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Nurse: Insomniac Jackson begged for drug
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-01 10:55 According to Lee, Jackson said it had been given to him before but he didn't want to discuss the circumstances or identify the doctor involved. The singer also drew his own distinctions when it came to drugs versus prescription medicine. "He said, 'I don't like drugs. I don't want any drugs. My doctor told me this is a safe medicine,"' Lee said. The next day, she said she brought a copy of the Physician's Desk Reference to show him the section on Diprivan. "He said, 'No, my doctor said it's safe. It works quick and it's safe as long as somebody's here to monitor me and wake me up. It's going be OK,"' Lee said. She said he did not give the doctor's name. Lee said at one point, she spent the night with Jackson to monitor him while he slept. She said she gave him herbal remedies and stayed in a corner chair in his vast bedroom. After he settled in bed, Lee told Jackson to turn down the lights and music - he had classical music playing in the house. "He also had a computer on the bed because he loved Walt Disney," she said. "He was watching Donald Duck and it was ongoing. I said, 'Maybe if we put on softer music,' and he said, 'No, this is how I go to sleep."' Three and a half hours later, Jackson jumped up and looked at Lee, eyes wide open, according to Lee. "This is what happens to me," she quoted him as saying. "All I want is to be able to sleep. I want to be able to sleep eight hours. I know I'll feel better the next day." Lee, 56, is licensed as a registered nurse and nurse practitioner in California, according to the state Board of Registered Nursing's Web site. She attended Los Angeles Southwest College and the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Sciences in Los Angeles.
Gregory said Jackson wasn't eating or drinking at the time and, after he was persuaded by Gregory to undergo testing, ended up hospitalized for severe dehydration. But Jackson obviously was healthy enough to withstand the level of medical scrutiny needed to insure him for the upcoming high-stakes London concerts, Gregory said. "That you don't trick," he said of the exams. Lee, who has also worked with Stevie Wonder, Marla Gibbs, Reynaldo Rey and other celebrities, said she was introduced to Jackson by the mother of one of his staff members. Jackson's three children had minor cold symptoms and their pediatrician was out of town. Lee said she went to the house in January, the first of about 10 visits there through April, and treated the children with vitamins. Michael, intrigued, asked what else she did and took her up on her claim she could boost his energy. After running blood tests, she devised protein shakes for him and gave him an intravenous vitamin and mineral mixture - known as a "Myers cocktail," after Dr. John Myers - which Lee said she uses routinely in her practice. "It wasn't that he felt sick," she said. "He just wanted more energy." Lee said she decided to speak out to protect Jackson's reputation from what she considers unfounded allegations of drug abuse or shortcomings as a parent. "I think it's so wrong for people to say these things about him," she said. "He was a wonderful, loving father who wanted the best for his children."
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