Doctor Who Was With Michael When He Died Was Hired 13 Days Prior

The doctor who was with Michael Jackson in his final hours had started work only 13 days ago after quitting his medical practice, reports the Daily Mail.

Dr Conrad Robert Murray, who is believed to have injected the singer with the painkiller Demerol and later tried to resuscitate him as he lay unconscious, had a history of financial problems.

He wrote to his patients on June 15 to tell them he was taking up a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" and would stop working at his medical practices in Las Vegas, Houston and San Diego.

Dr Murray was employed by AEG, the organizers of Jackson’s planned London concerts, on the star’s insistence to ensure that he was fit enough to perform.

Around the same time he is understood to have moved into Jackson’s rented home in Los Angeles, along with his sister, Susan Rush, who worked with him as a nurse. Dr Murray’s financial problems began at least 17 years ago when he filed for bankruptcy in California.

Tax liens – charges imposed on a property to secure payment – were also filed against him in California and Arizona in the later 1990s, according to the Boston Globe newspaper, an indication that he was failing to pay his taxes.

And last year three legal judgments totaling $433,000 were filed against Dr Murray or his company, Global Cardiovascular Associates, in a Nevada court. They include $71,000 for school loans. Two other cases are pending from companies that claim he owes them further funds.

It has also emerged that Dr Murray is not "board certified" in his two specialisms, cardiology and internal medicine. In the US, Board Certification is not required to practice medicine but it is taken as evidence that the physician has received extra training to be certified in a particular speciality.

Dr Murray is believed to have first met Jackson after treating him for a cold in Las Vegas around three years ago.

But last night Jackson’s closest adviser said: "I don’t know Dr Murray, I have never met him."

Dr Tohme Tohme, who had been with the singer since 2005, also contradicted claims by Jackson’s family that his personal physicians were helping him abuse prescription painkillers.

"Michael was in very, very good health," he said. "I have no knowledge of him taking painkillers."

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