MARIJUANA DOCTOR LOSES LICENSE

[Lilli]

MARIJUANA DOCTOR LOSES LICENSE
by Andrew Kramer, Associated Press, (Source:Oregonian)
Regional News
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20 Oct 2004

Oregon
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PORTLAND, Ore. - The doctor who signed a third of all medical marijuana cards in Oregon lost his license to practice medicine on Wednesday, in what medical regulators and advocates for the drug say marked the first such case in the nine states where marijuana is legal as a medicine.

Dr. Phillip Leveque, 81, a Molalla osteopath, was placed on probation in 2002 for signing medical marijuana applications for patients he had not examined in person and whose medical history he had not reviewed.

Leveque's practice was limited to examining patients for medical marijuana applications, often at large gatherings at hotels around the state.

He also hosted a cable access television show called "Ask Dr. Leveque," in which callers would check to see if their ailments would qualify them for a medical marijuana card.

Leveque said he has signed some 4,000 applications, 33 percent of the 12,000 cards issued in the state.

The Oregon Medical Board objected. In one case, investigators said, Leveque recommended medical marijuana for a 14-year-old girl with a history of depression. He had also signed cards for people who sent a description of their medical problem to him by fax.

The board suspended Leveque's license in March for failing to abide by a 2002 probationary agreement to sign cards only after conducting physicals and reviewing medical records. At an October 15 meeting, the board decided to revoke his license; Leveque was notified of the decision Wednesday.

"They can't go after the patients, so they're going after the doctors," Leveque said. He said he would appeal the decision.

The board also fined Leveque $5,000 and will bill him for the cost of a court hearing, said Kathleen Haley, executive director of the Oregon Medical Board.

Haley said she knew of no other case of a doctor losing a license for practices related to medical marijuana.

"The board does want patients to have adequate pain control," Haley said. "At the same time, they want to be sure the physician is upholding their responsibility to be sure of the diagnosis.

"It's a sad day when you have to revoke a license after a long career."

Allen St. Pierre, executive director of NORML Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based group which advocates greater access to medical marijuana, said he has never heard of a doctor losing his license in such a way. He said, however, that roughly a dozen doctors in California are being investigated because of their marijuana recommendations.

Medical marijuana advocates criticized the board's decision, saying medical regulators are more strict with doctors who recommend marijuana than with those who prescribe other drugs.

"There's a problem when a lot of physicians are afraid or uneasy," said Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Washington-D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project. "A small number of doctors are willing to stick their neck out. It becomes a difficult situation for all."

Besides, said Oregon medical marijuana advocate John Sajo, Dr. Leveque never had a single complaint from his thousands of patients.

"Dr. Leveque didn't hurt any patients. And he never had any complaints, which is the typical reason a doctor is disciplined," Sajo said.



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MAP posted-by: Derek



Pubdate: Wed, 20 Oct 2004
Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
Copyright: 2004 The Associated Press
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/324
Author: Andrew Kramer, Associated Press
Cited: NORML http://www.norml.org/
Cited: Marijuana Policy Project http://www.mpp.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Phillip+Leveque (Dr. Phillip Leveque)
_________________

I pass to you the torch that Christ once passed to me.
Others are still in the dark and need
the light to see.
"I AM"
"Gathering the fragments so that
none are lost"
His Shepherdess
http://missouri.thcministry.org/

[TSRev.]

This DR. L is in my state and I think he is a jackass. He hurts the medical MJ cause to grandstand and line his own pockets.$$
I think prescribing any medicine should be done after an examination/consultation.
DR. L was previously warned.
He is not alone in doing this though-I have my new issue of Popular Science here with quarter page ads for phone consultations/sales of prescription drugs, good old Eli Lilly and Merc Medco shit.

[Romadon]

I will have to say I believe you are right TSRev.
_________________
"The world's religions have done more to harm humankind than to help it."

('ELOHIM 'AH_VAH)

[Pepper]

The only requirement by the Oregon law is for a doctor to determine whether the patient suffers from a "debilitating medical condition." Many conditions require specialists to diagnose and the law doesn't require that the attending physician to do anything but determine if the condition exists. Medical records from another doctor is proof.

