Jackson’s doctor fights to keep medical license

A lawyer for Michael Jackson’s doctor filed papers Friday fighting new efforts by California’s attorney general to suspend his license to practice medicine in the state.

The lawyer for Dr. Conrad Murray accused prosecutors of renewing an old motion before a new judge in hopes of winning a different result.
Another judge previously declined to suspend Murray’s license but ordered him not to administer anesthetics such as propofol, a drug that was implicated in Jackson’s death. Attorney Ed Chernoff argued that restriction is sufficient.

Murray has a pretrial hearing before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor on Monday in his involuntary manslaughter case. The medical license issue is expected to dominate the hearing. Murray has pleaded not guilty in the death of the pop legend a year ago.
Chernoff said in his filing that a motion filed last week by Attorney General Jerry Brown’s office is the fourth identical effort filed on behalf of the state medical board. He said it has already been ruled upon and there are no changed circumstances in the case.

Pastor took over the case after Superior Court Judge Keith Schwartz set Murray’s bail at $75,000. It was Schwartz who refused to suspend Murray’s license and barred him from administering strong anesthetics.

Murray’s lawyers have previously argued it is unnecessary to revoke his California license since he does not practice in the state. They also cautioned that a suspension would have a domino effect leading to his inability to practice at his clinics in Nevada and Texas, where he is also licensed.

Chernoff argued that a full evidentiary hearing would be required before action was taken on the license issue.
“The order the attorney general is seeking would be financially and personally devastating to Dr. Murray,” Chernoff said.
Last month, the cardiologist stabilized a woman who fell unconscious and had a weak pulse on a US Airways flight from Houston.

by The Associated Press

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Michael Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray, left King of Pop alone with propofol to make calls

After Michael Jackson’s personal physician knocked out the pop star with the anesthetic propofol, he left him alone to make personal calls, sources told The Los Angeles Times.

When Dr. Conrad Murray returned to Jackson’s bedside on June 25, he wasn’t breathing and attempts to revive him failed. One expert was shocked at the allegation that Murray – the apparent target of a manslaughter probe into the icon’s death – left his patient unattended.

“If the patient is unconscious, you shouldn’t be stepping out. The margin of error between being slightly sedated with propofol and not breathing could be just a few drops,” Dr. Mark Schlesinger, chairman of anesthesiology at Hackensack University Medical Center, told the Daily News.

“In a hospital, we would wait until the person is awake” before leaving him unmonitored, he said.

Murray reportedly told cops he gave Jackson propofol after the 50-year-old singer returned exhausted but wired from a long night of rehearsals for his comeback concert tour. The Vegas cardiologist, 51, told detectives that he’d encountered no problems giving Jackson propofol on prior occasions and felt comfortable walking out to use his phone.

A spokesman for the doctor’s lawyer, Ed Chernoff, confirmed to the Daily News that Murray placed calls to family and friends early June 25. It’s unclear how long Jackson was alone while the doctor gabbed. The final toxicology report from Jackson’s autopsy is on hold while police continue to investigate the drug connection.
Chernoff said it’s clear investigators are looking for proof that Murray administered drugs other than propofol – an indication that more than one substance contributed to Jackson’s death.

“I have no doubt they came up completely empty in that regard,” he told The Times.
In the past, he has said the doctor “didn’t prescribe or administer anything that should have killed Michael Jackson.”
Murray had a $150,000-a-month job to serve as Jackson’s personal physician and eventually “realized that Michael Jackson had some very unusual problems,” the lawyer said.

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