Michael Jackson Investigation: Connecting Conrad Murray to the Propofol

The one thing that underpins any case that the Los Angeles County District Attorney might have in the ongoing Michael Jackson homicide case -- if that is what it is finally determined to be by the Coroner's Office -- is drugs. With possible illegal use, possible fraudulent acquisition, possible over-prescribing to the point of harm, drugs -- especially prescription medication -- are at the root of the circumstances that led to Michael Jackson's death, and they are most likely the cause of his death (all preliminary indicators point to this, although the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office has yet to release a final official autopsy report). The Associated Press' reported Monday of an undisclosed source in law enforcement that stated that the final Coroner's Office autopsy report would rule Michael Jackson's death a homicide. It is this potential ruling and the preliminary findings that have been the basis of the subpoenas issued to and raids on doctors' offices, storage facilities, and drug stores in California, Nevada, and Texas.

Authorities are searching for evidence of drugs. Records of prescribed drugs. Records of shipments of drugs. Records of drug administration.

According to a 32-page signed warrant affidavit released to the public Monday, it was the information given by Dr. Conrad Murray at a police interview that led to the issuance of the search warrant in Houston, Texas, where Murray maintains his home offices. There are several drugs mentioned that Conrad Murray listed that he administered to Michael Jackson the last night of his life. All are legal medications. And, according to one medical analyst on CNN, often given to a patient during regular surgeries. However, given the dangerous ability of Propofol, one of the administered drugs, to cause respiratory arrest, the client needs to be monitored at all times when they are under that particular medication.

A handful of different kinds of drugs were discovered when the LAPD searched Michael Jackson's Holmby Hills residence a second time, the search coming after Conrad Murray's interview. Among the drugs found were eight bottles of Propofol.

Propofol, according to toxicology results in the autopsy report, and its administration in lethal amounts contributed to Michael Jackson death. It is believed that the raids on Dr. Conrad Murray's offices and storage facilities in both Las Vegas, Nevada, and Houston, Texas, where carried out to establish some type of buying, transferring, and storage of large amounts of Propofol.

Subpoenas for records and raids on drug stores have come with the object of finding evidence of prescribed medication. Police and DEA agents have been looking for prescriptions made out to Michael Jackson and to his aliases, which have grown in number as the investigation continues.

There is also the added problem for Murray in that he never mentioned Propofol (or Diprivan, the drug's alias) or any drugs other than Lorazepam (Ativan) to L. A. Fire Department paramedics and UCLA Medical Center doctors when they spoke to him on the day of Michael Jackson's death. According to TMZ, this could constitute "consciousness of guilt" on the part of Conrad Murray.

But Dr. Conrad Murray isn't the only doctor authorities are zeroing in on.

TMZ reported Monday that Dr. Arnold Klein, Michael Jackson's dermatologist, was in the habit of prescribing quite a few drugs to himself. In fact, the raid on the Mickey Fine pharmacy in Beverly Hills that is frequented by Arnold Klein and many of Michael Jackson's doctors produced records that indicated that Klein prescribed several drugs to himself (27 prescriptions) in March 2006 alone, including "hydrocodone (Vicodin), modafinil (Provigil), diazepam (Valium), and injectable midazolam (Versed)."

It is doubtful that Dr. Arnold Klein used so many drugs himself (although it might be possible), so the investigative theory might be that Klein acquired the medications for Michael Jackson. And even if Arnold Klein maintains they were all for himself, California law clearly states that it is illegal to self-prescribe medication.

Another doctor, Dr. David Adams, a Las Vegas cosmetologist, has denied that he ever administered Propofol to Michael Jackson. This comes in response to the affidavit in the search warrant, which reveals that Dr. Conrad Murray said he saw David Adams administer Propofol to Michael Jackson in Adams' office "sometime between March and April" of this year.

In this instance, why would Dr. Conrad Murray fabricate this instance? Although it is possible that Murray wanted to implicate Adams for whatever reason, as open as Conrad Murray seemed to be about his administration of medications to Michael Jackson, it seems that he may not have thought he had done anything wrong, so gave the information freely. And it quite obvious why Dr. David Adams would deny the allegation, given the troubled circumstances Murray seems to have gotten himself into in the Michael Jackson case.

So were many of Michael Jackson's doctors simply for hire, giving him whatever he wanted? If so, how does that sit with the Hippocratic Oath and ethical obligations? But more importantly, how does it sit with the law? If the L. A. County Coroner's Office does rule the Michael Jackson death a homicide, where do prosecutors draw the line at prosecution and not having enough evidence?

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Sources:

TMZ.com
Associated Press
CNN Television