Medical Pot Users Denied Care?

[peanutbutter]

Last I saw, they do not accept the card. I would not mess with them and mention it. Do the survey under a false name as I suggested, call the clinic and ask, but don't let them trace it back to you and you will have your answer. Then share it with us.

 

Dr. Bob

 

I know of a case, at the UofM, where someone got fired because they helped to get a sample tested.

 

What kind of sample?

 

A sample of colon cancer was cultured and then Simpson oil was applied to it. They watched it kill cancer over and over again until someone got fired.

[Dr. Bob]

might i suggest *67 before dialing the number.

 

Smart....

 

Dr. Bob

 

ps I have 166 posts to go for my 1000...lol

[peanutbutter]

The cancer sample came from a patient that was using the same oil.

 

The hospital ignored the testing results and conducted surgery anyway. A "mutilation" by medical standards. That's what an unnecessary surgery is called.

 

The surgeons removed 1.5 feet of material from the patient. Upon close examination by a pathologist, the only remaining tumor was the size of a pinhead.

[Dr. Bob]

The cancer sample came from a patient that was using the same oil.

 

The hospital ignored the testing results and conducted surgery anyway. A "mutilation" by medical standards. That's what an unnecessary surgery is called.

 

The surgeons removed 1.5 feet of material from the patient. Upon close examination by a pathologist, the only remaining tumor was the size of a pinhead.

 

I agree PB, but lets keep this post to reporting the results of the survey. Don't want to sidetrack because I think this is going to turn out to be very important.

 

Dr. Bob

[taby]

question... So if u-of-m is no go do I "lie" to my docs there about using it at all??? I'm so new and just don't know. I have waited close to 6mths for this stupid appt for them to dish out more pills that don't work. This is the doctor that my disability reviews go to. Any advice is appreciated and considered.

[Dr. Bob]

I moved the study thread here....

 

http://michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/topic/33455-dr-bob-doing-study-on-mmj-patient-access-to-primary-care-doctors/

 

Please check it out to see the design of the study and post your results.

 

Thanks in advance for all your help, together we will open their eyes.

 

Dr. Bob

[+Silverblue]

Here is something I would like folks to do.

 

Using a false name, contact 10 primary care clinics at random out of the phone book. Ask if they are accepting new patients (keep going until you have 10 that are). If they are, ask if they have a problem with you having a MMJ card.

 

Record the name/number of the clinic, who you talked to and the result and post in this threat. I will follow up and use it to prepare my report to the legislature. This is your chance to really make a difference and define the problems in terms they will understand. Get me the background and I'll make sure you are heard.

 

Dr. Bob

Way to go doc! What a GREAT IDEA!

 

Sb

[Dr. Bob]

go to the study post listed above, lets blow them away with documentation. Names of practices are important to prevent duplication, get anything in writing you can...

 

Dr. Bob

[wingnut]

We were getting rid of some stuff at a flea market last weekend, so we put out flyers for a showing of What If Cannabis Cured Cancer at a local community center scheduled for that evening.

A neighbor came by. I gave her one and wound up going with her. She’s an 80-year-old nurse who recently heard from a life-long friend with cancer who’s recovering since having abandoned the industrialized health care approach in favor of cannabis six months ago. My neighbor couldn’t believe how strong and vibrant her friend has become. On the way home she said tearfully, "I could have been better at what I did had I known this. It really pisses me off."

It just goes to show that we never know who we’re going to reach when we put the information out there. This women spends at least four hours a day on her computer doing political activism. Guess what her new cause is?

[purklize]

I've heard that at least five patient in Michigan have committed suicide after being cut off cold turkey from their pain medicine by these clinics.

 

One word: kratom. It is a tropical tree grown in eastern Asia. Its leaves contain mild opiate-type drugs, which are used to ease heroin addicts out of withdrawal. It's not very addictive or abusable itself. No one has ever died from it; it seems to have a solid safety record. It is 100% legal and available cheap on the internet. I would urge anyone finding themselves cut off from their medicine to try this before deciding to hurt themselves. PM me if you find yourself in this situation and need a supplier. Suicide over withdrawals is just too awful for me to keep this one to myself.

[Dr. Bob]

bump

[kristi]

Medical pot users denied care?

 

 

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110731/A_NEWS/107310326/-1/a_news07

 

 

More patients claim hospital in Lode pressured them to sign form

 

 

This is an article that evidences Dr. Townsend’s article in the Lansing Journal. Making the point that Dr’s, traditionally are not providing care for medical marijuana patients

 

 

 

July 31, 2011

 

Medical pot users denied care?

 

More patients claim hospital in Lode pressured them to sign form

 

 

By Dana M. Nichols

 

Record Staff Writer

 

July 31, 2011 12:00 AM

 

SAN ANDREAS - Additional medical-marijuana patients have come forward to say they were told they were unwelcome at clinics operated by Mark Twain St. Joseph's Hospital.

 

New allegations surfaced after hospital officials in early July said they have no policy barring medical-marijuana patients from receiving care and that, in fact, some Mark Twain physicians have even written recommendations for patients to use medical marijuana.

