Traduzione in Italiano 05/28/13 Please help us!
Dan Anderson
These testimonies were very similar to previous we have links for below
Typed by ToMJRespectIsDue
Still waiting for notes, see Mr Andersons testimonies from Murray trial here
Christopher Rogers- Coroner performed autopsy on Michael
May 6th 2013
Dr. Christopher Rogers, Deputy Medical Examiner for LA County Coroner
Q. Doc would you please tell us your occupation
A. I am the deputy medical examiner to the LA county coroner
Q. Do you hold a position as the chief of forensic medicine?
A. Yes I am also the chief of forensic medicine at the La County forensic medicine bureau
Q. What does forensic mean again
A. Forensic in terms of my position, I am a pathologist in the crime medical aspect and coroner sciences
Q. Where did you go to med school?
A. I went to the University of San Diego
Q. Then did you continue your education after medical school, can you outline it for us
A. I did a residency path in forensic pathology at USC and began work with LA County Coroner and became certified in forensic pathology
Q. How many autopsies have you performed?
A. I have oversaw conducted and assisted on thousands over my career
Q. Is one of your functions to determine if a homicide has been committed?
A. yes that is correct
Q. What is a homicide?
A. Homicide is death by the hands of another, premeditated or otherwise
Q. One of your functions is to determine the cause and manner of death
A. Yes that what we do at the coroner’s office and that where forensics come in because sometimes the cause isn’t so obvious and there needs to be a more in depth investigation
Q. When was it that you first heard of death of Michael Jackson?
A. I was in a conference when I was passed a note that said Michael Jackson just died.
Q. Did you reveal the contents of the notes at the conference?
A. I passed the note to my boss, so that he knew what was happening
Q. Is your boss a doctor?
A. My boss is Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran and he is the chief medical examiner coroner for LA County
Q. So you shared the note with Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran
A. Yes, I wanted him to know what has happened and that we would be receiving Mr. Jackson
Q. Were there certain security measures for this case, and why is that?
A. There were things that had to be in place for Mr. Jackson’s arrival. He is such a prominent person in the world and we at the time didn’t know what was going on. We knew there would be an overwhelming of media and public attention. We wanted to preserve Mr. Jackson dignity by making sure he would be secure and there was no unauthorized access to him
Q. So you tried to do whatever you could to maintain the decorum of the office and privacy and confidentiality of everything that pertained to Mr. Jackson
A. Yes that is correct, we had a briefing before his arrival and everyone understood how to answer calls so as not to give out information. We decided were to keep Mr. Jackson again for his privacy and dignity and there would be no access to him.
Q. Where was Mr. Jackson’s body, at the time you learned about his death, was he at coroner’s office or somewhere else?
A. Mr. Jackson had been pronounced and was at UCLA when I received the note about his passing
Q. How was he transported to the coroner’s office?
A. Mr. Jackson was flown by helicopter to our office
Q. Is helicopter the usual transport for the deceased, in your office?
No that is not the usually was receive, however in Mr. Jackson’s case we had to take special measures because of who he is. We didn’t want any incidents with press and fans following the vehicle carrying Mr. Jackson. It was safer to fly and faster. We wanted him secured right away. So we took extra security measures.
Q. What does the term lividity mean?
A. After death, the blood in the body due to gravity begin to settle and is drawn down to the lowest point of the body, this creates a purple bluish color where the blood pools
