Day 44 of the AEG trial: Dr. Finkelstein says he tried to inject morphine and Demerol into Michael during the Dangerous Tour

In this session, footage of Dr. Stuart Finkelstein being questioned was shown.

Finkelstein is an internal medicine specialist and an addiction treatment physician. He has been working in this field for more than twenty years and considers himself an expert.

In 1993, Finkelstein was the doctor for the Dangerous Tour. Marcel Avram, the tour organizer, hired him as the tour doctor. He became a group doctor, not Michael Jackson’s personal physician. But on August 24, 1993, after a concert in Bangkok, security officers asked him to go to the hotel where MJ was staying. He was told: “You have to go see the boss.”

(The second half of the Dangerous Tour began on August 24, 1993 in Bangkok. On that same day, sexual allegations against Michael were raised in the media. Three days earlier, Michael’s Neverland home had been searched by police while he was not there.)

Finkelstein: “He had pain. I spoke by phone with his doctor in Los Angeles, Dr. Alan Metzger. Dr. Metzger said that MJ had severe headaches and was in a great deal of pain.”

Finkelstein couldn’t remember whether Metzger had told him to use a specific medication.

“I tried to inject him with the muscle relaxant Demerol, but his buttocks were so swollen due to so many prior injections that the needle was almost bent. I thought it wouldn’t be a safe injection.”

Instead of a muscle injection, Finkelstein chose an intravenous injection of morphine, but Michael had also lost his tolerance to morphine. That year, Finkelstein had not yet specialized in addiction.

Kevin Boyle, the Jacksons’ attorney: “But you spent half your time on addiction treatment.”

Finkelstein: “I knew what I was doing and I had the qualifications. I had a medical license.”

Finkelstein stayed in Michael’s room for 24 hours and treated him with a morphine drip. The treatments continued until three days later, Michael was able to regain the ability to go on stage in Bangkok. Dr. Fin also administered a food drip in addition to morphine. Michael was alert and speaking. They watched the film Three Stooges and attacked each other with water guns. Michael told Dr. Fin about growing up in the Heynears t home in Encino.

At the same time, one of the staff sent a painkiller patch of fentanyl* with a dose of 100 micrograms, absorbed through the skin, along with two Demerol ampoules to Michael’s room.

(*In the previous session, Dr. Sknoll said he wasn’t sure whether the drug injected into Debbie Rowe—who was the Dangerous Tour nurse in 1993 and married Michael three years later—was propofol or fentanyl.)

Dr. Fin said that the Demerol ampoules were given to him by Karen Faye, a makeup artist. Demerol had been prescribed by Alan Metzger in Karen Faye’s name, and of course the medication was being used for Michael.

Fin said he injected 50 to 100 milligrams of Demerol into Michael’s buttocks. He also mentioned the injected morphine amount as 10 milligrams, explaining that:

“The injection should start with 2 to 4 milligrams, but MJ was resistant to that amount.”

Fin said that every time he injected morphine into Michael, it was because he was twisting himself in pain.

Dr. Fin said Michael had a problem with dependence on pain medications. Four factors led him to this conclusion: the fentanyl patch, two Demerol ampoules, the increase in Michael’s tolerance to the drugs, and the injection scar marks on his buttocks. Dr. Fin had only recently begun his career, but Michael’s condition at that time was concerning for him.

“Without a doubt, before coming to Bangkok he had received multiple injections into his buttocks.”

Boyle: “Were you sure he had the ability to continue the tour?”

Fin: “That’s a bad question. I treated him with the medication until he was able to go back on stage.”

Dr. Fin watched Michael perform on stage and said he could do the show. But this return to the stage would happen with a delay. Michael’s publicist told Fin to go on CNN and say that Michael was very grateful for his presence on the tour, and that’s why he had become dehydrated and needed a day of rest. (The second Bangkok concert, originally scheduled for August 25, was moved to August 26 and then to August 27.)

Dr. Fin said that Paul Gongwer, the travel manager for Rick James, was the Black singer’s manager and worked for James on the tour. Finkelstein and Gongwer would ski together. Gongwer was the logistics manager for the Dangerous Tour, and he had asked Fin to travel with the tour. Fin’s salary as the tour doctor was paid by the company running the tour.

“I was hired not as an addiction specialist, but as the tour group doctor.”

Fin had warned Gongwer about Michael’s problem, but he wasn’t taken seriously until three months later, when the tour was stopped due to Michael’s worsening condition in Mexico City.

“No one believed what I said.”

After Dr. Fin treated Michael, an English doctor named Dr. Forkest was brought in for the tour. One day, Dr. Fin returned from a trip to the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt and found that someone had tampered with his suitcase full of medication. He had stored enough medication in the suitcase for the 160 people on the tour. Dr. Forkest had taken medication from his suitcase to inject into Michael. Forkest was Michael’s personal doctor. Fin doesn’t know who paid his salary.

