Investigators trying to determine how Michael Jackson died are faced with the daunting task of creating an accurate medical biography for a superstar whose ailments, surgeries and doctors have been tabloid fodder for three decades.
Jackson has seen more than a dozen doctors since 1993, according to various public records and accounts, and investigators are now collecting as much medical data about him as possible.
Sources told The Times on Thursday that the Los Angeles County coroner's office has requested and subpoenaed medical files and records from a number of doctors who treated the singer. That is in addition to at least three search warrants issued last week as part of a Los Angeles Police Department probe into whether prescription drugs played a role in his death.
A source who has seen one of the coroner's office subpoenas said it asked for “any and all" of Jackson's medical records “including radiology and psychiatric records."
An attorney for Dr. Arnold Klein, a Beverly Hills dermatologist who treated Jackson for nearly 25 years, said his client was among those receiving a formal request from the coroner's office.
“It was a standard form subpoena and we turned over medical records to the medical examiner in response," said lawyer Richard Charnley.
Authorities have identified some of Jackson's doctors from the medications and other medical evidence they recovered from the Holmby Hills mansion where Jackson was stricken two weeks ago, according to sources familiar with the investigation. But those sources said that some of the medications lacked prescription labels and that officials are trying to determine how Jackson got them.
A longtime Jackson associate, who spoke on the condition that he not be named because of the investigation, said the pop star had little trouble finding doctors eager to treat him -- and prescribe him drugs.
“They rotate in and out," said the source. “There were a lot of doctors over the years. . . . They liked to be known as Michael Jackson's doctor."
Experts said the task before detectives and coroner's investigators amounts to a medical jigsaw puzzle. They must get a strong handle on his medical status at the time of his death, including pre-existing conditions, previous medical procedures and his drug-use history -- things that can be gleaned through many of the records requested and subpoenaed.
After gathering information about what was prescribed and in what quantity, investigators with medical training look at the patient's history, the possible reasons each drug was prescribed, the side effects and the interactions with other medications. Investigators must also cross-reference files to try to recreate what a physician knew at the time he or she wrote a prescription.
