Pubdate: Tue, 02 Sep 2003
Source: Berkeley Daily Planet (US CA)
Copyright: 2003 The Berkeley Daily Planet
Contact:  http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1238
Author: Fred Gardner,  Special To The Planet
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

OAKLAND HEARING TO DECIDE FATE OF POT-PRESCRIBING DOC

The hearing that will determine the fate of a Berkeley psychiatrist who has 
prescribed medical marijuana for 7,000 in the last seven years commences in 
an Oakland hearing room Wednesday.

Tod Mikuriya, M.D., who began writing prescriptions for the drug after 
passage of Prop 215 in 1996, has rejected an offer to settle the Medical 
Board of California's unprofessional conduct case against him, leading to 
the hearings before Administrative Law Judge Jonathan Lew in Oakland's 
State Building, 1515 Clay St.

The hearing is expected to take about a week as the judge hears a 
file-by-file review of Mikuriya's treatment of the 17 patients named by the 
Board in its Accusation.

None of the patients who allegedly received sub-standard care from Mikuriya 
has filed or expressed a complaint against him (not counting an undercover 
narcotics officer from Sonoma County, whose name was added to the complaint 
after Mikuriya nixed the settlement offer).

All the patients named in the Board's accusation had been self-medicating 
with cannabis before consulting Mikuriya. Many have reported that Mikuriya 
was the first and only doctor with whom they could discuss the fact that 
they'd been using marijuana medicinally.

The complaints against Dr. Mikuriya have all come from rural county 
district attorneys and sheriffs who, according to attorney Bill Simpich, 
"resented Tod's courage in issuing approvals under Health and Safety Code 
section 11362.5."

Mikuriya is charged with violating a "standard of care" that the Medical 
Board has never defined with respect to doctors who approve their patients' 
cannabis use. Ironically, Mikuriya has been urging the Board to adopt 
specific standards with respect to cannabis approvals since 1996. The Board 
contends that such approvals are equivalent to prescriptions for "dangerous 
drugs."

The prosecution-the Attorney General's office, on behalf of the Medical 
Board-will call an expert witness employed by the Board, Tracy Duskin, 
M.D., who has reviewed the 17 patients' files (which were obtained by 
subpoena). Duskin will explain why, in her opinion, Mikuriya failed each of 
them. The defense will call its own expert, Phillip Denney, M.D., a family 
doctor from Loomis, to explain why Mikuriya was able to make a valid 
medical judgment in each case.

All documents relevant to the case except the patients' records can be 
found on  -- http://www.mikuriya.com/ -- including the final settlement 
offer from the state Medical Board that Mikuriya rejected.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom