Propofol

In coverage of the first week of the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's personal physician, Times articles consistently described propofol as a "dangerous" anesthetic. Jackson died in June 2009 from the effects of propofol, which Murray says he gave the singer nightly over two months to get him to sleep. The doctor is accused of involuntary manslaughter. Reader Jim Gould of Burbank took issue with the description of the anesthetic: "The Times' repeated, erroneous description of the excellent, safe general anesthetic agent, propofol, as 'dangerous' should be of some concern to the thousands of anesthesia practitioners who correctly use the drug as an anesthetic agent of choice in a wide range of surgical procedures every day. "The Times should carefully avoid their error in the many continuing articles expected on the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray.

A Northridge doctor's license was suspended Thursday after medical authorities found that he had been injecting his daughter at home with propofol, the same drug that killed pop star Michael Jackson. Robert S. Markman, a retired anesthesiologist, constructed a treatment area in his adult daughter's "filthy" house, in a bedroom she rarely left, the Medical Board of California alleged in a ruling on an interim suspension order made public Thursday. Markman, according to the board's order, injected his daughter, referred to only as L.M., with the surgical anesthetic about 500 times over five years.

A sleepless Michael Jackson spent his last hours pleading for a dose of a powerful anesthetic, his doctor told police, according to court records unsealed Monday. For six hours, Dr. Conrad Murray said he resisted -- fearful that the pop star had developed a dangerous addiction to propofol. Instead, Murray administered the sedatives Valium, lorazepam and midazolam -- five times over six hours. But none put Jackson to sleep, and he continued to demand his "milk," the word the pop star used for propofol.

Defense attorneys fighting to acquit Michael Jackson's personal physician of an involuntary manslaughter charge in the pop star's death faced what many legal experts said was a series of insurmountable obstacles. The lawyers had to overcome an incriminating interview their client gave detectives; contend with a victim loved by millions around the globe; and deal with a series of court rulings that limited their attempts to point the finger at another possible culprit: The King of Pop himself.

If Michael Jackson died from lethal levels of the powerful anesthetic propofol, then he must have been injected with much more of the drug than his personal physician reportedly told police he gave the pop star, medical experts said. According to court records unsealed in Houston on Monday, Dr. Conrad Murray told police that he had been giving Jackson 50 milligrams of propofol each night over a six-week period. In a three-hour interview with police two days after Jackson's death, Murray said he had been trying to wean the singer off the powerful anesthetic and, on the night of his death, gave him a combination of other sedatives before succumbing to Jackson's repeated demands for propofol.

If Michael Jackson's doctor had acted more like a medical professional and less like a domestic, the singer would be alive today, a prosecution expert testified Wednesday at the physician's trial. The witness, an anesthesiologist who specializes in the drug that killed Jackson, told jurors that an improper "employer-employee" relationship between the singer and Dr. Conrad Murray, who was paid $150,000 a month, directly led to the singer's fatal overdose. "Dr. Murray should have said, 'Michael Jackson, I am not giving you propofol.

Dr. Conrad Murray told detectives that Michael Jackson begged him for propofol on the day he died, saying his long-awaited comeback would never happen if the physician didn't put him to sleep with the drug he called "milk," according to court testimony Monday. A homicide investigator said Murray described himself as "pressured" into administering the surgical anesthetic despite concerns that the 50-year-old music legend had become addicted as he prepared for a series of concerts in London.

Michael Jackson's personal physician probably gave his patient 40 times more surgical anesthetic than he admitted to police, a drug expert testified Thursday. Anesthesiologist Steven Shafer also said Dr. Conrad Murray had the drug flowing into the singer's veins even as his heart stopped beating. The testimony is the most direct refutation yet of Murray's account of what happened in the hours leading up to the pop star's death. FULL COVERAGE: The Conrad Murray trial Shafer, a Columbia University professor, said mathematical modeling based on levels of propofol found in Jackson's body debunked Murray's statement that he had given the singer a single 25-milligram dose of the drug shortly before his death.

A Northridge doctor's license was suspended Thursday after medical authorities found that he had been injecting his daughter at home with propofol, the same drug that killed pop star Michael Jackson. Robert S. Markman, a retired anesthesiologist, constructed a treatment area in his adult daughter's "filthy" house, in a bedroom she rarely left, the Medical Board of California alleged in a ruling on an interim suspension order made public Thursday. Markman, according to the board's order, injected his daughter, referred to only as L.M., with the surgical anesthetic about 500 times over five years.

A Los Angeles County jury convicted Michael Jackson's personal physician of involuntary manslaughter, concluding a trial that offered a glimpse of the last days of one of the world's most famous men by deciding that his death was a criminal act. The verdict was delivered Monday in a windowless downtown L.A. courtroom a world away from the turreted Holmby Hills mansion where Dr. Conrad Murray had a $150,000 a month position that included providing...