Q. By the time you got to see Mr. Jackson’s body was lividity present
A. Yes it was
Q. And rigor mortis, had set in as well
A. Yes it had
Q. What is rigor mortis?
A. Rigor mortis is the stiffening of the body tissue and muscles after death
Q. At the coroner’s office, were photographs taken,
A. Yes we always take photos during the autopsy, we create photographic evidence to add the report
Q. Were photos taken at hospital prior to Mr. Jackson’s arrival at morgue
A. Yes there were over a dozen photos taken of Mr. Jackson after he was pronounced at UCLA
*shows picture of Michael at the morgue*
Q. Does that substantially represent the appearance of Mr. Jackson when you saw him?
A. Yes that is
Q. Did you weigh Mr. Jackson during your exam?
A. Yes
Q. How much did he weigh?
A. His weight was 136 lbs.
Q. Now that’s after whatever treatment that had been given to him at the hospital
A. Yes that is correct
Q. Now as part of the external examination in the report it says that Mr. Jackson’s body was identified by toe tags, he had not been embalmed and was refrigerated and the refrigeration was to prevent any kind of deterioration
A. We put a toe tag on all person as to identify them, this way don’t have to uncover them to identify. The embalming is not done at this point. We must do an external examination first before we do an internal examination and so we always refrigerate so that we slow down the process of deterioration
Q. When you began your exam of Mr. Jackson an endotracheal tube was present, what is that and what was it for
A. An endotracheal tube was inserted into Mr. Jackson’s thoracic pipe to open up his airway to get air into his lungs to breath for him
Q. An aortic balloon pump, was also present when you examined Mr. Jackson.
A. Yes
Q. Would all of this mentioned be all part of an attempt at resuscitate Mr. Jackson
A. That would be correct
Q. Mr. Jackson according your report had a condom catheter present, what is that and what the condom catheter use is for
A. A condom catheter goes over the penis and used to collect urine during sedation because the patient cannot wake to release their bladder and the urge to do happens whether wake or not
Q. In your report, you note that Mr. Jackson’s sternum is fractured, how do you supposed that happened
A. I assumed it to be due to aggressive resuscitation efforts
Q. What is the procedure for determining cause of death?
A. In regards to Mr. Jackson, we took photos during every stage of the exam. We have a diagram of the male body, where we notate every marking that we found on the body. We took blood and hair samples. We assessed rigor mortis and lividity to help with calculating time of death. We opened the body to exam all organs and tissue. We sent samples of the organs and tissue after our examination to various specialist for consults, including a toxicologist. We took x-rays as well
Q. And all of this was an attempt to determine cause and manner and death
A. Yes that’s correct, sometimes you can tell from the autopsy and sometimes not.
Q. Can you determine exhaustion, weight loss and psychological issues?
A. No, none of those can be determined from autopsy
Q. One of the first things you did, was x-rays, what did x-rays show
A. Mr. Jackson had dental work done, spondylosis of the thoracic spine
Q. Would that be the upper lumbar, underneath the chest
A. The upper lumbar yes that correct
A. Yes that is correct
Q. What else was found?
A. Osteoarthritis of the lower lumbar face joints, these are the joint that hold the spine together. Mild osteoarthritis of the joints on Mr. Jackson’s right long and index fingers and moderate osteoarthritis of the left pinky finger. And in both legs, mild calcified atherosclerosis was found. Mr. Jackson also has a small extra rib located at c7.
Q. You mentioned an extra rib found, did you find any broken ribs
A. The right 4th and 5th ribs and the left 3rd 4th and 5th ribs were broken and we determined this to be due to aggressive resuscitative efforts
Q. Any other finding on the x-rays
A. There was the intra-aortic balloon pump and intravascular catheters in the left jugular and both femoral veins
Q. I want to ask you, the first step that you had was the x-ray then the next step to physically examine and photograph the body. Did you record everything you saw on Mr. Jackson’s body, on the diagram that you attached to the autopsy?
A. Yes I did
*Shows Diagram*
Q. Can you tell us what the various marks represent, on the left there is 3/5 inch scar next to nose
A. Yes
Q. A little pink tattoo on the lips
A. Yes
Q. Over the eyebrows, what do the eyebrows show?
A. These are dark tattoos for his eyebrows
Q. There is another small scar next to the nose on the other side, is that right
A. Yes that is correct
Q. ¾ inch scar behind the left and right ear…
A. Correct
Q. Did you see any area that was related to the burn sustained related to Pepsi accident where Mr. Jackson endured 2nd & 3rd degree burns to his scalp
* AEG Objects!*
Q. Hypothetically, I want you to assume if Mr. Jackson suffered burns on the head, where would you have shown that on your diagram.