"Debilitating medical condition" means:

(a) Cancer, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or treatment for these conditions;

(b) A medical condition or treatment for a medical condition that produces, for a specific patient, one or more of the following:

(i) Cachexia;

(ii) Severe pain;

(iii) Severe nausea;

(iv) Seizures, including but not limited to seizures caused by epilepsy; or

(v) Persistent muscle spasms, including but not limited to spasms caused by multiple sclerosis; or

(c) Any other medical condition or treatment for a medical condition adopted by the division by rule or approved by the division pursuant to a petition submitted pursuant to section 14 of this Act.
_________________
We will succeed unless we quit.

[TSRev.]

November 30, 2004

Doctor plans appeal for license

By Tim Christie
The Register-Guard



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Barring a successful appeal, Dr. Phillip Leveque's medical career - most notable for a short, storied and highly controversial medical marijuana practice - is over.
State regulators have revoked the medical license of the 81-year-old osteopath from Molalla, and the nearly 4,000 patients for whom he has signed medical marijuana applications are on the lookout for other doctors willing to do the same.

"For sure, there have been other doctors to step up to the plate, but not enough," said Todd Dalotto, president of the Compassion Center in Eugene. "Clearly there is a problem with getting enough doctors to sign for patients."

In October, the Board of Medical Examiners revoked Leveque's license to practice medicine in Oregon, reprimanded him and fined him $5,000, said Kathleen Haley, the board's executive director. He can apply to get his license back in two years, she said. Leveque has until Dec. 15 to file an appeal, and he said he intends to do so.







Dr. Phillip Leveque






The Compassion Center and other groups, such as Voter Power and the Hemp and Cannabis Foundation in Portland and the Alternative Medicine Outreach Program in Roseburg, hold clinics at which doctors examine patients and sign applications.

As of Oct. 1, 1,496 doctors have signed medical marijuana applications for 9,758 patients, according to the state Oregon Medical Marijuana Program.

It's unlikely that any will achieve the notoriety Leveque did in the five years he spent signing applications.

Not long after Oregon's ground-breaking medical marijuana law took effect in 1999, word spread among advocates about a semiretired osteopath who, unlike many Oregon doctors, had no qualms about signing applications for patients.

Leveque soon became the doctor to see. Sometimes he signed applications for far-flung or disabled patients without meeting them.

A complaint about his practice drew the attention of the Board of Medical Examiners, which in May 2002 suspended his license for 90 days, fined him $5,000 and placed him on 10 years' probation. It was the second time he had run afoul of the medical regulators: In the 1980s, he was disciplined for improper pain treatment.

After serving his punishment, Leveque resumed his practice, working with Voter Power and other advocacy groups. He traveled up and down the Interstate 5 corridor, seeing patients at clinics held in hotel ballrooms and signing their applications after a physical exam conducted by a nurse-practitioner.

His photograph appeared in ads in alternative newspapers under the headline, "Dr. Leveque says, `Cannabis gives the best relief.' "

Then last March, the Board of Medical Examiners again suspended his license, saying he posed "an imminent risk" to his patients.

The board concluded that he was "grossly negligent" in evaluating certain patients for the medical marijuana program. Specifically, the board said he approved cards for patients with psychiatric disorders and prior histories of drug addiction for whom marijuana was not appropriate.

A World War II combat veteran, he says the board wrongly "stomped all over me" for failing to make specific diagnoses of his patients.

"Please understand me - I'm not paranoid," he said. "I know these people have been out to get me from the word go."

Leveque said that before signing applications, he would review patients' medical records and confirm the diagnosis made by other doctors, which is what he believed his previous order from the Board of Medical Examiners required him to do.

"Trying to make believe I'm a cancer specialist or an HIV specialist is totally fallacious," he said. "I have to rely on previous physicians' records, and most frequently, they are specialists in whatever that condition might be."

Leveque is still doing what he can to help his patients, working as a medical records clerk, and relishing his 15 minutes of fame.

"My agent is trying to get me on `The Montel Williams Show,' " he said.




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