A Los Angeles County jury convicted Michael Jackson's personal physician of involuntary manslaughter, concluding a trial that offered a glimpse of the last days of one of the world's most famous men by deciding that his death was a criminal act. The verdict was delivered Monday in a windowless downtown L.A. courtroom a world away from the turreted Holmby Hills mansion where Dr. Conrad Murray had a $150,000 a month position that included providing...

Michael Jackson's doctor has yet to decide whether he will testify at his involuntary-manslaughter trial. But if he does, he may say he was on the phone in a bedroom foyer when the pop star killed himself with a syringe of leftover drugs, according to trial testimony Monday. The scenario emerged during the cross-examination of a defense medical expert who said his testimony was informed by "two extended conversations" with Dr. Conrad Murray. The witness, an expert in the surgical anesthetic that killed Jackson, was warned repeatedly not to disclose any information from the meetings, initially by a prosecutor and then by an exasperated judge who threatened contempt of court charges.

A leading anesthesiologist told jurors Friday in the trial of Michael Jackson's personal physician that the singer probably caused his own death by injecting himself with a dose of the drug while his doctor wasn't looking. In his testimony, defense expert Paul White directly challenged the theory put forth by the government's main medical witness, Dr. Steven Shafer. The prosecution expert testified that the only plausible scenario was that Dr. Conrad Murray had left a large intravenous drip of the anesthetic propofol running into the singer's bloodstream for three hours, even after Jackson had stopped breathing.

The star medical expert for Michael Jackson's physician began his testimony Thursday with the acknowledgment that not even he could explain the doctor's treatment of the pop star. "Let's deal with the elephant in the room here," a defense attorney said to Dr. Paul White, the most important and probably final witness for the physician. "Conrad Murray has been accused of infusing a dose of propofol and leaving his patient. Can you justify that?" "Absolutely not," White replied.

The prosecution's case against Michael Jackson's personal physician might be summarized this way: He lied about everything, but even if he told the truth, he's still guilty. During a four-week case that rounded toward a conclusion Friday, prosecutors suggested that Dr. Conrad Murray's own words created a Catch-22 in which conviction was the only outcome possible. His statement to police, if taken by jurors at face value, contained enough admissions of gross negligence to amount to a manslaughter confession, prosecutors said.

The judge in the trial of Michael Jackson's personal physician said Friday he was considering contempt of court charges against a key defense witness for reportedly calling a prosecution expert "a scumbag. " The trial judge, who had previously issued a gag order against participants in the case, grilled prominent anesthesiologist Dr. Paul White about comments on the trial attributed to him that appeared Thursday on E! Online. White is expected to testify as a medical expert for the defense of Dr. Conrad Murray.

A leading anesthesiologist told jurors Friday in the trial of Michael Jackson's personal physician that the singer probably caused his own death by injecting himself with a dose of the drug while his doctor wasn't looking. In his testimony, defense expert Paul White directly challenged the theory put forth by the government's main medical witness, Dr. Steven Shafer. The prosecution expert testified that the only plausible scenario was that Dr. Conrad Murray had left a large intravenous drip of the anesthetic propofol running into the singer's bloodstream for three hours, even after Jackson had stopped breathing.

On a Saturday evening last summer, Dr. Conrad Murray met with two police detectives at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Marina del Rey. Outside, the world was in shock over the death of Michael Jackson, and inside a room at the posh waterfront hotel, the investigators wanted answers from the last person to see him alive. With his lawyer by his side, Murray talked for more than three hours. The interview ended with him a free man. More than seven months later, Murray faces an involuntary manslaughter charge in a case that legal experts said may hinge on the physician's own words.

Michael Jackson's personal physician probably gave his patient 40 times more surgical anesthetic than he admitted to police, a drug expert testified Thursday. Anesthesiologist Steven Shafer also said Dr. Conrad Murray had the drug flowing into the singer's veins even as his heart stopped beating. The testimony is the most direct refutation yet of Murray's account of what happened in the hours leading up to the pop star's death. FULL COVERAGE: The Conrad Murray trial Shafer, a Columbia University professor, said mathematical modeling based on levels of propofol found in Jackson's body debunked Murray's statement that he had given the singer a single 25-milligram dose of the drug shortly before his death.

If Michael Jackson's doctor had acted more like a medical professional and less like a domestic, the singer would be alive today, a prosecution expert testified Wednesday at the physician's trial. The witness, an anesthesiologist who specializes in the drug that killed Jackson, told jurors that an improper "employer-employee" relationship between the singer and Dr. Conrad Murray, who was paid $150,000 a month, directly led to the singer's fatal overdose. "Dr. Murray should have said, 'Michael Jackson, I am not giving you propofol.