Battle of experts resumes in trial of Michael Jackson's doctor

Testimony in the Conrad Murray manslaughter trial may conclude Friday or Monday as the defense is expected to call its last two witnesses to the stand.The science showdown between anesthesiologists takes center stage for the trial's conclusionTwo medical experts are the last defense witnesses Five character witnesses testify Dr. Conrad Murray saved their livesJury deliberations in Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial could begin early next weekTune in to HLN for full coverage and analysis of the Conrad Murray trial and watch live, as it happens, on CNN.com/Live and CNN's mobile apps.
Los Angeles (CNN) -- Dr. Conrad Murray's lawyers hope their last two witnesses will convince jurors in his involuntary manslaughter trial that Michael Jackson gave himself the overdose of drugs that killed him.
After five Murray heart patients testified Wednesday that he was a good and caring doctor who has saved their lives, two medical experts remain on the defense witness list. Testimony could conclude by Friday or Monday in the trial that started a month ago.
The Los Angeles County coroner ruled Jackson's June 25, 2009 death was the result of "acute propofol intoxication" in combination with several sedatives.
The defense theory is that a desperate Jackson, fearing his comeback concerts could be canceled unless he found elusive sleep, self-administered propofol that Murray was trying to wean him off of.
Prosecutors contend Murray is responsible for his death even if he did not give him the final and fatal dose because he was criminally reckless in using the surgical anesthetic to help Jackson sleep without proper precautions.
Defense anesthesiology expert Dr. Paul White is expected to testify Thursday in an effort to counter testimony from prosecution anesthesiologist Dr. Steven Shafer.
Shafer concluded that the "only scenario" that fits the scientific evidence is that Jackson was on an IV drip of propofol for three hours before his death and Murray failed to notice when he stopped breathing.
Shafer conceded that it was possible that Jackson, not Murray, could have been the one to open the drip to a fatal pace, but prosecutors contend it would make no difference in Murray's guilt.
The other remaining defense witness is believed to be an addiction expert who would testify that Jackson could have been suffering withdrawal from Demerol, a drug he'd been getting from another doctor up until several days before his death.
Murray cried in court Wednesday as he listened to an elderly patient tell jurors that he opened a clinic in the Acres Homes community of Houston, in honor of his father, who had practiced there.
Ruby Mosley was one of five character witnesses called by Murray's lawyers Wednesday morning in an effort to counter 17 days of prosecution testimony that sometimes painted him as an incompetent and greedy doctor.
"If this man had been greedy, he never would have come to an area, a community of Acres Homes, 75% of them poor, on welfare and Social Security," Mosley said.
Murray dabbed tears from his eyes even after Mosley left the stand.
Even Randy Jackson, the late pop icon's brother, seemed touched by Mosley's testimony.
"She's sweet," he was heard saying as she left the courtroom.
"He's the best doctor I've ever been to," said Gerry Causey, a 68-year-old former patient of the man accused of causing Jackson's death. "And I just don't think he did what he's being accused of," Causey added, under cross-examination by the prosecution.
Causey met Murray 11 years ago when he was rushed to a Las Vegas hospital with a heart attack, but they became friends since then, he testified.
"It's because of Dr. Murray, the way he cares for you, the way he makes you feel," Causey said.
Prosecutors contend that Murray abandoned his patients in Las Vegas and Houston for the $150,000 a month Jackson had promised him.
"There's no way, he's not greedy," Causey said. "He doesn't charge me my deductible, never has."
Las Vegas heart patient Andrew Guest, who followed Causey on the witness stand Wednesday, said Murray "makes sure you're OK during the procedure."
"That man sitting there is the best doctor I've ever seen," Guest testified.
Murray treated Dennis Hix by putting 14 stints into arteries around his heart 11 years ago, Hix testified.
"I'm 66, I've gone to a lot of doctors, a lot of doctors and I've never had one that gave me the care that he did," Hix said.
Murray never charged Hix beyond what his insurance would pay, he said. "I had a type of insurance that don't hardly pay for nothing," he said. "So he did it for me free."
View the original article here

