Michael Jackson desperate for sleep, drugs, doctor says

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Michael Jackson fans from left, Karlene Taylor, Yvonne Francis, Latrenda White and Jamie Lee, speak out against AEG Live. A jury found Wednesday that AEG Live was not liable in the death of the pop superstar. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Jury foreman Gregg Barden, center, listens to a reporter’s question about their verdict in the civil trial over the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Katherine Jackson and three grandchildren against AEG Live in the death of singer Michael Jackson. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Yvette M. Palazuelos gathers the verdict documents moments before they were publicly disclosed. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Attorneys for Katherine Jackson, Deborah Chang, left and Kevin Boyle listen as jurors are polled following the verdict in the civil trial that lasted for five months. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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AEG attorney Marvin Putnam smiles during verdict polling at the conclusion of the Katherine Jackson v. AEG Live civil trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The jury found AEG not liable in Michael Jackson’s death. AEG attorney Jessica Stebbins Bina is at left. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Brian Panish, left, attorney for the Michael Jackson family, speaks with Kathryn Cahan and Marvin Putnam, attorneys with AEG Live LLC ,in Los Angeles County Superior Court in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death trial Thursday in downtown Los Angeles. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Bailiffs are sworn in to protect the jury as Brian Panish, attorney for the Michael Jackson family, waits during the trial in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday. The singer’s family has sued the entertainment firm AEG Live LLC, saying the company negligently hired and supervised Conrad Murray, the doctor who administered the dose of propofol that killed the singer. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Brian Panish, an attorney for the Michael Jackson family, delivers his closing argument to jurors in a packed courtroom in downtown Los Angeles on Sept. 24. The promoters of Michael Jackson’s last tour were “so excited” about making huge profits that they hired an unfit doctor to care for the star, his family’s lawyer said. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Marvin Putnam, lead attorney for AEG Live LLC and co-counsel Jessica Stebbins-Bina, listen to closing arguments by Michael Jackson family’s attorney, Brian Panish, in a packed courtroom Sept. 24. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Brian Panish, attorney for the Michael Jackson family, delivers his closing argument to jurors in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death lawsuit against concert promoter AEG Live LLC on Sept. 24. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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AEG attorney Marvin Putnam gives closing arguments in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death case on Sept. 25. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Yvette M. Palazuelos listens to a rebuttal argument in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death case on Sept. 26. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson’s former wife and mother of two of his children, leaves Los Angeles County Superior Court after testifying at the trial in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson, against AEG Live. (Nick Ut / Associated Press)

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Television crews report live outside Los Angeles County Superior Court in downtown Los Angeles on the first day of the trial in the wrongful-death lawsuit. (Joe Klamar / AFP/Getty Images)

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In this file photo dated Sept. 27, 2011, Michael Jackson’s mother Katherine Jackson arrives outside Los Angeles County Superior Court to hear opening statement in the involuntary manslaughter trial of pop superstar Michael Jackson’s personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray. Murray was convicted and sentenced to prison. (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)

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Singer Janet Jackson, left, Paris Katherine Jackson, Prince Michael Jackson II and LaToya Jackson are seen on stage during the memorial service for Michael Jackson at Staples Center in Los Angeles on July 7, 2009. (Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

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Entertainer Michael Jackson announces on March 5, 2009, that he will play a series of comeback concerts at the London O2 Arena in July. Jackson died before the concerts could be held. (Joel Ryan / Associated Press)

By Jeff Gottlieb

Sept. 19, 2013 2:42 PM PT

A close friend and doctor who treated Michael Jackson for more than 25 years testified Thursday that the desperate singer asked him for an anesthetic to combat his insomnia a little more than two months before his death.

Dr. Allen Metzger, who had accompanied Jackson on a tour of Australia in the 1990s, said Jackson seemed more stressed than usual when he made a house call to the singer’s rented Holmby Hills mansion.

“The stress of rehearsing, and ‘Can I do 50 shows?’ was really weighing heavily on him,” said Metzger, who is expected to be one of the final witnesses in the five-month wrongful-death trial.

MICHAEL JACKSON: Complete trial coverage

Jackson was rehearsing for his 50-concert “This Is It” comeback tour in London at the time of his death on June 25, 2009.

Metzger’s notes from the April 18, 2009 visit were shown to jurors. “He inquired about intravenous ‘sleep medication,’ and I explained this was dangerous and potentially life-threatening, and should not be done outside of the hospital,” the doctor wrote.

Metzger wrote in his notes that he would prescribe “a small amount of sleep medications.”

Asked by lawyer Deborah Chang, an attorney for the Jackson family, whether the pop star seemed desperate, Metzger replied, “Yes.”

“Did you feel badly for him?”

“Absolutely.”

Metzger said that shortly after the house call he spoke to the head of anesthesiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center “to find out if he had any special tricks.... I needed some help.”

Metzger said the anesthesiologist couldn’t help him and didn’t know any anesthesiologists in England who could assist Jackson with his sleep problem.

That was the last time he saw Jackson.

The singer’s mother and three children are suing concert promoter AEG, alleging that the firm negligently hired and supervised Conrad Murray, the Las Vegas doctor who gave Jackson the fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol. AEG says Murray worked for Jackson, and that any money it was supposed to pay the doctor was part of an advance to the singer for the upcoming concerts.

The case, which started in late April, is expected to go to the jury next week.

Metzger, who said he visited Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County as many as 14 times, was shown a photo of a skinny Jackson at a costume-fitting less than a week before he died.

Chang asked if that was how he remembered Jackson’s condition.

“Oh, no. Not at all,” he replied.

“Would you be concerned?” she asked.

“Oh yes, oh yes,” he said.

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