Boyle: “Is dependence on pain medication a personality flaw?”

Fin: “No. I believe it’s either genetic, or that the brains of people exposed to these drugs become dependent.”

Dr. Finkelstein described Michael like this: “He was a lovable, kind, noble, and funny person. As far as I observed, his behavior was affectionate toward everyone.”

Boyle: “Was Mr. Gongwer aware of MJ’s problem?”

Fin: “Yes.”

Paul Gongwer had previously said that Finkelstein hadn’t told him anything about Michael’s drug dependence, and that he was unaware of it.

The tour was halted in November 1993 in Mexico City. Dr. Fin wanted to detox Michael in Switzerland. The executives—whom Dr. Fin didn’t know—put their thoughts together and decided to ask Elizabeth Taylor, Michael’s longtime friend, to mediate and take Michael to a hospital in London. Dr. Fin explained why the tour was stopped:

“He was standing on his feet, but it seemed that controlling his pain was becoming more and more difficult.”

Also in Mexico City, a video interrogation of Michael regarding the Chandler sexual allegation against him was conducted, and the film is available on YouTube. The pressure and anxiety from this allegation increased Michael’s need for pain medications. Elizabeth Taylor personally flew to Mexico City to see Michael.

In Mexico City, when Dr. Forkest wasn’t available, Fin was asked again to treat Michael.

“I also injected medication into Michael again when Dr. Forkest wasn’t available. I saw Dr. Forkest in Mexico City injecting medication into Michael in the middle of the interrogation.”

Michael had back pain, and Fin injected him with morphine. Fin explained that he also had naloxone, an anti-opioid drug, as an antidote for morphine.

“When I inject medication, I follow safety procedures.”

Fin said that Dr. Forkest was worried he would be blamed for the results of the doctors’ work before him. In the end, Dr. Fin and Dr. Forkest both concluded that Michael’s body needed detoxification.

The court had heard the previous session’s correction of “Rock Doc” or “Rock doctor” from Dr. Sknoll. Sknoll is the creator of that term. Today, Dr. Fin said that they know him by the name Rock doctor, and that’s why they invite him to accompany music tours.

Gongwer, the manager of AEG, said that Finkelstein wanted to become Michael’s doctor on the This Is It tour for a much lower salary than Dr. Murray, because Finkelstein had a great time with him on the Dangerous Tour.

Fin said that almost two months before Michael’s death, Gongwer called him and said that Michael was going on a tour in London (TII) and wanted a doctor. Finkelstein said he was excited about it and said he wanted to be Michael’s doctor. He discussed it with Gongwer five to ten times. Fin had asked Gongwer whether MJ was clean. Gongwer’s answer was yes. Fin said that if Michael had a drug problem, he wouldn’t want to accompany him on tour. Fin said he didn’t want to be “Dr. Nick.” Dr. Nick was the physician of Elvis Presley. Elvis Presley died during the tour; at the time of his death, he had fourteen types of narcotic drugs in his body.

Fin: “You don’t want a music star under your control to be taken away.”

Gongwer told Fin that Michael wasn’t taking drugs and that he had recently undergone a health test for insurance. Fin said his monthly salary was $40,000. Dr. Murray had requested $150,000.

One of the music industry executives, David Berman, had said in Day 31 of the trial that the company should have informed Michael about Dr. Finkelstein’s proposal, but nothing was said to Michael about it.

Fin testified that Gongwer told him that Michael wanted another doctor.

“Gongwer was my friend. He tried to get this job for me, but in the end it didn’t end up being mine.”

Fin said his brother, Bob, was Gongwer’s colleague at Concerts West. Fin also knows Randy Phillips. Paul Gongwer, the second vice president of Concerts West, is one of the subsidiaries of AEG.

Fin spoke about the anesthetic drug propofol that Murray injected into Michael every night, eventually bringing him down. Fin said dependence on this drug is rare because access to it is truly difficult. But on the other hand, the mortality rate among people dependent on this drug is very high—around 80%. Most people dependent on this drug are healthcare workers. Fin, however, said that anyone, from any social background and any lifestyle, can become dependent on pain medications.

Catherine Kahan, AEG’s attorney, asked Finkelstein whether he had injected propofol into Michael. Fin answered no, laughing.

Fin also said that besides him and Forkest, other doctors were present on the tour. He said that when other doctors such as Steve Haefflin and Arnold Klein came to visit a concert, the show would start late. Dr. Klein was often there. Haefflin came a few times and stayed over on weekends.

“Everything was secret. It seemed like no one knew everything. Everything was divided into parts, and people were separated from each other.”

Finkelstein said he had kept records of all his activities on the Dangerous Tour, but those documents were stolen. He had left some of the documents at his mother’s house. He said he threw away all of Michael’s medical records from 1995 because Michael hadn’t been sick for more than seven years.

Source: eMJey.com / CNN & NY Times & ABC7