Dr. Conrad Murray at Los Angeles Superior Court
This case may go down in history as one of the poorly executed criminal defense of the man accused of giving the King of Pop the deadly dose of drugs that ended the star’s death. Yesterday in a Los Angeles courtroom, there was an audio played of Michael Jackson that appeared to show him under the influence of a drug, possibly propofol. The prosecution revealed an ire photo of Michael Jackson dead on a hospital gurney which according to a close source was not approved by the Jackson family. The murder case of People of California vs. Dr. Conrad Murray was underway in a Los Angeles courtroom yesterday and as expected there were many surprises from both the defense team and prosecution, which will make the OJ Simpson trial, look like a traffic hearing. Los Angeles Prosecutors told jurors yesterday that Michael Jackson was killed by the actions of his personal physician, who used a dangerous anesthetic without adequate safeguards and botched recovery efforts when he found the singer unconscious. Murray’s Defense team countered the prosecution statements by alleging that the singer caused his own death by self administering a dosage of propofol to himself when the doctor left his bedside because he couldn’t cope with his chronic sleeping disorder.
Blaming a victim for his own death might not have been the best defense especially if the victim was one of the most famous people in the world as this was the case of Michael Jackson. This type of defense would make one ask a series of questions: Why wasn’t Michael Jackson under 24-hour observation if he were being administered this drug? Was the doctor qualified to in fact administer such a drug?
Hip Hop Enquirer Dennis Byron spoke exclusively with Dr. Jacqueline Kirby, a Louisiana physician with over 34 years in the medical profession about proper medical procedures as it relates to the administering of the drug propofol as well as her thoughts on the evidence in this case.
HHE: Good morning Dr. Kirby, are you familiar with the manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray and the death of Michael Jackson?
Dr. Kirby: Yes
HHE: Based on the evidence that has been revealed and the fact that Dr. Conrad Murray was allegedly administering the drug propofol to Michael Jackson in his home was this proper procedure for someone who is a member of the medical profession?
Dr. Kirby: My professional opinion is that the drug should have never been administered outside a hospital or clinical setting that has monitors for the heart, respiration, etc that maintains the patient’s vitals. Propofol is a really good drug to use because it is quick acting in seconds to sedate the patient to do whatever procedure you need to do but at the same time it is a very dangerous drug. In other words, a patient can die. It decreases the respiration, it decreases the heart rate and propofol should have never been given in a home setting unless it was set up as a clinic and apparently that was not the case in this situation.
HHE: The defense claim is that Michael Jackson was a substance abuser and that Dr. Murray was in fact trying to wean Michael Jackson off the drug propofol, what are your thoughts about this claim?
Dr. Kirby: I am not a substance abuse person so I don’t know how they wean patients off of drugs, that is not my field; the only thing I can tell you is that the use of propofol in that setting was unethical.
HHE: Dr. Kirby, as an emergency room physician and someone who has administered propofol to patients, in what instances do you use such a drug?
Dr. Kirby: To sedate a patient for surgery or for quick procedures; which I have done in the emergency room and I am talking about with everybody around and we are talking nurses, respiratory therapists or even surgeons if we needed one. This is something I cannot do or would not do without the proper personnel around. You are dealing with someone’s life.
HHE: Would you recommend using this drug for someone who has a problem sleeping?
Dr. Kirby. No I would not.
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