Michael Jackson was an insomniac suffering from total sleep deprivation when he died four years ago, a sleep expert testified today.
Dr. Charles Czeisler, a Harvard Medical School scientist, said the surgical anesthetic propofol that Dr. Conrad Murray gave Jackson on a nightly basis was putting the pop star into a drug-induced coma — as opposed to sleep.
Czeisler, on his second day on the stand, said Murray had bought 4 and half gallons of propofol, “a stupendous amount,” in the months before Jackson died on June 25, 2009. “He was getting it (propofol) every night, all night, for 60 days.”
“The symptoms that Mr. Jackson was exhibiting are consistent with the symptoms of someone suffering from total sleep deprivation for a long time,” Czeisler said.
Jackson’s symptoms, as chronicled by those who worked on his “This Is It” tour, included weight loss, lack of balance, chills, incoherence and paranoia.
“The meticulous detailing of his deterioration was both profound and sad to me,” Czeisler said. “If he had been properly diagnosed and treated, he could have successfully completed this tour and performed for many years to come.”
Czeisler, who testified about helping cure Shaquille O’Neal of sleep apnea, admitted under cross examination that he had worked 120 hours, at $950 an hour, for the plaintiffs, for a total of more than $100,000.
Czeisler said he was not familiar with the expression, “Taking propofol to sleep is like getting chemotherapy to shave your head.” But he concluded, “If AEG had hired a fit and competent doctor, this never would have happened.”