Michael Jackson and His Responsibility in His Death
Hi everyone! My name is Janet. I’m a recovering drug addict and I currently work as a clinician in a detoxification unit of a women‘s treatment center. The news many have been waiting for, and expecting, has been confirmed. Michael Jackson was given a lethal dose of drugs which ultimately led to his untimely death. Like many of you I was and still am greatly saddened by the death of this legend. He had many problems in his life, faced many challenges, and had some serious accusations made against him. Since none of those accusations were proven, I choose not to condemn him for them. One thing that is for sure is that MJ asked for these drugs, and had been taking these drugs and many more for quite a long time.
Was his doctor wrong for giving him all of these drugs? Of course. Should he be charged? Since I decided to go for my degree in Psychology and not continue onto law school like I was considering, I will just say that yes, in my opinion, he should probably be charged with manslaughter, but that is just my opinion and I will leave the decision up to the experts. I will explain the difference between murder and manslaughter, to explain why I think if he is charged the charge should be manslaughter. Murder requires “Malice Aforethought” which means there must be an intent to kill or an intent to cause grievous bodily harm. MJ’s doctor had no intent to either kill Michael or cause him grievous bodily harm. When a person unintentionally causes the death of another due to recklessness or criminal negligence, it is manslaughter. With the definition of manslaughter, could it be considered manslaughter? Of course. At the very least it was reckless of that doctor to give him those meds and at the very most it was criminal negligence since he knew what the consequences could have been. Again, I will let the experts decide on whether he should be charged.
I read something earlier where someone said that the doctor should get the electric chair. My question is where is Michael Jackson’s responsibility in his own death? I feel sad that he overdosed. Just like I feel sad whenever I hear about anyone overdosing. It is a horrible thing to happen to anyone or any family. The problem was not so much MJ’s doctor, although he did play his part, as it was the MJ was a drug addict. Did that make him a bad person? Hell no! But it did make him just like any other addict. An addict is an addict is an addict. And Michael Jackson was just like every single alcoholic and drug addict that I see at work. He was a man with a disease that had gotten out of control. Just like the man or woman on the corner buying a bag of heroin is a person with a disease which has gotten out of control. One thing should be clear…if that doctor had not given MJ those drugs, he would have gotten them or other drugs from another source.
For everyone who wants to hang MJ’s doctor, who again does hold some of the responsibility here, and relieve MJ of any responsibility, what do you think when you see on the news or read in the newspaper that someone bought a bad bag of dope and died of an od? Or that someone did a speedball and their heart could not take it and they died of a heart attack? I would hope that no matter how they died, you are all sad that a human life has ended, but do any of you think something like “well, they knew that they were doing, they rolled the dice and they lost” or something like that? The reason I ask this is because MJ’s death is the same as that addict who od’s because of a bad bag of dope. It was the death of a very sick individual who was not able to fix what was wrong with them. If Michael Jackson were not Michael Jackson but he were that drug addict who died with a needle in his arm after that bad bag of heroin, would people be asking that the drug dealer who sold him that bag of dope be given the electric chair? I am willing to bet a great many people would think nothing of the drug dealer, and would not think he had murdered that person. They would simply put the blame on the person who died.
My wish is that instead of laying all of the blame at the feet of this doctor, society learns from this and starts to take a closer look at addiction. Don’t let Michael Jackson’s death be in vain. Look at those people you love, the ones that you have turned a blind eye to as they go down the spiraling path that is addiction. Try to get them the help that they need, instead of pretending it is not happening or worse yet turning your back on them. Our legal system gives you an option if you have a loved one who is in the throes of addiction. Learn all you can to help them, and if they do not listen, petition the court to have them forced into treatment. Is that guaranteed to work? No, not at all. I see women all the time leave who I know are going to go out and get high. But it is doing something. And for at least a short amount of time you will know they are safe, and just maybe they are learning something about their addiction and where there life is going to end up. Michael Jackson is living proof that the guy on the corner who is all strung out, or the woman that is prostituting herself to pay for drugs, are not the only people susceptible to dying from a drug overdose. Anyone who is an active alcoholic or active drug addict is at risk of dying from their disease. Your wife, husband, brother, sister, mother father, doctor, lawyer, anyone at all. Addiction knows no gender, no race, no social class. Addiction can affect us all.
