Jackson MD's story disputed

LOS ANGELES - Michael Jackson was so heavily drugged in the hours before his death that he would have been incapable of self-administering the massive dose of propofol that killed him, a medical expert testified Thursday at the trial of Jackson's doctor.

Steven Shafer, who presented a number of possible scenarios for Jackson's overdose, said one posed by Conrad Murray's defense - that the star gave himself the powerful anesthetic - was "crazy."

"He can't give himself an injection if he's asleep," Shafer told jurors.

Shafer took the jury through a virtual chemistry class with diagrams and formulas projected on a large screen. He indicated the residue of drugs found during Jackson's autopsy suggested Murray gave his patient much larger doses of sedatives than he told police.

Shafer also said Jackson would have been very groggy from the drugs administered by IV throughout the night.

Murray told police he was away from Jackson for just two minutes - a period during which the defense says the singer could have grabbed a syringe and given himself additional propofol.

"People don't just wake up from anesthesia hell-bent to pick up a syringe and pump it into the IV," Shafer said, reminding the jury that the procedure was complicated.

He also said it was unlikely that Jackson injected himself with a needle because the pop star's veins were too deteriorated and the procedure would have been very painful.

Witnesses have said Jackson knew the drug had to be diluted with lidocaine in an IV to prevent burning.

Shafer, a leading expert on anesthesiology who teaches at Columbia University Medical School, also rejected the assertion that Jackson may have swallowed eight pills of the sedative lorazepam, also known as Ativan, causing his death.

His opinions set up an expected clash with the views of Paul White, waiting to testify for the defense. The two doctors have been friends and associates for 30 years.