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#MichaelJacksonTrial: Nigerian doctors have their say

by ‘Ifreke Inyang

The jury has spoken, the fans had their say, the media reported, now lets see things from another angle.

#MichaelJacksonTrial: Doctors have their say

We watched with keen interest when the trial of Michael Jackson’s Doctor began. On the Internet; twitter, facebook and in office reception halls turned into mini-courts, we heard people arguing and building up conspiracy theories. But on Monday, it all boiled down to the  12 jurors who decided Dr. Conrad Murray’s fate and the verdict was guilty of manslaughter.
“Conrad Murray did it,” 48 year old Debbie Franklin who was one of the jurors said. “Conrad Murray agreed to be the one to go into the bedroom and do this. He [Jackson] was looking for somebody to say yes, and Conrad Murray said yes.”
Dr. Trisha McNair, however, doesn’t believe it was as easy as saying yes.  “Despite their best intentions, doctors’ personal lives have a habit of occasionally slipping into their professional lives. Doctors are human and have their own personal stresses which could affect their performance from time to time. For a doctor, the implications of such a lapse in concentration can be far more disastrous than for an accountant or a baker,” McNair said.
Dr. Seyi Taylor, who is a practitioner based in Nigeria believes mistake aside, Murray still had to face the consequences. “He obviously knew that he was doing the wrong thing, but he ignored it because of the money,” he pointed out. “Yes, MJ might have been asking him to do crazy things but he should have known better. Why did he allow it to be him? It could have been anybody. Jackson never put a gun to his head. He did it and he should take responsibility of his actions.”

Another doctor online, Dr. Attah Essien agreed with Taylor saying Propofol is very dangerous drug and in Nigeria only a trained anesthetic doctor is allowed to handle.in a hospital environment only. “There are so many other pain relief methods Tens, Rhizotectomy and Acupuncture. Mr. Murray could’ve referred MJ to try which are far safer but no, Mr. Murray was getting his kicks from his access to MJ. So he deserves what he is getting,” Essien said.

This analysis heated up quite rapidly, thus the followwing discussions ensued:

Lamide Awosanya thought Dr Attah’s opinion was a bit extreme though. “Relax oh… MJ has been abusing drugs since the days of his child abuse allegations. He was on anti depressants while simultaneously abusing sleep medications… ”  MJ was a disaster waiting to happen and the Doctor was ‘Desperate’ for money. Permit me to ask you Essien; as a Doctor, will you act negligently towards the life of a patient that is owing you 150,000 dollars?? Will you endanger the life of a patient that is going to rescue you from financial obscurity??”

Attah Essien: ‎@ Lamide “You don’t have an idea of medical ethics at all. And it is doctors like soon to be Mr. Murray that paint this picture of putting financial gain above patient safety. He is a disgrace to the profession and whether you like it or not he has been found guilty.  The evidence against him was so overwhelming. So if a person is an accident waiting to happen according to you e.g. a lunatic sleeping in the middle of a highway, you will encourage motorists to turn him into road kill since they have the right of way or isn’t better to call an emergency psych unit to rescue him? Cos that is exactly what Murray did! Instead of weaning MJ off sleep medication he gave him the mother of all sleep medication to put him to sleep permanently.”
Lamide Awosanya: “Half of what you’re saying is based on a lack of knowledge concerning California medical practice… Of course there was evidence that he gave Jackson propofol!!  Jackson had been taking propofol for over a year!! he even called it his milk!! Meanwhile it is on record that he was actually being weaned of the propofol by Dr Murray, but Jackson’s insomnia was debilitating. He allegedly gave himself a dose because what the doc was giving him was no longer satisfactory.
According to his body guards, Dr Murray tried giving CPR and didn’t call the Ambulance, meanwhile, according to Dr Murray, it was the Body guards that wasted time in calling the body guards.
Whatever happened, no one knows. While it is not proper to give propofol in that kind of setting I REPEAT THAT IT IS NOT AGAINST CALIFORNIA LAW, nor is it UNETHICAL!!!!
Lamide Awosanya: “Did you know that Jackson hired an anesthesiologist to give him propofol during his tour in 1996-1997? Did you know that his dermatologist used to sedate him with pethidine..
Let Reason prevail over rhetoric abeg!! Because Propofol is a BIG deal in Nigeria doesn’t mean it is a big deal in the U.S!! Nobody is even saying anything about the midazolam and lorazepam that were found in his system at the time of the autopsy!! Clearly, the man was an abuser of prescription drugs!!!”
Attah Essien: ‎@ Lamide. “Pethidine is not a sedative which shows me already that you have no idea what you are talking about. Secondly an autopsy can declare a death as no foul play till toxicology reports come in. This is common so I don’t see the mystery in it. Also you said Jackson hired an anesthesiologist to give him Propofol in 1996, so is Mr Conrad an anesthesiologist as well? Midazolam and Lorazepam have a very high safety margin and hardly ever lead to a person’s death. But Propofol is another kettle of fish. It is made from egg derivatives thus since it is non synthetic it is not inert so it can cause a nasty reaction in anyone even if a person has been taking it for decades
Attah Essien: I watched a nasty drama play with this drug in 2002 when I was an intern at LUTH, a young guy with a fractured firm had a plate inserted and was returning to have the plate removed by the orthopaedic surgical team. Our dear anesthetist gave propofol which the boy had taken previously in the first operation, and bam the boy went into arrest. It took them ten minutes to fully resuscitate him. From that day forth I knew how unsafe that drug is. Its use has been banned in the UK for years but Americans who allow people to carry arms as a right have not the wisdom to ban this drug because it is an American creation. Maybe now its use will be better regulated.”
Jarra: “For all records and purposes, I remain a Nigerian dentist… till further notice…”
If you are a medical practitioner and you have more to say please get in touch with us or comment below.

 

 

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  1. LMHO! I love the Facebook convo! *rolling*

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