Dr. Conrad Murray...Guilty!

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Do we all really feel that Michael Jackson's death was a homicide? Whether we do or not, the Los Angeles County Coroner does, which means that someone was responsible for paying for that death. That someone just so happens to be Dr. Conrad Murray. Michael Jackson was pronounced dead on June 25, 2009 due to acute propofol intoxication which caused him to go into cardiac arrest. Before his death, propofol and other anxiety medications had been reportedly given to Jackson and all of these drugs require the consent of a doctor before prescribing or administering. The person responsible for monitoring Jackson's health at the time was Dr. Murray. Murray was charged in February 2010 with involuntary manslaughter and pleaded not guilty. Many people, saddened by the death of Jackson, blamed Murray and some did the alternative and blamed Jackson. One argument is that Jackson was an adult who was capable of making decisions for himself. Another argument is that Jackson was a known addict and passed away as many other stars have (getting a fix). Though those arguments can be considered valid, and Dr. Conrad could have been easily following requests of Jackson to appease him, at the end of the day Dr. Conrad is the medical professional and a patient should not be allowed to dictate his/her own treatment. It is simply his fault due to negligence. It may be Dr. Conrad's greed that ultimately led to his own demise. Dr. Murray had the responsibility of appropriately monitoring Jackson's health and administering his medications properly. If it is the case that at any time he felt that Jackson or any other patient was inappropriately requesting or administering medication, he had the choice to stop the treatment of that patient and refer them elsewhere. Dr. Conrad chose to continue treating Jackson and therefore becomes responsible for the outcome of that treatment. So is he guilty? When you choose to take on the responsibility of holding lives in your hand, as with any doctor, you take on the responsibility in acting in the best interest of those lives. We all may know deep down that Dr. Murray did not intentionally intend too cause harm, let alone death, to Jackson but he did not use his better judgment and if nothing else is guilty of that.