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What kind of charges might physicians implicated in Jackson's death face? "The most serious charge that they might be able to do would be involuntary manslaughter, which is an unintentional killing with criminal negligence," says Jean Rosenbluth, a clinical associate professor at USC Law and former federal prosecutor. "Now, there can be criminally negligent homicide if there is such gross recklessness. Theoretically, I suppose you could file some sort of second-degree murder charge, but it's hard for me to imagine that they will be able to show that kind of recklessness. But none of us know...
Attorney Brian Oxman, who helped represent Jackson during the molestation trial, says dozens of drug vials, including Zoloft, Percocet, Vicodin and Demerol, were found at the time. Oxman told TIME: "Instead of pursuing the evidence which was staring them right in the face really - overprescription by doctors, overprescription by employees who were providing him with their drugs - instead of pursuing that which was an obvious, easily proved case they went after the molestation...
Doctors or other individuals who are alleged to have conspired to provide Jackson with drugs he shouldn't have had access to can also face felony conspiracy charges. "Even if someone is not a doctor, but [is] enabling Michael Jackson to get access to drugs knowing that he shouldn't have access to them, that person can be charged with some kind of criminal conspiracy," says Rosenbluth, citing the current case against Howard K. Stern and two physicians stemming from the death of Anna Nicole Smith. "Two of her doctors were charged, but Stern, who was not a doctor...
...Smith case shows, in California doctors can also face additional charges for prescribing drugs to a known addict, unless it's for a medicinal purpose. "There's all sorts of ways in which a doctor can get himself into trouble," says Rosenbluth. "Generally, I think what prosecutors would look at is, Did they know that this was a false name that Michael Jackson was using? Did they know that there was no need for this many prescriptions of a particular drug? Did they know that he was addicted to a prescription drug and didn't have a medical purpose...
...When you're face-to-face with a patient, you can't worry about the fact that they can't pay." -As quoted in a full-page ad in the Journal of the American Medical Association as part of the organization's campaign to get doctors to provide 50 hours of charity care each year (Chicago Tribune, February...