*AEG Objects* (message from teammichaeljackson.com there is no reference to Michael’s burns anywhere in the autopsy or on the diagram that depicts the markings on his body)
Q. And now let’s look at the lower section of the diagram, where there are those bands of dark discoloration, were you able to identify what those are
A. Yes, those are the areas where pigmentation was sustained on Mr. Jackson’s body, he suffers from vitiligo which causes the loss pigmentation
Q. On to next exhibit, this is another diagram, you recorded everything significant that you found on body.
A. Yes that is correct
Let’s start with upper portion
Q. Are you able to, as a medical examiner, determine the origin of anything you see on the human body.
A. Yes for the most part
Q. At the top, there are punctures and contusions on right side of neck, what you attribute those to
A. Those puncture marks are from attempts to resuscitate Mr. Jackson, these areas are were the IV catheter were inserted
Q. On the other side, you have written endotracheal tube and intra-vascular catheter into vein, is that correct
A. Yes that is correct
Q. On the right hand shoulder there are more punctures, what do you attribute those to
A. These marks are consistent with trying to start an IV
Q. And you don’t know what caused that (lower) puncture on the shoulder
A. The mark on the lower shoulder is unusual and I couldn’t determine
Q. Assume that there were numerous attempts to insert intravenous lines, is that consistent
A. Yes I suppose
Q. Below that there are two other little puncture marks
A. yes there are, that’s from bruising at the puncture site
Q. The trunk of the body, 3 by 3 inch grooves, in center of chest, what is that associated with
A. Those are from resuscitative efforts
On the right side there a quarter inch scar up on top, what is that consistent with
And below that, there are punctures and contusions, consistent with resuscitation efforts
Q. In the report, it’s noted that there are two wrist bands on Mr. Jackson’s wrist, would these be i.d. bands from the hospital
A. Yes they were placed on him at UCLA
Now in center of trunk, there is a scar, what is reason for that 5 inch scar
A. No I was not able to determine the origin of that scar
Q. And the 2 inch scar right on the lower abdomen, were you able to determine its origin
A. No I was unable to
Q. Is there anything you could relate the latter to?
A. A superficial procedure possibly
Q. Could it be consistent with a laparoscopic surgery?
A. Yes that is possible
What is origin of lighter skin pigmentation in those areas?
Was it consistent with vitiligo?
Q. I want to ask you one more question about vitiligo, what kind of disease is vitiligo
A. Vitiligo is a disease that attacks the melanin in the skin, this is what gives the skin its hue and color. Vitiligo cause depigmentation which removes the color from the skin
Q. Is it a disease that is suffered largely by African-American People?
A. Yes
Q. Can it be very disfiguring?
A. Yes very
Q. Do you know what the treatment is for vitiligo?
A. Vitiligo can be treated various ways, it all depends on how advanced the condition is what parts of the body. There are steroid creams used to treat vitiligo, medications taken oral tat try to slow down the destruction of melanin cells, there is also light therapy with various UV rays and there of course is treatment where you remove the pigment that is left so that it matches the areas that white do to pigment loss
Q. Is vitiligo restricted to the trunk, legs or it can it be on the face right
A. Vitiligo appears all over the body, no it is not subject to one location
It can have varying pigmentation, how does it appear
Q. And the other areas appear the normal skin color so if a person wants to treat it, they have to get the light section darker or the dark section lighter
A. Yes that is correct, if there is a gross amount of depigmentation like with Mr. Jackson you must go lighter
Q. Over the knee, did you see any kind of condition?
Q. What did you attribute the scars over the knees to?
Q. 50 year old people can have various scars on their body
A. Of course that the case with us all, we develop various scars throughout life
Q. And below that there is hyper-pigment, what is that consistent with
A. I determined that to be consistent with Mr. Jackson’s vitiligo
Q. And then on the other side of the leg, there were tags, bands, puncture, do you know what happened in that puncture
A. What happened in this puncture, is that the one of Dr. Murray’s lines were put in
Resume at 3:17p.m
See Also,,, Dr Rogers court transcripts from the Murray Prelim here,, and video from the Murray trial here…