Listening to the comments of many individuals unaware of the medical field and the temptations associated with being a healthcare provider, I feel compelled to comment (but not defend) on the alleged actions of Dr. Conrad Murray, now known as the physician to the late, great, and yes troubled Michael Jackson.
Recap:
June 25, 2009: Michael Jackson apparently suffered cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead after attempts to revive the 'King of Pop' failed. It was later revealed that his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray was at the stars home when the initial 911 call was made.
June 26th-July 27th: In the coming weeks, multiple investigations by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), LAPD, and various regulatory authorities began to dig into the long history of what appears to be prescription drug abuse. Multiple employees associated with Jackson solicited multiple physicians pretending to have ailments in order to obtain prescriptions that Jackson himself took in order to alleviate his physical/mental pain (his addiction). Reports of Debbie Rowe administering various strong narcotics during routine dental procedures surfaced. Reports from the 1993 raid of his home surfaced which depicted multiple photos of a home littered with various prescription drugs prescribed to Jackson and others were released. . . clearly Jackson needed help with his addiction, unfortunately he did not receive it. . .
Which brings us to today:It was revealed that Dr. Murray was being paid
$150,000 a month (yes I typed a month) by Michael Jackson and that when Murray decided to leave his cardiology practice he was $400,000 in debt as a result from old medical school loans, mortgage loans, and other various debts. Now, while Dr. Murray obviously allowed money and his personal circumstances to impair his judgment (if he is in fact found guilty for negligent homicide for administering propofol-all which is still yet to be proven) then the question remains how many individuals would act differently?
Now, is it just me, or don't you think that it would be very difficult to resist the demands of your sole, rich, client with a habit for prescription drugs that only you have access to insists that you provide him with the medication. . . oh by the way, did I mention you are being paid $150K a month and you have a debt of 400K? And probably getting a few extra perks for supplying his drug habit?
The potential slippery slope of providing health care to celebs and other VIPs is that often, many of them EXPECT to be accommodated due to their status, wealth, power, or whatever. Often, the shades of morally gray become an absolute no, that all of us without the incitement of money can easily say we would never do. I (as a future attending whenever I complete residency) am not justifying Dr. Conrad's actions, but with the limited info that I have about the situation, I can understand why he was tempted .
Just think, how many times have you provided extra customer service to a VIP, or in the OB world, how many times have you let a private paying insurance patient stay that extra two hours for their labor check when you would have sent the country paying, free clinic patient home? The slippery slope begins when we start even the slightest preferential treatment based on other factors such as race, income, status, etc.
My solution is that in the future, I will refuse to care for celebs. I don't even want that type of temptation.
