Filed under: News
It looks like involuntary manslaughter will be the charge against Dr. Conrad Murray.
After Michael Jackson suffered cardiac arrest in his Holmby Hills home in Los Angeles in 2009, it allegedly took his personal physician, Dr.
They arrived in under three minutes, after being called by security, and spent another 42 minutes trying to revive him before deciding to "rush" him to the hospital.
According to paramedics and a doctor with 50 years of experience, Jackson died in the ambulance.
As Murray's preliminary hearing enters its second week, detective Orlando Martinez testifies that the King of Pop begged Murray to give him "his milk" or he would have to cancel his much-anticipated London tour.
His "milk" was reportedly the powerful anesthetic propofol. Along with the mild sedatives Conrad had given Jackson the previous night, the powerful cocktail proved too much for the frail Jackson, and even though he was allegedly carrying out his patient's wishes "without malice," the prosecution contends he acted "without due caution and circumspection."
And he will more than likely go to prison for it.
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Murray told police investigators that he had been treating Jackson for insomnia for six weeks at the time of the singer's death. He had given Jackson 50 milligrams of the sedative propofol diluted with the local anesthetic lidocaine every night via an intravenous drip. Health professionals seem suspicious of his story though:
"An anesthesiology consultant hired by the coroner to review the findings of the investigation said that 'there are no reports of its use for insomnia relief, to my knowledge," according to the report.
The only reports of its use in homes are cases of fatal abuse (first reported in 1992), suicide, murder and accident," Dr. Selma Calmes wrote.
The standard of care for administering propofol was not met," she wrote.
According to testimony, Murray bought 255 vials of propofol in the three months before Jackson died from the lethal combination:
"Dr. Conrad Murray purchased four shipments of the anesthetic propofol between April 6 and June 10, 2009," said Tim Lopez, owner of Applied Pharmacy Services in Las Vegas, where Murray has a clinic.
Murray bought 130 vials of propofol in 100-milliliter doses and another 125 vials in the smaller dose of 20 milliliters, Lopez said while testifying at the hearing.
A coroner's investigator previously testified that 12 vials of propofol were found in the bedroom and closet of the singer's rented mansion after his death.
Lopez further sank Murray's slim chance of freedom by testifying that Murray asked him to ship some of the propofol to "one of his clinics" in Santa Monica, Calif. As it turns out, the address actually belongs to the doctor's girlfriend.
Using Murray's phone records, testimony from police and Murray's current and former girlfriends to create a detailed time line, prosecutors were able to prove that Murray was on the phone throughout the morning of Jackson's death on June 25, 2009, including after administering propofol to the singer.
Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor ruled before the hearing began Monday that the information could be introduced as evidence.
Additional damaging testimony came from a bodyguard who said he was told by Murray to place vials of medicine in bags before calling an ambulance.
When Murray told patients at his Las Vegas practice that he was taking a leave of absence to pursue a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," I'm sure it never entered his mind that he would ultimately be held responsible for the loss of one of the greatest entertainers of a generation.
If all evidence is to be believed, Michael Jackson was an addict, and Murray was his enabler.
If the evidence brought before the court turns out to be true then it appears that Murray was so enamored with the limelight and the prestige of being Jackson's personal physician that he ignored his training and any inkling of professional responsibility.
Murray seems to have forgotten the two principals outlined in the Hippocratic Oath:
"I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.
"I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan."
If Murray is found guilty, he will be an embarrassment to himself and to his profession, and will deserve every minute of the maximum four-year sentence behind bars.