Jackson doc's interactions with promoter detailed

An executive who negotiated with Michael Jackson's doctor says he never considered doing a background check on him.
Paul Gongaware told a jury he didn't think that financial issues would affect a doctor's medical judgment.
The producer and promoter is testifying in a case filed by Jackson's mother, who claims the company failed to properly investigate Conrad Murray before allowing him to work with the singer during preparations for comeback concerts.
AEG Live LLC denies wrongdoing and contends it could not have known that Murray was giving Jackson doses of the anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid. Jackson died from an overdose of it in June 2009.

Murray had liens and was facing foreclosure before agreeing to work with Jackson for USD 150,000 a month.
Gongaware said he wasn't concerned about Murray's background because he'd been recommended by Jackson.

"I just expect doctors to be ethical," Gongaware said. "Their financial side of their life shouldn't affect their medical judgment."
Jackson died before signing Murray's USD 150,000 per month contract to work on the tour. Murray was never paid by AEG for his work with the singer.
Gongaware said he recommended that Jackson hire a London-based doctor for the concerts, but the singer didn't seem to give it serious consideration.

"It wasn't my place to say who his doctor was going to be," Gongaware said. "It was his decision."
Gongaware was shown emails he was sent less than a month before Jackson's death in which tabloid newspapers were speculating the singer was suffering from cancer.
Gongaware urged his company not to respond. "Our redemption will be when he does his shows," he wrote about Jackson. "We don't have to sell tickets, so we can just sit back and prove them wrong by just doing it." AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips is expected to testify later this week.