 

Sam Slayter, a disabled veteran living near Valley Springs, was the first to go public with his account. Slayter said he had been told by Dr. Rafael Rosado that he couldn't receive care at a Mark Twain clinic in Valley Springs unless he promised to discontinue his use of medical marijuana.

 

At the time, hospital President Feliciano Jiron and Dr. Sean Anderson, the hospital's vice president of medical affairs, suggested that Slayter may have misunderstood Rosado.

 

Since then, other patients have reported similar experiences, saying they were asked to sign forms promising not to use medical marijuana and were told not just by Rosado but also by front-office staff that Mark Twain doctors were no longer allowed to write medical-marijuana recommendations.

 

"When I called in, I was in pain. I told them I was in pain. I was trying to get a hold of my own doctor," said David Jack, 68, who suffers from a congenital brain tumor.

 

Rather than scheduling him an appointment with his long-time physician, Dr. Paul Jacobson, Jack said the clinic receptionist told him he would not be allowed to see a doctor unless he signed a form promising not to use medical marijuana.

 

Jack said he then called a higher-ranking administrator, and she said the same thing.

 

"She went into an absolute rant about how Dr. Jacobson should not have ever given me a recommendation for cannabis," Jack said.

 

Neither Rosado nor hospital administrators nor Jacobson responded to requests for comment. In an earlier email, Rosado said the form is something recommended by the American Academy of Pain Medicine in cases where patients require potentially addictive narcotics.

 

"The true issue here is that we have a huge problem with patients who take prescribed pain medicines while also abusing illegal substances," Rosado wrote. "We would never turn anyone away for choosing to use marijuana as long as they are not being treated with a prescribed controlled substance or the use of the marijuana affects the care they receive at the clinic."

 

The form also states that the patients agree to random drug testing and understand they can be discharged from care if they test positive.

 

Rosado oversees care for all of Mark Twain's family medical clinics. Accounts by patients suggest that he and physicians in the clinics are in conflict over medical marijuana.

 

Both Jack and Paula Stevens, 45, who suffers back pain due to scoliosis and degenerative disc disease, said that other doctors apologized to them later after each initially had a run-in with Rosado over medical marijuana.

 

Stevens said that upon learning that Rosado had pressured her into signing the form and had withdrawn her pain medication, Dr. Rodger Orman told her "that's completely wrong. I don't want you to go back there. And I want you to complain to the board. That is not right."

 

Thomas Liberty is an activist with Collective Patient Resources, an organization that advocates for medical-marijuana patients in Calaveras County.

 

He said he's been contacted this month by seven medical-marijuana patients who said they've been pressured by staff at Mark Twain St. Joseph's clinics to sign a form promising not to use medical marijuana. Liberty said 17 people showed up at a meeting he organized to discuss how to respond to the hospital's policy.

 

"Nobody can understand why a hospital would treat people like this," Liberty said.

 

 

Contact reporter Dana M. Nichols at (209) 607-1361 or dnichols@recordnet.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/calaverasblog.

 

 

Posted by:

 

Michael Komorn

 

18006563557

 

[kristi]

For a medical factility to turn anyone away is certainly not an act of compassion or care. This man has a brain tumor that he will probably die from. To make any of his last days harder or not to make any effort in lessoning his pain is inhuman of a doctor or medical staff. Everything possible should have been done to comfort and treat him. His marijuana use should not have been a factor. He was deliberately singled out for being a legal card holder. How many others must this same hospital treat, whom they do not test or turn away for illegal marijuana use? This man is a legal medical marijuana user and should not be punished for personal feelings of others. Particularly a hospital who's purpose is to treat people.

[Dr. Bob]

Just got another call this am. Local guy here in Mt. Pleasant. Broken back, years of narcotic pain management. Got a card and now he is cut off from narcotics. Called 3 offices in the local area, none will treat him if he has a card.

 

Dr. Bob

[Letterhead954]

Just got another call this am. Local guy here in Mt. Pleasant. Broken back, years of narcotic pain management. Got a card and now he is cut off from narcotics. Called 3 offices in the local area, none will treat him if he has a card.

 

Dr. Bob

Dr. Bob, what reasons are these clinics using to cut off care if a person is a mmj patient? Do they, or any of these hospitals, give medical or scientific evidence for their decisions? Unless there are serious medical reasons, which I'm quite sure there aren't, then what they're doing is an outrage. Does this involve any legal or ethical violations?

[Dr. Bob]

They simply don't want to be involved, nor do they want their doctors involved. Most practices and hospitals have policies, be they written or not, that their doctors are not to write certifications.

 

The reasons range from it is a violation of the pain contract, to there is no scientific evidence that it is effective, to personal belief, to the standard 'it is against federal law and we will follow that'. The other classic excuse is that 'we take federal funds' and they don't want to risk that.

 

Dr. Bob

 

PS, my personal opinion is that it is malpractice to treat a patient like that. I won't do it.