Police and DEA are Looking at 5 Doctors in Michael Jackson Investigation

Police and DEA are Looking at 5 Doctors in Michael Jackson Investigation – Did they use an EMR?

After having read a few articles, what I find interesting here is the fact that several of them relate to the fact that doctors use electronic medical records, well maybe, but they seem to rely on the fact that Michael Jackson’s medical history will inherently be found in one of them, do you think? I would almost bet not in this case and think that even if they were a practice using electronic records, an old paper chart might be around for high profile patients, at the physician’s office. Obviously the hospitals in the area are all on electronic record systems, but perhaps not the treating doctors at their offices. Here’s one article from TMZ that makes the point about records being electronic.

On the prescription side of things, there are more doctors using e-prescribing, but the DEA still wants paper. Physicians who do use e-prescribing have complained about it too, everything else is electronic, but when it’s time for a controlled substance, they have to drop the computer and pick up a pen and pad.

American Hospital Association urges DEA to pilot test proposed e-prescribing rule

Electronic Prescriptions for Controlled Substances - Are we getting any closer?

Anyway, if controlled substances were e-prescribed it could help with investigations as such, with readily identifying the physician instead of using the DEA tracking number to find the doctor and it would give a secondary audit trail in case one failed. I just think it would tend to make it a bit more difficult to create those prescriptions on controlled substances, but the DEA has not come to a conclusion yet. Would it have made the drugs a little more difficult to get, possibly? We will all be waiting to see what the reports state as the actual cause of death is for sure. BD

Investigators are focusing on at least five doctors who prescribed drugs to Michael Jackson as they try to unravel the circumstances surrounding the pop star's death, according to law enforcement sources.
Authorities removed drugs and other medical evidence from the Holmby Hills mansion where Jackson was stricken and are trying to determine whether the medications were properly prescribed and whether they played any role in his death.

One of the most significant clues so far is the discovery of what one source described as "numerous bottles" of the powerful sedative Diprivan( Generic Name: Propofol) at the home. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it is an ongoing investigation, said some of the bottles were full and others were empty. None had prescription labels, and investigators are trying to determine how Jackson got the drugs.
Diprivan is an extremely potent drug that is supposed to be dispensed by a person trained to administer anesthesia, such as an anesthesiologist or a certified registered nurse anesthetist, and it is typically used in hospitals. Experts expressed alarm that it would be used at a private home.

But medical experts said Diprivan should never be used for insomnia. John F. Dombrowski of Baltimore, a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, said that in a hospital setting, he has EKG equipment, a blood pressure cuff and a blood-oxygen monitor in order to watch a patient's status. Also on hand in a hospital is supplemental oxygen, he said.
"But unless you have a trained physician to rescue that patient, all of the monitors in the world mean nothing. Machines are great, but this is where you need the skill set of a physician."