Verdict in Jackson Doctor’s Trial

I am starting the writing of this blog before the verdict has been announced in the trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor.

By the time you read this, we’ll all know the outcome.

Was Dr. Conrad Murray criminally negligent in the death of Michael Jackson? We’ll hear what the jury says, but in my mind, the answer is both yes and no.

Yes, because any physician who earns $150,000 a month is clearly being paid to say “yes” to his patient’s plea for drugs—whether they should be medically administered or not. While the good doctor may not have been aware of the level of the lethal drug in Jackson’s system at the time, he may not “technically” have administered the dose that took Jackson’s life. Nevertheless, he should probably be stripped of his medical license and should face a civil suit, which he will undoubtedly will. To create any hope of a deterrent to other doctors, a “guilty” verdict would make sense.

No, because Michael Jackson was a tormented star whose drug addictions ultimately land at his own doorstep. He was responsible for his own demise, as he most certainly could have “bought” any other doctor willing to trade his conscience for a hundred a fifty “G’s” a month.

Sadly, this story is all too familiar. A huge star becomes a recluse, unable to mingle in the real world due to his celebrity. The wealth that fame confers on such people is used in part to create another world……


Guilty.

Verdict of involuntary manslaughter has just been rendered against Conrad Murray. No real reaction from Murray the reading of the verdict.

As I was writing prior to the verdict, it is the famous who fabricate a secluded world, one where they can live in relative peace---away from the public who adulation created both the wealth and the prison.

For Elvis, that haven was Graceland. For Michael Jackson, it was Neverland, where accusations of child molestation mixed with the suspicions of drug abuse. A superstar who never had a childhood, let alone a normal life as an adult—spiraled into a haze of drug induced escape.

Escape was the objective—and only in death was it complete.

Now that Murray has been found guilty, maybe there is closure for some of Jackson’s misguided fans, who sought out a guilty party, a scapegoat.

As for me, Jackson took his own life over an extended period of time. Dr. Murray was Michael’s own personal Dr. Kevorkian, easing him out. It’s obvious that Murray wanted to keep Jackson alive. He had a hundred and fifty thousand reasons each month to keep Jackson alive.

He failed—and will now pay dearly. To many, that is justice.

If you’d like my blog in your box, just let me know: tim.moore@cumulus.com