Dr. Hyman Engelberg

Dr. Hyman  Engelberg

Dr. Engelberg gave an interview with a 48 hours investigator in 1982. I found various discrepancies while reading the statements. Do you see any?

Investigator: There was apparently quite a volume of pills discovered at her death, at her bedside….

Engleberg: Yes.

Investigator: Do you recall looking at a list of those pills? And were they all prescribed by you?

Engleberg: No. Only one had to be prescribed by me. I had prescribed Nembutal to help her sleep. But as I recall, to the best of my ability, I was surprised to see a large number of other sleeping pills at the side of her bed, which looked like Seconal, which she had apparently purchased on a recent trip to Mexico. It's my understanding that in Mexico in those days, you could walk into any pharmacy and buy, you know, any tranquilizers or sleeping pills you wanted. There were certainly lots of other sleeping pills I had not prescribed…. (The first time I ever heard him say this about other pills from Mexico) 

Investigator: Chloral Hydrate specifically?

Dr. Engleberg: I knew nothing about any Chloral Hydrate. I never used Chloral Hydrate….

Investigator: So you wrote her a prescription for Nembutal only?

Dr. Engleberg: That was it. That was the only prescription I wrote for sedatives.

Investigator: Did you go to her house?

Dr. Engleberg: Oh, sure.

Investigator: Do you recall the time?

Engleberg: What?

Investigator: Do you recall the time?

Engleberg: I don't think, you know, of looking at the exact time….But I recall that it must have been in the general area of 3:00am…maybe 2:30. Somewhere in that area….

Investigator: The reason I'm asking is, as you probably know is the discrepancies in the time that you were called. One person saying it was around midnight, and other one was saying it was around 3am…

Engleberg: Dr. Greenson was called first. And he got there first. I think I was called around 2:30 to 3 o'clock….

Investigator: It wouldn't have been around midnight?

Engleberg: Oh, no. No, no, no. Absolutely not.

Investigator: Okay. Did you then go into Marilyn's bedroom?

Engleberg: Yes.

Investigator: What did you see there?

Engleberg: She was sprawled over the bed, and she was dead.

Investigator: When you say sprawled, what position was she actually in?

Engleberg: I don't recall exactly what position she was in. I knew that I had to be since I was an internist. I took out my stethoscope and listened to make sure her heart wasn't beating. Checked her pupils because that's one of the sensitive ways to tell if a person is dead or not. I said she was dead. Which, of course, Dr. Greeson knew anyway, but I had to go through the motions…. (He would have to turn her body over to check her pupils, so did he turn her on her back and then back on her stomach? If so why would he do that?) 

Investigator: Was there a reason there was a delay of half-hour, or do you consider it was a delay?

Engleberg: We were stunned. We were talking over what happened, what she had said. Ordinarily, when you pronounce somebody dead, you don't call the police; you call the mortician. I was the one who, I guess, eventually said, gee, I think in this case, we'd better call the police. (And why would this case be different if she really was dead)