing. His breathing gradually got slower and slower until it stopped.”
His personal physician Doctor Conrad Robert Murray administered Jackson with the drug. Dr. Murray has since gone into hiding and is now wanted for questioning by Police. Police stress that Dr. Conrad is not under suspicion.
In announcing the death, Michael’s brother Jermaine said "We believe he suffered a cardiac arrest at his home, however the cause of his death is unknown until the results of the autopsy are known. The personal physician who was with him at the time attempted to resuscitated him."
The drug Demerol is known for its adverse side effects including constipation, dry mouth, lightheadedness, twitchiness, muscular twitches, and nausea.
Other noted individuals who died with Demerol in their veins were David Kennedy, the son of Robert F. Kennedy and country singer Tammy Wynette.
David Kennedy died in 1984. His death was ruled a multiple ingestion of cocaine, Demerol and Mellaril.
Tammy Wynette died in 1998. Her daughter claimed in a book that she died after being “hopelessly addicted” to Demerol, Dilaudid and Versed.
Jackson died one hour after he was injected with Demerol.
A warning by US health authorities states, “Abuse of Demerol poses a risk of overdose and death. This risk is increased with concurrent abuse of Demerol with alcohol and other substances. Due to the presence of talc as one of the excipients in tablets, parenteral abuse of crushed tablets can be expected to result in local tissue necrosis, infection, pulmonary granulomas, and increased risk of endocarditis and valvular heart disease. In addition, parenteral drug abuse is commonly associated with transmission of infectious diseases such as hepatitis and HIV”.
Because of the presence of drugs in Jackson's body at the time of autopsy, the findings from the autopsy will not be known for another 4-6 weeks.
