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Original poster

Michael Jackson trial

22 replies

MyChildDoesntNeedSleep · 04/11/2011 09:33

I can't find any discussion on the trial anywhere.

I've caught a few minutes of the trial here and there. I can't see how Dr Murray can walk away from this. He was obviously grossly negligent. General anaesthetic for sleeping problems! Shock

What are your thoughts? (Or could you point me to where the discussion is?)

OP posts:
YourCallIsImportant · 04/11/2011 09:36

I've been watching it avidly. I can't see him being cleared of it, there's too many instances of negligence, carelessness and evasive behaviour. Closing arguments were yesterday and the jury is now out.

GypsyMoth · 04/11/2011 09:39

When is final verdict likely?

No op, there doesn't appear to be a thread on this so far!

YourCallIsImportant · 04/11/2011 09:42

Not sure how long they'll take to come to a verdict and I think it has to be unanimous. Jury have been sent to a hotel, and are in the care of the Sheriff's Dept.

Original poster
MyChildDoesntNeedSleep · 04/11/2011 09:52

Something like that couldn't happen in the UK. For a start there is no way a normal doctor would be able to get his hands on those quantities of general anaesthetic. There would be all sorts of questions as to why he needed it.

The use of General Anaesthetic to 'help someone sleep' is completely out of order. I'd love to know how the hell they got into that! I had to have my wisdom tooth out in hospital because I needed a General, and I remember the seriousness of it all...the documents I had to sign and all the equipment they had to have to monitor and if necessary resuscitate if something went wrong. I remember making sure I had all my affairs in order in case I didn't wake up! I remember not being allowed to drive for 24 hours and them insisting on somebody staying with me that first day. But apparently with Michael this was administered time and time again (I'm not sure how often) like it was some sort of sleeping tablet!

With MJ there was no written informed consent, no monitoring or resus equipment, and I believe Dr Murray even left the room at one point to speak on the phone Shock!

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CogitoErgoSometimes · 04/11/2011 13:06

"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...." Part of the Hippocratic Oath.

I think, on the 'never do harm' and 'lethal drug' tests, the doctor has left himself wide open. Whether he's guilty of negligence, I don't know, but I suspect he will lose his licence to practise medicine.

fickencharmer · 04/11/2011 17:46

yes, Cogitol, I think he deserves to lose his license.

Original poster
MyChildDoesntNeedSleep · 04/11/2011 22:18

At the very least.

I think he was blinded by the money.

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Original poster
MyChildDoesntNeedSleep · 07/11/2011 21:54

He's been found guilty

OP posts:
Original poster
MyChildDoesntNeedSleep · 07/11/2011 21:57

Wow, he was paid £150,000 PER MONTH??? Shock

He obviously thought the cash was worth potentially killing somebody, so he probably thinks its worth going to jail for four years for that kind of salary.

OP posts:
CogitoErgoSometimes · 08/11/2011 07:33

It's a cautionary tale. Presumably Jackson went through quite a few other personal doctors until he found one he could pay to bend the rules. You've only to look at the unnecessary plastic surgery he underwent to see that he could find people to anything he wanted.. Any doctor with a shred of integrity would have turned him down no matter how much money was on the table. Maybe a gaol term rather than the usual law-suit will act as more of a deterrent for others thinking of doing the same thing.

diddl · 08/11/2011 07:39

I can´t help thinking that there were a lot of others who never said "no" to MJ who should have been in the dock with him.

SinisterBuggyMonth · 08/11/2011 13:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BartletForAmerica · 08/11/2011 13:49

Cogito, you did miss off a bit there of 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; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion."

BartletForAmerica · 08/11/2011 13:51

While how he treated Michael Jackson does sound very dodgy, I really can't see how this man is a danger to the public at large, but he will be made a scapegoat and his punishment will reflect that.

I agree his medical licence should be taken away, but I'm not sure how he or society will benefit from a prison sentence.

diddl · 08/11/2011 13:55

It did all seem rather dramatic-and the moving forward to handcuff asap.

I´m not sure he was a scapegoat exactly-seems to me he was making good money for doing what he was asked to do?

If he was using some equipment/medicines outside of a hospital setting then he should be struck off & there is surely some liability on his part that what he did contributed to MJs death.

If it wasn´t him, it would have been someone else doing it imo-but it was him!

CogitoErgoSometimes · 08/11/2011 13:58

I missed a very large amount of the oath... it's several paragraphs!!! Just included the salient lines. A practising doctor that has put self-importance and personal reward above the safety of a patient is a potential danger to the public. Our very own Harold Shipman demonstrated that. He is convicted of manslaughter and that attracts a prison sentence. It won't be high security and, taking into account his previous good character and time spent on remand, he'll probably be out after a year or two.

Lexie1970 · 08/11/2011 14:41

I tend to agree with previous poster that murray has been used as a scapegoat. MJ appears to have been using a serious amount of medication over the years and I honestly think that a 'sane' medic would not have prescribed 80% of drugs that were found in his possesion.

At the end of the day money talks and if you think how many 'stars' are addicted to pain medication somebody is quite happily dishing out the pills .....

CogitoErgoSometimes · 08/11/2011 15:17

Murray played 'Court Physician' and paid the price. Any decent doctor would have refused to treat Jackson single-handed at home and instead got him admitted to a clinic where specialists could deal with his medical problems. It's pride that made Murry think he could handle it, and therefore he has only himself to blame for the predicament he now finds himself in.

diddl · 08/11/2011 15:32

Perhaps scapegoat in that other Drs have treated patients in this way & "got away with it".

But he didn´t have to take the job/money.

BartletForAmerica · 08/11/2011 16:08

I'm well aware how long the Hippocratic Oath is - I have taken a version of it when I graduated! My point was to show that we ignore bits of it as we choose to, so the Hippocratic Oath can't be taken as the final arbiter of A Good Doctor.

YourCallIsImportant · 08/11/2011 22:54

Conrad Murray never actually received any of the $150k per month that had been agreed with MJ, as he died before the contract got signed.

Animation · 10/11/2011 19:48

Fair enough he's been convicted for administering too much medication, but can't help but feel why on earth did MJ, a man with kids in his care, keep requesting to be zonked out. Seems irresponsible to me.

Yes, the immediate handcuffing is VERY dramatic and unnecessary.

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