Michael Jackson set to be embalmed at the O2 Centre after missing the deadline for cryogenic freezing

michael jackson collapsed from a morphine overdose nearly six years ago after working himself into a ‘frenzy of anxiety’ over a TV interview.
A doctor found the star unconscious after being secretly summoned to his rented Beverly Hills home in the middle of the night. Hours earlier, more than 27million viewers in the US had watched
Jackson nervously defend himself against child sex charges.

Michael Jackson had to defend himself against accusations of child molestation in the interview with '60 MINUTES' host Ed Bradley

The incident has never been made public until today. The doctor who treated him has come forward because he believes the apparently accidental overdose has a bearing on the circumstances surrounding Jackson’s death.
It is claimed that shortly before the singer died, he was injected with Demerol, a powerful painkiller similar to morphine. As with the first overdose, Jackson was said to be suffering from acute stress at the time.
In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, the doctor recalled the events of the early hours of December 29, 2003 – and how he also warned Jackson’s family that the star should seek help for his ‘obvious addiction’.
Referring to handwritten notes he made at the time, the doctor, who asked not to be named, said: ‘I’d been treating michael jackson’s brother Randy for several months when I was awakened by a phone call from him at 1.51am. I was told someone wasn’t well and that they couldn’t call 911 [the US emergency services number] for security reasons.’

 

Randy sent a car to pick up the doctor, who lived nearby. ‘When I got in it, I asked the driver who was sick and he said, “Michael”.’ Once at the house, the doctor led to a first-floor bedroom where he found the singer, wearing pyjama bottoms, propped up in bed, but unconscious.
‘Michael did not respond to his name but his heartbeat was regular,’ he told The Mail on Sunday. ‘Randy asked, “Is he going to make it?”.’
As the doctor then checked Jackson’s breathing and blood pressure, the pop star seemed to murmur something.
‘I couldn’t understand it but Randy said Michael needed to use the bathroom. Randy and I each took an arm to get him there,’ the doctor said.
‘We then helped him back to bed. His frame was light but not severely malnourished. He probably weighed about 11stone.’
After carrying out further checks, the doctor reassured Randy that he believed his brother ‘would be fine’.
He added: ‘Randy said Michael had been under severe stress because of the television programme which had aired that night.
‘I recall him saying that an earlier TV documentary had caused all manner of problems and that Michael had worked himself into a frenzy of anxiety over this one.’
The first documentary was Living With Michael Jackson, in which British journalist Martin Bashir interviewed the singer over eight months, from May 2002 to January 2003.
In that programme, broadcast in Britain in February 2003, Jackson admitted that many children had shared his bed although he denied any sexual contact. However, the disclosure led to Jackson being investigated by police in California and on December 18, 2003, he was charged with seven counts of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy.
On December 28, Jackson appeared on US news programme 60 Minutes, during which he was pressed about the allegations. He strongly denied them but maintained it was not wrong to share a bed with a child. At his trial in 2005, Jackson was acquitted of all charges.
The doctor remained in the house until nearly 4am, regularly checking on his famous patient. ‘Randy said he couldn’t call anyone but me when Michael collapsed because he was
terrified of the publicity. It was all cloak-and dagger-stuff and once people in the house realised Michael was going to be all right there was a palpable sense of relief.
‘But I was deeply disturbed by the event. I told Randy that his brother should voluntarily go to a rehabilitation centre to deal with his obvious addiction problem.
‘I advised that Michael must be kept upright that night in case he vomited and inhaled the material, which could possibly cause his death.
‘I told them that his body would break down the narcotics and that he would be fine in several hours.’
Before leaving that night, the doctor left strict instructions that he or the emergency services should be called if the singer showed further signs of distress. He also asked that Jackson be brought to his surgery later that day for an evaluation.
‘I wanted to discuss with Michael  directly the damage he was doing to his health and the very real concerns I had for his well-being. I never heard from any of them again.’