Articles Tagged with medical marijuana physician attorney

A doctor in Maine who specializes in osteopathic medicine was reprimanded by the New Hampshire state Board of Medicine over allegations of professional misconduct for penning a permission slip to the employer of a patient. 

The doctor, who practices family medicine in both Maine and across the state line in New Hampshire, received the reprimand as part of a larger settlement over the incident, which he signed off on last month and which was approved this month by the state board of medicine. In addition to the reprimand, the physician agreed to under 11 hours of continuing medical education, which is going to include three hours of medical records documentation as well as five hours on substance abuse and another three hours on ethics.

The patient was allegedly being treated by the doctor, who understood the patient had a history of drug abuse. In early 2015, the patient revealed to her doctor that she had smoked marijuana recently, and then shortly thereafter had to take a drug test for her job. The patient then asked the doctor to write her a note that would indicate she had a valid prescription for medical marijuana. The doctor acquiesced her requests, indicating that she would occasionally use the drug for the purposes of helping her to sleep, stimulate her appetite as well as to cope with anxiety. There is no documentation in the medical record, according to the state board’s report, that the patient was counseled against using marijuana as medicine, given her prior history of known substance abuse.  Continue reading