Latest Article on Dr. Murray

Differing Sides of Physician Who Tended to Jackson

of Physician Who Tended To Jackson

By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.

Published: September 26, 2009


HOUSTON — Dr. Conrad Murray, who became famous for treating Michael Jackson just before the star’s death, has been sued more than a dozen times for claims including breach of contract and unpaid child support. Yet he has never been sued for malpractice.

court record highlights two often-contradictory sides of the man at the center of the controversy over Mr. Jackson’s death from an overdose of sedatives.


To many of his patients, he is an affable and sympathetic physician, who took extra time with them and found effective therapies when others had given up. At the same time, he led a stormy and at times racy personal life, playing fast and loose with his obligations and leaving behind a trail of unpaid bills and unwed mothers.
“It’s almost as if when I read the paper, I’m reading about another doctor,” said Michael Goyer, a retired city manager who was treated for heart disease by Dr. Murray in Las Vegas. “I thought he was beyond excellent.”
Dr. Murray, 56, is under investigation for his role in administering various sedatives to Mr. Jackson in the hours before he went into cardiac arrest on the morning of June 25.

This week, one of several women with whom Dr. Murray became romantically entangled testified before a Los Angeles County grand jury, law enforcement officials said. The woman, Nicole Alvarez, 27, an aspiring actress who gave birth to Dr. Murray’s child this spring, began dating him in late 2006, around the same time he met Mr. Jackson. She has first-hand knowledge of the doctor’s relationship with the singer, according to her close friend Ben Harris Jr., who says she told him she accompanied Dr. Murray on at least four visits to Mr. Jackson’s residence in 2007.

Ms. Alvarez has declined to talk with detectives without her lawyer present, and prosecutors are using the grand jury proceeding to compel her to testify, law enforcement officials said.

Dr. Murray worked as Mr. Jackson’s personal physician from May until the time of the singer’s death. He was promised a salary of $150,000 a month, but he was never fully paid, his spokeswoman, Miranda Sevcik, said.
He maintains he did nothing wrong. The Los Angeles County medical examiner has determined Mr. Jackson died of an overdose of propofol, a powerful sedative used during surgery, and another sedative, lorazepam; the police are trying to determine if Dr. Murray made mistakes, either through negligence or by consciously disregarding risks of the drugs, that would warrant a manslaughter or murder charge.
Dr. Murray has told the police he had been trying to wean Mr. Jackson off propofol when he died. That night he had given him three other sedatives, but finally relented to Mr. Jackson’s requests and gave him a dose of propofol in the morning to knock him out, according to a police affidavit. A few minutes later, while the doctor was taking a bathroom break, the singer’s heart stopped.

“He neither prescribed or administered anything to Michael Jackson that should have killed him,” Ms. Sevcik said.

The key question facing prosecutors and the grand jury is whether Dr. Murray was negligent, and if so, to what degree, legal experts said. For an involuntary manslaughter conviction, prosecutors would have to show only that Dr. Murray took a reckless action — one a reasonable doctor would not take — that created a risk of death or bodily injury. For second-degree murder, however, they would have to prove he knew the cocktail of medicines could cause death and ignored the risk, legal experts said.

With the investigation creeping along as the state looks into whether other doctors might have abused prescriptions for Mr. Jackson, Dr. Murray now finds himself at a low point in the tumultuous journey that began when he was a born to a poor single mother on a subsistence farm in Grenada. It continued in Trinidad, where he went to high school, then took him to college and medical school in Houston and Nashville, then on to Southern California, where he began practicing cardiology.
Finally, a personal crisis involving an extramarital affair drove him from San Diego to Nevada, where he met Mr. Jackson.

The key question facing prosecutors and the grand jury is whether Dr. Murray was negligent, and if so, to what degree, legal experts said. For an involuntary manslaughter conviction, prosecutors would have to show only that Dr. Murray took a reckless action — one a reasonable doctor would not take — that created a risk of death or bodily injury. For second-degree murder, however, they would have to prove he knew the cocktail of medicines could cause death and ignored the risk, legal experts said.


