Entertainment News - Powerful anesthetic found at Jackson home

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Powerful anesthetic found at Jackson home

LOS ANGELES (UPI) -- Investigators found the powerful anesthetic drug Diprivan in pop icon Michael Jackson's Los Angeles home, ABC News reported.

Diprivan, also known by the generic name propofol, was one of many medications found in Jackson's home, sources told ABC. The drugs had been prescribed by multiple doctors to multiple patient names, some believed to be aliases, the network said.

The reported discovery of Diprivan comes after nurse Cherilyn Lee, who had worked as a nutritionist for Jackson, told reporters he had been asking for the drug in the days before his death last week at 50.

Lee has told CNN and other media outlets Jackson said he suffered severe insomnia and pleaded for the drug, saying it helped him sleep.

Experts say Diprivan is not for insomnia and should normally be administered only by IV in a hospital, typically before a medical procedure.

ABC, citing unnamed emergency physicians, said the drug could have caused respiratory depression and, ultimately, cardiac arrest if Jackson used it for insomnia.

The drug, a white liquid, has been dubbed "milk of amnesia" because of its potency as an anesthetic.

"Propofol is an agent that requires very close monitoring and is often limited only to use by anesthesiologists," Dr. Richard Page, head of cardiology at the University of Washington medical center, told ABC. "The main issue with this agent is respiratory depression, which in turn could cause cardiac arrest."

Toxicology test results on Jackson are not expected to be back for several weeks.

The discovery follows reports the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is investigating the possible involvement of drugs in Jackson's death.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

This news arrived on: 07/03/2009

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