Doctors took advantage of him, says MJ’s ex-wife

King of Pop died from an overdose of surgical anesthetic propofol.

LOS ANGELES:

Michael Jackson’s doctors competed for his business and over-prescribed medications to help him overcome his “incredible” fear of pain, the late pop singer’s ex-wife testified on Wednesday in a wrongful death trial.

“His fear of pain was incredible. I think the doctors took advantage of him that way,” Debbie Rowe said in Los Angeles Superior Court, which is hearing a lawsuit brought by the late singer’s family against concert promoter AEG Live.

“Unfortunately, some of the doctors decided that when Michael was in pain, they would try to see who could give him the best painkiller,” added Rowe, 54, who met Jackson while working as an assistant for a dermatologist who treated the singer.

Rowe, who has rarely spoken publicly about Jackson, said the King of Pop was treated for several ailments, including lupus and severe scarring from burns on his head, which he suffered while shooting a television commercial for Pepsi in 1984.

She cried during parts of her testimony and grew frustrated under questioning about a timeline of Jackson’s medical history, at one point shouting at AEG Live attorneys.

Rowe and Jackson were married from 1996 to 1999 and she is the mother of his two eldest children, 16-year-old Michael Joseph Jackson Jr, known as Prince, and Paris, 15. Rowe has no custody over the children, who live with their grandmother, Katherine Jackson.

Rowe, who now raises horses at a ranch near Los Angeles, will continue her testimony under cross-examination by Katherine Jackson’s attorneys on Thursday.

Katherine Jackson and Jackson’s children are suing AEG Live over the singer’s 2009 death in Los Angeles from an overdose of the surgical anesthetic propofol, alleging that the privately held company negligently hired Conrad Murray as Jackson’s personal physician and ignored signs that the singer was in poor health prior to his death.

Murray, who was caring for Jackson as the singer rehearsed for his series of 50 comeback This Is It concerts, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 for administering the propofol that killed the star.

Rowe said that the first time she saw Jackson use propofol was when he wanted to sleep in Munich during his HIStory tour in 1997. She added that she observed him being administered the surgical anesthetic twice by doctors.

“Michael was at the end of his rope. He didn’t know what to do,” Rowe said, adding that the singer’s hotel room looked like a surgical suite. “He was more worried about not sleeping than dying because he couldn’t perform [without sleep].”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2013.

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