Dr. Klein Lawsuit Claims Slander

In court papers filed Monday, Jackson’s longtime dermatologist and friend, Dr. Arnold Klein, accused a cosmetic surgeon who boasts his own decades-long relationship with the singer of making false statements to a British tabloid about Klein in an attempt to wreck his reputation and celebrity-studded Beverly Hills practice.

Dr. Steven Hoefflin, a Santa Monica doctor known for treating the rich and famous, and Klein are “competitors in a highly specialized and elite field which caters to a very exclusive clientele,” Klein’s attorneys claimed in the suit. They wrote that Hoefflin’s comments in an Aug. 26 article in the London paper The Sun have caused “extensive damage” to a reputation Klein has taken decades to build and that includes media-bestowed titles such as “dermatologist to the stars” and “king of collagen.”

“Dr. Klein has been shunned and avoided...[he] has suffered shame, mortification and hurt feelings,” his lawyers charged in the suit seeking unspecified financial damages.

The article in question quotes Hoefflin as linking Klein with Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson’s personal physician. In the wake of Jackson’s death, federal agents have sought records about Klein’s prescribing practices, but only Murray has been identified as the subject of a manslaughter investigation.

According to the newspaper story, Hoefflin, who had not treated the singer for a number of years before his death, suggested to a reporter that Klein provided Murray with propofol, the anesthetic blamed for Jackson’s death, and that Murray telephoned the dermatologist for advice in the minutes after the singer stopped breathing.

Murray’s attorney has said that his client and Klein never had any contact, and according to law enforcement sources, the propofol came from a Las Vegas pharmacy. Hoefflin did not return messages seeking comment.

In the court filing, Klein’s attorneys rail against those seeking their “fifteen minutes of fame” from Jackson’s death and condemns Hoefflin as “one of the central individuals inserting himself into the media circus.”

There is no mention of the television interviews Klein did after Jackson’s death in which he described a close, personal relationship with the singer and his children and provided details about his medical history.

Source: MJFC / LA Times/ MJ Fans