On August 1, USC Sociologist Karen Sternheimer was interviewed on National Public Radio regarding celebrity doctors and the possible peril they pose to those they are entrusted to heal. In the cases of Michael Jackson and Anna Nicole Smith, Hippocrates himself might cringe at what he would see as a breach of the sacred, ethics-based oath that bears his name which doctors are sworn to uphold. Were their physicians so seduced by the lure of celebrity they stroked their patients’ egos in plying them with an overabundance of pharmaceuticals? A fine line is drawn between patient care and endeavoring to remain in the celebrity’s employ and “inner circle”, as well as using that status to build cache in the community and their medical practices. When sizeable amounts of money and reputations are at stake, can these doctors risk alienating  patients by not catering to their every whim?  MJ and ANS are neither the first, nor the last celebrity patients of this questionable pursuit of wellness.  It was announced MJ’s mother is considering filing a wrongful death suit against Conrad Murray who is already the focus of a manslaughter investigation.  This litigation coupled with ANS’s physicians, who are already on the Read More …

Michael Jackson’s final days could be allegorized by an oil tanker colliding with a rocky shoreline, dumping millions of gallons of crude into a crystal-clear ocean. Part of the early warning system of that doomed craft was never functional – that of the naming of a guardian and custodian of Jackson’s children in the event he should become incapacitated. Thankfully, the wheels are now in motion to rectify both errors: we hope Katherine Jackson, though aged, proves to be a reliable guardian for her son’s offspring.  Yesterday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge, Mitchell Beckloff, tapped Margaret G. Lodise, a partner at a downtown Los Angeles law firm specializing in probate matters, to serve as the children’s guardian ad litem in the settling of their father’s estate.  Interestingly this is the same judge that first entertained some probate matters in the Estate of Anna Nicole Smith which I wrote about several months ago. Lawyers for Katherine Jackson, 79, oppose certain elements of merchandising and memorabilia contracts hammered out by the estate administrators, John Branca and John McClain.  The judge said today that he will ask for input from the children’s guardian before deciding whether to approve the contracts. The waters might Read More …