Over the past few weeks I’ve researched and reflected on Michael Jackson's life extensively. If it’s out there to know, I know it. If there’s an interview, a music video, or a concert, I’ve seen it (thank God for Youtube). I think finally, I’ve figured Michael out--well, at least in so far as Michael wanted to be figured out (I know that he avoided interviews due to both an innate shyness and a deliberate desire to be mysterious).
It's apparent that Michael struggled with a prescription drug habit; he was admitted to rehab in 1993. I idolized Michael but I obviously don’t condone all of his choices. Drug abuse is a serious and stupid thing to get involved in. But I understand why someone under that much pressure and subject to that amount of fame might develop a dependency. Yes, it was still wrong on his part. He’s left his three children without a father and his parents will have to bury one of their youngest children. I wish he’d made different choices; I wish he’d managed his stress in a way that did not involve prescription drugs.
When I think about Michael’s apparent dependency on the anesthetic drug Diprivan, I get pissed. There is no logical reason for a doctor to ever administer that drug outside of a hospital setting. Apparently Michael started using it to sleep during his 1995 HIStory tour. An anesthesiologist traveled with him--how insane is that? As soon as I heard they found Diprivan in Michael’s house I knew Dr. Murray, the physician with Michael when he passed, was going to jail. It is just so ridiculous that a medical professional would allow a patient to abuse Diprivan. Michael asked his nutritionist, Cheryl Lynn Lee, to procure the drug for him earlier this year and she refused. Dr. Murray should have done the same thing. I guess the six figures he was making every month overpowered his sense of ethics.
What pisses me off almost as much as the idea of a doctor agreeing to give Michael an anesthetic drug to combat insomnia, is people’s apparent indifference over Murray’s actions. Again and again I hear things of this nature, primarily from people of color: you’re just looking for someone to blame; Michael killed himself; Michael has to take responsibility for his own actions; Michael was doing drugs long before he met Dr. Murray; when you’re ‘put under’ there’s always a risk of cardiac arrest, Michael must have known that.
Sigh. First of all, Michael has taken responsibility for his actions--he’s DEAD. You can’t put a corpse on trial and there’s no point because he’s already endured the ultimate repercussion for his actions. Second of all, regardless of what Michael should be held accountable for, it has nothing to do with Dr. Murray needing to take responsibility for his actions. If Michael did in fact die from complications stemming from Diprivan, and if Dr. Murray was the one to administer it to him, then Dr. Murray has to go down for at least involuntary manslaughter. DUH. Hopefully this whole scenario will shed light on this trend of doctors enabling celebrities. Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Anna Nicole Smith and Heath Ledger are all celebrities that have fallen prey to prescription drug overdoses. Being famous has a lot of perks, but one downside is having your doctor see you as a giant dollar sign as opposed to a human patient.
I had someone mention to me that the media might be harping on this Murray situation because of the doctor’s race, which is African-American. Hm. It’s hard to say. Frankly, Michael Jackson was the biggest pop star of all time. Of course the media is all over his rather sudden and suspicious death, just the way they were all over his rather strange and suspicious life. It’s not necessarily fair to say the media is practicing racial bias considering how famous Michael Jackson was.
And you know what, it sickens me to think it, but I can't help but wonder this: if Dr. Murray was white, would the black community be so willing to forgive him and place the blame solidly on Michael’s shoulders? I suspect that if Dr. Murray were white, black people would be itching for him to burn or at the very least more focused on his guilt as opposed to the idea that Michael “killed himself". Comments? I’m eager to debate.
copyright © July 30, 2009 by Sha'Donna A. Woods, All Rights Reserved
