Serious Thoughts about the King of Pop

Distance: 6 miles
Song of the Run: Billie Jean by Michael Jackson
Weather: Chilly in the 50s

MUSE OF THE DAY
I heard a newscast about the Michael Jackson trial just before I headed out the door for my run so it was definitely on my mind today.  Do I think Conrad Murray is guilty of administering the fatal dose of drugs? Not sure.  However, it does seem that he acted carelessly and recklessly by making such a powerful drug such as propofol available for home use.  He must have known that the drug he was providing his patient was making a mess of him. He seemed to have ignored the drugged out phone calls of MJ and then when disaster finally struck his first actions were to clean the room before calling 911.

Murray is guilty of being spineless and not living up to the medical code of ethics.  Spineless, because he ignored the signs of addict and continued to provide stronger and stronger drugs to someone who could not understand all the consequences of his actions.  Unethical, because as a doctor he got caught up in the money and superstardom instead of acting in the best interest of his patient.  He allowed  his own ego and greed to get in the way of non-malfiesence, considered the most important code of medical ethics.

Could MJ have overdosed himself? Not sure.  He was an addict.  He couldn't sleep.  Maybe he felt that if he just took one-more-hit, he would get the rest he needed. Let's face it, although Michael Jackson was an incredibly talented individual, he always seemed to have problems with good judgement.  Starting with the obsession regarding his looks and the overuse of plastic surgery, to dangling a baby over a balcony, and the admission to sleeping with young boys his actions have not been that of a wise man. Whether his actions were of a malevolent nature have never been clear. However, it seemed pretty clear that for some reason he could not allow himself to grow up and arranged his life to continue as a perennial child.  In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Donovan pursues immortality and picks the wrong goblet.  Similarly, Jackson repeatedly went down the wrong path in his quest to remain a child.  And like the knight guarding those goblets we can only shake our heads at these exploits and utter "he chose poorly."

The point is - the drug never should have been there in the first place.  Conrad Murray was negligent in making it available and giving it to an addict. He acted like a drug dealer and like any pusher whose victim has OD'ed he should be held accountable.

Ah Michael - so brilliant, so strange. RIP