I said it before - any high school kid knows that that cocktail could make you stop breathing. What a bunch of BS

That night he had given him three other sedatives, but finally relented to Mr. Jackson’s requests and gave him a dose of propofol in the morning to knock him out


I LOVE this part,as it doesnt matter how much someone is asking you YOU ARE THE DOCTOR and should KNOW better considering what u SUPPOSEDLY already administerd to him, YES IF he did this,he should be held accountable,AS should ANYONE who gives these type meds,without using their heads and having a medical background this man SHOULD HAVE known better HE HELD THE DOCTORS DEGREE, IF this is the truth

Exactly the doctor is the professional so he doesn't just do as the patients asks and end up overdosing them just 'cos the patient requests or demands it, what he should be doing is getting him into the nearest rehab clinic ASAP. This makes no sense any doctor with a brain knows what's best for the patient so he's the one in control.

Exactly to both of those statements above.

What I am having trouble understanding is this and its this kind of (B.S.) thing that makes me feel MJ has got to be alive.

The key question facing prosecutors and the
grand jury is whether Dr. Murray was negligent, and if so, to what
degree,

ok, let me take that one first - "to what degree" is, I don't care if MJ had an overdose of bubblegum that choked him to death - the doctor was negligent to the degree that he made umpteen phone calls and not one to 911 and that's #1 - #2 is (and should really be number 1) he was making those phone calls instead of treating his "dying" patient.

legal experts said. For an involuntary manslaughter conviction,
prosecutors would have to show only that Dr. Murray took a reckless
action — one a reasonable doctor would not take — that created a risk
of death or bodily injury.

My same response to the first paragraph plus the reckless act of being on the phone instead of saving his patient.

The whole drug thing, Propofol and everything else is just a smoke screen. I believe that with all my heart.


For second-degree murder, however, they
would have to prove he knew the cocktail of medicines could cause death
and ignored the risk, legal experts said.

With whole discussion of drugs set aside - if the doctor and MJ were walking down the street with the doctor walking a few paces ahead and could see the manhole MJ was about to step into to his death, would that not be second degree murder if he admitted to seeing the manhole and not warning the man?

Any lawyers in here?

You are so funny. I do feel sorry for poor Dr. Murray though. He has to be the fall guy for everyone else. But someone should have guided him on what to say regarding how much Iprofol he gave MJ. He didn't give him enough to have him doze off. Can you imagine that poor man coming into the room and finding the victim dead. I know he was out of his mind. He had to be since he didn't call 911 until 3 hrs later. Poor man! Even though it was hoax he just didn't play his part too well. No, I don't believe he's a Cardiologist either. Dr. Murray fell apart under pressure, a real Dr. has self control. Keep the Faith!

mjssoulmate wrote:Not a lawyer. But every action that Murray took, from administering the drugs, to the delayed call for help, to administering CPR on bed, to making phone calls or taking a p**s while on watch, is negligible. Cardiologist my @ss!
It has to be part of the hoax, it absolutely makes no sense otherwise.

I also read in another article that Murray called a lawyer before he called 911! Is this true????

mjssoulmate wrote:Not a lawyer. But every action that Murray took, from administering the drugs, to the delayed call for help, to administering CPR on bed, to making phone calls or taking a p**s while on watch, is negligible. Cardiologist my @ss!
It has to be part of the hoax, it absolutely makes no sense otherwise.

I agree with this. I told my mom since Murray's supposed 'confession', "watch nothing happens to the doctor" and my mother said, "oh they'll get him because he confessed to giving the fatal dose to the wealthy superstar" and I said, "mom I don't care of Murray got on TV and said, "I killed him and I meant to kill him" nothing is going to happen to him in the long run (even if they do a "showy" sentencing type thing) because Michael Jackson is not dead.

I know he'd better not be dead because if he is, I'm gonna kill him after taking me through all this!!!

Red Velvet wrote:

mjssoulmate wrote:Not a lawyer. But every action that Murray took, from administering the drugs, to the delayed call for help, to administering CPR on bed, to making phone calls or taking a p**s while on watch, is negligible. Cardiologist my @ss!
It has to be part of the hoax, it absolutely makes no sense otherwise.

I agree with this. I told my mom since Murray's supposed 'confession', "watch nothing happens to the doctor" and my mother said, "oh they'll get him because he confessed to giving the fatal dose to the wealthy superstar" and I said, "mom I don't care of Murray got on TV and said, "I killed him and I meant to kill him" nothing is going to happen to him in the long run (even if they do a "showy" sentencing type thing) because Michael Jackson is not dead.

I know he'd better not be dead because if he is, I'm gonna kill him after taking me through all this!!!

lol @ "I killed him and I meant to kill him". But you are right, he might as well just say that because he cant be arrested.