Alright, cards on the table time... Michael Jackson was a family friend and someone I'd known for over 20 years... I've never been a great defender of the man and I'm not about to start now but the opening of the trial of Conrad Murray yesterday has left me wondering if Dr Murray is just a useful sacrificial lamb.
It's usually the defence attorneys who grandstand and titillate the 'audience', isn't it? Yet yesterday the prosecutor seemed set to play this part with his mortuary photographs and iPhone recordings. What the trial of Dr Murray is hiding though, is something else altogether.
I don't think it will come as any great surprise to anyone that there are doctors in Hollywood who prescribe way too many drugs for their famous patients. 'Twas ever thus and I doubt anyone is shocked by it. But perhaps it's more of a surprise to realise that such doctors exist everywhere, in all kinds of nooks and crannies and far flung corners of the world.
Going back thirty years to the days when I was more involved in the whole s'leb environment, I could personally recount tales of two such private doctors in the UK, both of whom have now retired, who gaily prescribed whatever I asked for. Indeed, one of them gave me a pre-signed prescription pad and left me only to fill in the drug of my choice. Another, based way out of London in the sticks, whom I had asked for Valium, quite literally got a huge sweet-jar sized bottle filled with tablets down from a shelf, dug his hand in and pulled out a handful which he then dropped into an unlabelled pill bottle and handed to me.
Many of these private doctors are also registered as dispensing practices, which allows them to not only prescribe but also dispense the drugs. No third party involvement, just pitch up at their office, state your preference, and walk out happy!
It was many years ago when I had these experiences and perhaps things have changed over time, I think there is far less of the casual prescribing of yore going on but it certainly does still happen. It's not about the money, it's not even about the 'celebrity' of the whole thing, it boils down to something much simpler. Supply and demand. Or, in this case, demand and supply.
Fame, celebrity, showbiz ... they're all very seductive in their own way. Or, at least, they seem so from the outside. But underneath that glitzy exterior is a rather sleazy underbelly which everyone does their best to ignore. A bit like the teenage pregnancy rate - the one we all know about but still pretend we're shocked about when the stats come out. Similarly, I think we all know, if we're honest, that there are doctors who prescribe things to their famous patients who otherwise probably work in a wholly reputable way. Indeed, to back that up, one of the now-retired doctors I mentioned, regularly worked in NHS hospital clinics a couple of days a week. He had no financial need to do that, he simply chose to do that and I'm perfectly sure he did not take his private-prescribing policies over to the NHS. Why? Because it would have been sussed out, noticed, audited, checked. It is far less likely to happen in the NHS.
In private practice there are, of course, still some checks and balances in place. But not nearly as many as you might imagine. And in those dispensing practices which I mentioned, it's far harder to work out who is getting what if you happen to pass by from the outside.
The point is, Conrad Murray is one of many. He may be the sacrificial lamb on this occasion, perhaps he's even useful in that role as he allows us to believe he is the only one doing this sort of thing, that he behaved in a way that no other doctor would, and we can all rest easy that such a thing would never happen again - but the truth is very far from that.
I wish someone would open this can of worms and take a really good look inside. I'm not justifying Dr Murray's actions, far from it, but what I am saying is that, on this occasion, he seems to be serving a wider purpose than just being one defendant in one trial. He's allowing everyone to tut and judge one man for what we all know is a much wider problem. I worry for the celebrities who have these doctors, I'm amazed more don't run into serious medical problems.
The private celebrity doctor really does appear to be the gift that keeps on giving...