abnervaught: Conrad Murray Calls Michael Jackson 'Deceptive'

Monday, November 21, 2011

Conrad Murray Calls Michael Jackson 'Deceptive'

In MSNBC's 'Fatal Friendship' documentary, doctor says that on the day he died, pop star was begging for propofol to help him sleep.
By James Montgomery

Dr. Conrad Murray
Photo: Getty Images

Dr. Conrad Murray, found guilty Monday of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson after a nearly six-week trial, says the King of Pop lied to him about his medical history during the time Murray served as his personal physician.

That's just one of the claims Murray makes in his controversial interview with NBC, conducted just days before his guilty verdict was read. It is part of a larger documentary called "Michael Jackson and the Doctor: A Fatal Friendship," set to air Friday (November 11) on MSNBC.

"I only wish that maybe in our dealings with each other, he was more forthcoming and honest to tell me things about himself," Murray says about his interactions with Jackson. "Certainly, he was deceptive by not sharing with me his whole medical history, doctors he was seeing, treatment that he might have been receiving." Murray also denies knowing Jackson had an addiction problem, though he admits he was attempting to wean the singer off the anesthetic propofol in his final days. On the day he died, Murray says Jackson was "a desperate man" who begged his physician for more propofol to help him sleep. According to trial testimony, Jackson's nickname for the drug was "milk."

"He asked me, 'Please, please, Dr. Conrad ... I need some milk so that I can sleep. If I don't get any sleep today, I cannot perform, I cannot do anything,' " Murray says. "He was pleading and begging me to please, please let him have some 'milk,' because that was the only thing that would work."

Earlier this week, in a letter to the heads of NBC, MSNBC and Comcast (which owns a majority stake in the NBCUniversal media conglomerate,) the co-executors of the Michael Jackson estate blasted the "Fatal Friendship" documentary as "one-sided" and "reprehensible," and demanded MSNBC "exercise proper judgment and refrain from airing" the program. They also called into question whether or not the network paid Murray for his interview, a claim NBC has yet to address.

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