LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Los Angeles County coroner has ruled Michael Jackson's death a homicide and a combination of drugs was the cause, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press, a finding that makes it more likely criminal charges will be filed against the doctor who was with the pop star when he died.
Forensic tests found the powerful anesthetic propofol acted together with at least two sedatives to cause Jackson's death June 25 in his rented Los Angeles mansion, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the findings have not been publicly released.
Dr. Conrad Murray, a Las Vegas cardiologist who became Jackson's personal physician weeks before his death, is the target of a manslaughter investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department. A designation of homicide means that Jackson died at the hands of another, but does not necessarily mean a crime was committed.
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I think, Adam, that the news limited websites in Australia are sensationalising this with "MJ murdered" headlines. Actually, no one in the LA legal system has used that word. But it does look like the doctor could be charged with manslaughter.
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Not sure why the hell he would murder MJ. The doctor was making like $100 thousand a month off of Michael not bad salary! no wonder he gave him propofol, I'm sure he isn't the only corrupt doctor that gave him deadly drugs.
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Isn't the classic formula motive, means and opportunity?
Proving motive would be very tricky, and I don't have to ask my neighbor to know that they'd go for manslaughter at best. I think 'homicide' in this case is the equivalent of the British term 'death at the hands of another.'
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> Not sure why the hell he would murder MJ. The doctor was making like $100 thousand a month off of Michael not bad salary!
One has to question Conrad Murray's competence, based purely on the circumstantial evidence. He is a cardiologist with practices in Las Vegas and Miami, both of which are apparently in financial difficulties so he takes a job at $100k a month with a notorious drug abuser?
Who ever heard of a poor doctor, especially in America? How the hell can he have two practices on either side of the country, in two of the richest cities in the country, and be in such financial difficulties that he has to take this dodgy job in yet a third city? Something's very wrong here.
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That's an interesting question, which I think goes to the heart of the national crisis in health care. Doctors simply expect to become millionaires. Certain specialities (cardiology is one, cosmetic surgery another) are very lucrative. I notice that every doctor I see these days offers Botox injections in his or her office. Doctors are expected to be as entrepeneurial as anyone else in a free-market society, and if Dr. Murray is one very bad apple, he's nevertheless still an apple.
This is actually a somewhat personal matter to me, as my doctor (who is actually a very good doctor) was one of the ones left holding the baby when Anna Nicole Smith went to her maker. A very Los Angeles story, that one.
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From the perspective of the other side of the planet one gets the impression that the inappropriate prescription of medicines is endemic to US society, not just celebs but anyone and everyone who can afford it.
If the media is to be believed (and it isn't always) any American child who does not behave in a standard, calm and collected manner is immediately assumed to have some kind of psychiatric or behavioural condition which necessitates pharmaceuticals. Then they're drugged with either Ritalin or some kind of tranquilizer. In the rest of the world these drugs are prescribed rarely, and even less often for children, but in America, where the medical/pharmaceutical inductry is so very lucrative, they appear to be de rigueur.
Given this, is it any surprise that wealthy and privileged people, whom one would assume would be cushioned from such harsh reality, end up dying the same ignominious death as the junkie in the street?
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