MEDICAL POT USERS DENIED CARE?

More patients claim hospital in Lode pressured them to sign form

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.