Tuesday, August 18, 2009

If it sounds like a duck

The police are starting to circle around Dr. Conrad Murray and his use of propofol as the culprit in Michael Jackson's untimely death. They are gathering information to charge him with manslaughter. I say we have all the information they need to charge and convict him. Even Katherine Jackson is contemplating filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the "doctor". Let's review how obvious his criminal acts are.

First of all Dr. Murray is an internist/cardiologist. Neither specialties are particularly experienced at giving propofol for sedation compared to anesthesia providers. Strike one.

Next Dr. Murray was using propofol outside a hospital setting without proper monitoring. As anybody with any experience with propofol knows, patients can go apneic within seconds of receiving the drug. Sure anesthesiologists make it look easy, just push it and the patient falls asleep. But as we have seen, disastrous consequences can occur without proper training. Strike two.

Finally Dr. Murray left MJ's room to make some personal phone calls with nobody monitoring him, his respiratory rate, his O2 sat, his blood pressure. Who knows how long MJ was dead before the good doctor came back in. There have been reports that he called for his storage units in Las Vegas and Houston to be emptied of incriminating evidence before calling 911. So MJ could have been dead for hours before the paramedics got to him. Strike three.

Incredibly he is maintaining his innocence despite his obvious negligence. He has stated he gave medications that should not have caused MJ's death. Yes, in the right hands propofol shouldn't. But with the tragic combination of negligence, incompetence, and hubris, death can occur with the use of propofol. For $150,000 per month, you would think Dr. Murray could hire somebody to watch Michael while he makes his phone calls. Tragically a great artist (musically speaking) has been silenced forever by this charlatan.

1 comment:

  1. I agree with you the most of it, except for the fact of him being internist or cardiologist, if he were on a hospital setting, and administer the drugs, on the proper dosing with monitors and the proper equips. as long as a physcian know what he's doing ( he obviusly not)