Defense shows strain in trial of Michael Jackson's doctor

Dr. Shafer: Propofol drip 'dangerous'Defense lawyer Michael Flanagan is replaced for cross-ex of anesthesiology expertDr. Steven Shafer testifies Dr. Conrad Murray's IV drip of propofol killed JacksonJackson died because Murray failed to notice he stopped breathing, Shafer saysMurray's involuntary manslaughter trial should to go the jury next weekTune in to HLN for full coverage and analysis of the Conrad Murray trial and watch live, as it happens, on CNN.com/Live and CNN's mobile apps.
Los Angeles (CNN) -- Cross-examination of the prosecution's anesthesiology expert is crucial for Dr. Conrad Murray, but his defense team's most knowledgeable lawyer when it comes to propofol will sit on the sideline Friday.
Michael Flanagan, who has handled the previous medical experts, has been replaced by lead defense lawyer Ed Chernoff for the questioning of Dr. Steven Shafer, Chernoff told the judge in Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial Thursday. The defense did not cite a reason.
Murray appeared visibly shaken by Shafer's testimony Thursday, especially when the prosecution's expert demonstrated to jurors how he believes Murray set up an IV drip to give singer Michael Jackson the drugs that killed him.
Jackson died because Murray failed to notice that his patient had stopped breathing while he was hooked up to an IV drip of the surgical anesthetic propofol, Shafer testified. The doctor should have realized Jackson had stopped breathing about 11:45 a.m. on June 25, 2009, he said.
"When you're there, you see it, you know it," Shafer said.
Phone records and testimony showed that Murray was on the phone with one of his clinics, a patient, and then a girlfriend about the time that Shafer calculated the oxygen in Jackson's lungs became depleted, causing his heart to stop beating.
"Had Conrad Murray been with Michael Jackson during this period of time, he would have seen the slowed breathing and the compromise in the flow of air into Michael Jackson's lungs, and he could have easily turned off the propofol infusion," Shafer said.
Murray could have then easily cleared Jackson's airways and restored his breathing by lifting his chin, he said.
Earlier testimony from paramedics and emergency room doctors said Jackson was clinically dead by the time an ambulance arrived at the pop icon's Los Angeles home nearly a half-hour after Murray realized there was a problem.
The last three prosecution experts, all medical experts, focused the Murray trial on the science surrounding Jackson's death, a contrast to earlier testimony from Murray's girlfriends and Jackson employees.
After the defense cross-examination of Shafer on Friday afternoon, Murray's lawyers will start calling witnesses, including their own anesthesiology expert.
Shafer demonstrated for the jury Thursday how he believed Murray set up the propofol infusion by hanging a 100-milliliter vial from a stand with tubing attached that would have led to a catheter port in Jackson's left leg.
"This is the only scenario that I could generate" that would produce the high level of propofol found in Jackson's blood during his autopsy, Shafer said.
"This fits all of the data in this case, and I am not aware of any data that is inconsistent with this explanation," he said.
Shafer examined and ruled out other scenarios, including Jackson injecting himself with propofol or Murray administering a fatal dose with a syringe. Computer model projections could not identify a scenario that would duplicate the high blood levels found, he said.
Although Murray told police he used an IV drip to give Jackson propofol on previous nights, the defense contends that he did not use it the day Jackson died. Instead, they say, Murray put Jackson to sleep about 10:40 a.m. with a single injection.
Sometime after that, Jackson woke and used a syringe to inject himself, the defense contends.
Shafer said the theory makes no sense.
"People just don't wake up hell-bent to grab the next dose in a syringe, draw it up and shove it in their IV again," Shafer said. "It's just a crazy scenario."
The Los Angeles County coroner ruled that Jackson's death was caused by a combination of sedatives with the propofol, which Murray admitted in a police interview that he used to help Jackson sleep.
The defense contends that Jackson swallowed eight lorazepam tablets, a claim based on testing of lorazepam levels in Jackson's stomach contents. Shafer discredited the defense lab tests, saying a new test showed the equivalent of only "1/43rd of a tablet" of the sedative in the stomach.
The level of lorazepam in Jackson's blood was far higher than what would be expected based on the dosages Dr. Murray told detectives he gave Jackson in the hours before his death, Shafer said.
Murray said he gave Jackson a total of 4 milligrams of lorazepam in two separate doses starting 10 hours before his death. Toxicology results indicated that Jackson was given 40 milligrams -- not four -- in a series of 10 doses, he said.
Although the defense recently abandoned the theory that Jackson may have swallowed propofol, the prosecution still worked to use its old theory to discredit Dr. Paul White, the anesthesiologist who will testify soon for the defense.
A report prepared by White in March concluded that oral ingestion of propofol could have killed Jackson, but Shafer testified that it ignores the "first pass effect" that is taught to first-year medical students.
The liver is a "powerful mechanism" for filtering propofol from the digestive tract so that only a very small percentage can reach the blood, Shafer said.
Shafer cited several studies on rats, mice, piglets, dogs, monkeys and humans that he said proves swallowing propofol would have no effect.
"There was no sedation at any time following oral consumption of propofol," Shafer said, describing the results of research he commissioned on university students in Chile over the summer.
The human study was done not only to prepare for the Jackson trial, Shafer said, but also to counter an effort by the Drug Enforcement Agency to consider tighter restrictions on propofol.
The drug is not currently a controlled substance, but publicity over the theory that Jackson's death might have been caused by oral ingestion prompted federal regulators to considered a new requirement that "it to be handled almost like morphine," he said.
"Patients will be hurt if it is restricted," he said. "Anesthesiologists have to have ready access."
The new study assures that if the drug is abused, it would be done only with the intravenous route, which only health care providers have, he said.
Shafer testified Wednesday that Jackson would be alive now but for 17 "egregious deviations" by Murray from the standard of care required of physicians.
Murray's use of propofol almost every night for two months to help Jackson sleep was so unusual, there is no documentation on the dangers, Shafer said.
"We are in pharmacological never-neverland here," Shafer said, "something that's only been done to Michael Jackson."
The trial, in its fourth week, is expected to conclude with the start of jury deliberations near the end of next week.
View the original article here

Michael Bubl wants children -- when his wife is ready

Michael Bublé wants to start a family as soon as his wife, Luisana Loreley Lopilato de la Torre, is on board. "I'd love to have kids," Bublé saysBublé, 36, is happy to wait until his 24-year-old bride is readyHe can't help envy his other friends who have children
(PEOPLE.com) -- Michael Bublé is ready to sing lullabies.
The Canadian crooner who wed Argentine actress Luisana Loreley Lopilato de la Torre in March -- and celebrated again in May, wants to start a family as soon as his wife is on board.
"I've said to [Luisana] a million times I'd love to have kids," Bublé tells ET Canada. "But I always say to her when you're ready -- when you feel like you've lived and you've partied and done all the things you want to do. When you've worked your butt off, then tell me."
While Bublé, 36, is happy to wait until his 24-year-old bride is ready, he can't help envy his other friends who have children.
Says the singer: "All my friends have babies so every time one of them says, 'Guess what, you're going to be an uncle,' part of me is so happy for them and the other part of me is jealous."
See the full article at PEOPLE.com.
© 2010 People and Time Inc. All rights reserved.
View the original article here