By Jerry MitchellOriginal Source: clarionledger.com

National addiction specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky said the “star treatment” that music legends Tom Petty, Prince and Michael Jackson received may have played a role in their deaths.

“Doctors can be attracted to giving special treatment to the stars,” said Pinsky, who has hosted numerous television shows on addiction and recovery.

Prince, for example, “was getting personal treatment from a doctor when he lived 30 minutes from premier treatment,” he said. “He should have gotten that premier treatment.”

He said problems arise when those patients become addicted, with “Michael Jackson being the poster child.”

In 2011, a jury convicted Dr. Conrad Murray of involuntary manslaughter for administering propofol, a powerful surgical anesthetic, to Jackson just hours before his death in 2009. He was sentenced to...click here to continue reading