Michael Jackson doctor Conrad Murray charged with manslaughter
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The AP reports that Conrad Murray has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the June 2009 death of Michael Jackson, the King of Pop. Faster than you can say ‘propofol,’ the drug that the Houston cardiologist used on Jackson to help him sleep, and which killed him, he has pleaded not guilty.
I can’t blame Dr. Murray for not wanting to take a deal and plead out. After all, it’s 4 years at most if he is convicted of the crime that brands him with neither malice, nor intent to kill Jackson; perhaps it will be less than that. And if he’s found not guilty, it will be none at all.
Murray in a sense seems to me like a fall guy. Jackson clearly lived a very difficult life, with a range of unhealthy activities and behaviors reinforced by his sycophantic entourage. No one would see Jackson’s scary jack-o-lantern pumpkin nose without knowing that this was a superstar who had burned a bit too brightly. Murray was brought onto the scene in a sense to protect Jackson and his many medical problems from scrutiny. And let’s face it: the farther outside established medical systems and procedures you go, the more likely it is that your medical provider will push the envelope and do things that aren’t wise to care for you, driven by a sense that he has to perform to expectations not only driven by his patient, but also by whoever is handling the affairs of his patient.
To me, this makes Murray seem a bit like The Fool in Shakespeare’s King Lear. He appears at the side of this great man at a strange moment when his greatness is undermined beyond his knowledge by all the other characters playing in the background of his life. The Fool in some ways gave King Lear crappy advice and a false sense of security; but Lear was a crappy king, surrounded by crappier children and schemers eager to undo all he had built. Murray may have made some poor medical decisions, but how poor were Jackson’s life decisions, and how much worse was the counsel and decision-making Jackson was getting from the people who surrounded him?
Ultimately, it’s more difficult to charge Jackson’s enablers than it is to charge Dr. Murray for the very real role he played in Jacko’s end. And that’s why prosecutors have focused on the doctor to achieve justice, Hollywood-style.
If Murray spends four or less years in jail, he’s going to be OK. Sure, he may never practice medicine again, but the man will lead a very comfortable life subsequently, given the number of people who will be eager to hear, and pay for, the story of the man who was with the King of Pop in his final moments. The question now is what fingers he’ll point at trial in his defense. There are likely to be a lot of them.
More useful details from the LA Times.
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Michael Jackson’s doctor DOES need to take some responsibility for the death because he is the one who put M.J. on them. One specific Medication in -point: Propofol-It is almost exclusively used as an anesthetic agent in pre-op and intra-op settings where a patients vital signs (including respirations) can be monitored by machines and medical personnel. It was inappropriate for M.J.’s doctor to prescribe it as a sleep aid in the first place.
M.M.R.N.
You’re correct Maryann, and I don’t deny that Dr. Murray should be charged with involuntary manslaughter. It’s just that the root of Michael Jackson’s death goes so much deeper than just his most recent doctor. And when you see the way that someone conveniently set up a station where ‘protesters’ could make signs vilifying the doctor as a murderer, you know that the entirety of the responsibility is being hoisted onto his shoulders by members of the king of pop’s entourage.
In response to another comment. See in context »Give me a break. Would anyone here not take 150,000 a month to shoot his ass up. The doctor is simply the fall guy. He will take a plea bargain and spent 2 1/2 -4 years in a cushy white collar prison somewhere in California. It just sucks that the person who is responsible for his death (himself)gets to look like a victim once again in this ridiculously twisted media. Speaking of twisted media, did anyone see Nancy grace last night… the lady is a big jumbled mess of retarded.
Many assume that anyone who takes the view that Jackson was innocent of the allegations he faced during his life and is entitled to a meaningful inquiry into his death – is a ‘fan.’
I was not.
But a fixed stance that Mr Jackson is guilty, flies in the face of the 2005 across-the-board verdicts, the FBI finding no evidence of criminal wrongdoing after over 10 years of investigation, a worldwide search for other so-called ‘victims’ by Tom Sneddon – that yielded nothing, and an on record statement by Thomas Mesereau detailed below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8iO1wRHegY
It reveals that Jordan Chandler was not molested by Mr Jackson. It should also be noted that Jordan was invited by the prosecution to testify against Jackson in 2005.
He refused.
While Doctor Murray is almost certainly negligent, there is a bigger question in all of this that the media is convieniently not focusing on. ‘Why’ did Mr Jackson have chronic insomnia in the first place?
Twice the victim of extortion, a serious death threat, relentless vilification by ’serious’ journalists such as Diane Dimond, Nancy Grace, The Smoking Gun and countless others; who colluded with the, then Tom Sneddon-led LAPD to hystericize the American public into believing Mr Jackson was a child molester – would seem reason enough to be going on with.
Yes, Michael was taking an extreme drug to aid his sleep, but he was also entitled to a substantially better duty of care than Doctor Murray provided.