Michael Jackson | PROBABLE CAUSE

Regardless of what one thought of Michael Jackson, yesterday’s verdict convicting his personal physician, cardiologist Conrad Murray, of involuntary manslaughter, was the right decision. The conviction calls for a sentence of up to four years, though it’s unlikely Murray will serve the full term because of a new state prison alignment law that allows early release for people convicted of nonviolent felonies. However, Murray will lose his medical license and will never practice medicine again.

The original Hippocratic Oath states that a physician should “do know harm,” and by any definition, Murray certainly did just that. The jury found that he acted with criminal negligence in administering a deadly dose of propofol to Jackson who was desperate to get some sleep so he could rehearse for his comeback tour in London.

According to testimony, Murray was accused of waiting more than twenty minutes before calling 911 for help after discovering Jackson lifeless on his bed, essentially ending any hope of reviving him. Murray then lied about using propofol – a powerful drug that is only supposed to be used in a hospital setting for general anesthesia and sedation.

Whether the jury determined that Murray actually administered the fatal dose of propofol was unclear, but one medical expert identified seventeen separate failures in the accepted standards of care in Murray’s treatment of Jackson. The LA District Attorney told the jury they needed to agree on just one life-threatening mistake to find him guilty and called Murray’s use of propofol to treat Jackson’s chronic insomnia an ‘obscene experiment’.

While Murray certainly was directly responsible for Jackson’s death, the rock-star and concert promoters were not without culpability, as Murray was under immense pressure to administer the drug. Jackson himself even threatened to cancel the tour if he couldn’t get enough sleep to rehearse.

It was a sad end for Michael Jackson and a career marked by brilliance and controversy. It was also a sad end for a physician whose greed overrode his medical ethics and training. One can only hope that Jackson’s death and Murray’s conviction serve as warnings to both celebrities and the physicians who are often paid exorbitant fees to cater to their dangerous wishes.

By officially charging Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson’s cardiologist, with involuntary manslaughter today, Los Angeles will again be home to a show trial reminiscent of the media circus surrounding the celebrity trials of Robert Blake and O.J. Simpson, both of whom were acquitted of murder, mostly because of prosecutorial missteps. One hopes that the D.A.’s office is better prepared to deal with Murray and a charge of manslaughter.

Of course doctors dealing drugs for celebrities is nothing new. Dr. George Nichopoulos, Elvis Presley’s private physician, literally wrote thousands of prescriptions for Elvis at a time when it was obvious that the entertainer was abusing them. Many believe that prescription drug abuse severely compromised Presley’s health, and led to his sudden death in 1977 at the age of 42. Nichopoulos was eventually charged with 14 counts of abusing his license to prescribe in May of 1980, but was acquitted in November. The case was reopened in 1992, and in 1995, his medical license was revoked.

Conrad Murray gave Jackson propofol, also called “milk of amnesia,” a powerful anesthetic, which depresses breathing and heart rate while lowering blood pressure. It is only supposed to be administered by an anesthesia professional in a medical setting.

According to court documents, Murray told police he administered propofol just before 11 a.m. then stepped out of the room to go to the bathroom. Murray told police that when he returned to the bedroom, he saw that Jackson was not breathing and began trying to revive him. But an ambulance was not called until 12:21 p.m. Curiously, Murray spent much of the intervening time making non-emergency cell phone calls.

Last year, psychiatrists Khristine Eroshevich and Dr. Sandeep Kapoor were charged with felony conspiracy to furnish drugs to Anna Nicole Smith. They were also charged with prescribing, administering or dispensing a controlled substance to an addict.

28-year-old actor Heath Ledger died just over a year ago as the result of acute intoxication from the combined effects of an accidental dose of oxycodone, Vicodin, Valium, Temazepam, Xanax, and doxylamine. This past December actress Brittany Murphy died at 32 from pneumonia, aided by anemia and drug intoxication. Doctors may not have directly administered the drugs to Smith, Ledger, and Murphy, but they certainly contributed to their deaths.

Drug deaths in Hollywood are nothing new. Celebrity worshipers have been watching actors and musicians unintentionally kill themselves for years. And for many years, going as far back as Marilyn Monroe, the law enforcement community often looked the other way. More recently, they have gone after the doctor suppliers. Eventually, prosecutions and convictions may convince these drug-dealing doctors to focus on their Hippocratic Oaths rather than on padding their bank accounts. The recent string of celebrity drug deaths may also change some behaviors in Hollywood.

As Ernest Hemingway famously wrote, “Isn’t it pretty to think so.”