Janet Lee Smith
New Bedford, MA.
August 25, 2009
Was his doctor wrong for giving him all of these drugs? Of course. Should he be charged? Since I decided to go for my degree in Psychology and not continue onto law school like I was considering, I will just say that yes, in my opinion, he should probably be charged with manslaughter, but that is just my opinion and I will leave the decision up to the experts. I will explain the difference between murder and manslaughter, to explain why I think if he is charged the charge should be manslaughter. Murder requires “Malice Aforethought” which means there must be an intent to kill or an intent to cause grievous bodily harm. MJ’s doctor had no intent to either kill Michael or cause him grievous bodily harm. When a person unintentionally causes the death of another due to recklessness or criminal negligence, it is manslaughter. With the definition of manslaughter, could it be considered manslaughter? Of course. At the very least it was reckless of that doctor to give him those meds and at the very most it was criminal negligence since he knew what the consequences could have been. Again, I will let the experts decide on whether he should be charged.
I read something earlier where someone said that the doctor should get the electric chair. My question is where is Michael Jackson’s responsibility in his own death? I feel sad that he overdosed. Just like I feel sad whenever I hear about anyone overdosing. It is a horrible thing to happen to anyone or any family. The problem was not so much MJ’s doctor, although he did play his part, as it was the MJ was a drug addict. Did that make him a bad person? Hell no! But it did make him just like any other addict. An addict is an addict is an addict. And Michael Jackson was just like every single alcoholic and drug addict that I see at work. He was a man with a disease that had gotten out of control. Just like the man or woman on the corner buying a bag of heroin is a person with a disease which has gotten out of control. One thing should be clear…if that doctor had not given MJ those drugs, he would have gotten them or other drugs from another source.
For everyone who wants to hang MJ’s doctor, who again does hold some of the responsibility here, and relieve MJ of any responsibility, what do you think when you see on the news or read in the newspaper that someone bought a bad bag of dope and died of an od? Or that someone did a speedball and their heart could not take it and they died of a heart attack? I would hope that no matter how they died, you are all sad that a human life has ended, but do any of you think something like “well, they knew that they were doing, they rolled the dice and they lost” or something like that? The reason I ask this is because MJ’s death is the same as that addict who od’s because of a bad bag of dope. It was the death of a very sick individual who was not able to fix what was wrong with them. If Michael Jackson were not Michael Jackson but he were that drug addict who died with a needle in his arm after that bad bag of heroin, would people be asking that the drug dealer who sold him that bag of dope be given the electric chair? I am willing to bet a great many people would think nothing of the drug dealer, and would not think he had murdered that person. They would simply put the blame on the person who died.
My wish is that instead of laying all of the blame at the feet of this doctor, society learns from this and starts to take a closer look at addiction. Don’t let Michael Jackson’s death be in vain. Look at those people you love, the ones that you have turned a blind eye to as they go down the spiraling path that is addiction. Try to get them the help that they need, instead of pretending it is not happening or worse yet turning your back on them. Our legal system gives you an option if you have a loved one who is in the throes of addiction. Learn all you can to help them, and if they do not listen, petition the court to have them forced into treatment. Is that guaranteed to work? No, not at all. I see women all the time leave who I know are going to go out and get high. But it is doing something. And for at least a short amount of time you will know they are safe, and just maybe they are learning something about their addiction and where there life is going to end up. Michael Jackson is living proof that the guy on the corner who is all strung out, or the woman that is prostituting herself to pay for drugs, are not the only people susceptible to dying from a drug overdose. Anyone who is an active alcoholic or active drug addict is at risk of dying from their disease. Your wife, husband, brother, sister, mother father, doctor, lawyer, anyone at all. Addiction knows no gender, no race, no social class. Addiction can affect us all.
Janet Lee Smith
New Bedford, MA.
August 25, 2009
posted by Janet Lee @ 7:06 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home