Pubdate: Wed, 27 Mar 2013
Source: Stranger, The (Seattle, WA)
Copyright: 2013 The Stranger
Contact:  http://www.thestranger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2241
Author: Cienna Madrid

REEKING OF SIN

Catholic Hospital Calls Cops on a Patient for Smelling of (Legal) Marijuana

Matthew Zimmerman wasn't thinking about the small bag of pot in his 
pocket when he went in for a routine exam at a Gig Harbor medical 
center on March 18, because Washington State voters legalized 
marijuana possession last fall. Plus, he explains, "I forgot it was 
there." But shortly after a nurse smelled the marijuana and 
confronted Zimmerman, a police officer arrived to question him.

The incident raises alarms about someone reporting to police on what 
is now a perfectly legal activity, but it also raises questions about 
whether the Catholic-affiliated hospital breached medical ethics and 
privacy laws.

Zimmerman, 27, who had an appointment with Dr. Faron Bauer for 
reasons unrelated to his marijuana intake, says he was surprised when 
a nurse practitioner asked if he was carrying pot. In a phone 
interview, he says he admitted it when he remembered that he had 
about three grams of pot "underneath my second jacket."

"She asked if I used marijuana, and I said, 'Yeah, obviously,'" says 
Zimmerman, who does lighting and stage rigging for concerts. "She 
said that even with the [legalization] law out there, the doctor was 
not going to approve of my use of marijuana, and then she walked out."

His small stash of pot wasn't an issue with the doctor, but when 
Zimmerman stepped outside St. Anthony Hospital, a police officer stopped him.

"That nurse called the cops on me," says Zimmerman.

The hospital confirms that a staffer did report Zimmerman to the 
police. "In this case, one of the staff members at our Prompt Care 
facility in Gig Harbor was concerned that a patient may be impaired 
and would be operating his motorcycle after his appointment," 
explains Scott Thompson, a spokesman for Franciscan Health System, 
the religious organization that operates the hospital about 45 miles 
southwest of Seattle. "Out of concern for the safety of the patient 
and other motorists, local law enforcement was contacted to 
investigate the situation."

"That was the hospital's concern-that he couldn't drive," confirms 
Gig Harbor Police Department spokeswoman Debra Eason. But the 
responder, Officer Gary Dahm, didn't file a police report because, as 
Eason explains, "When the officer found him, he determined that 
Zimmerman wasn't impaired. He could drive."

Thompson declined to explain why, if they believed Zimmerman was too 
impaired to drive-which he wasn't-the hospital did not offer to call 
him a cab, the same way they might if someone was on painkillers. He 
also refused to comment on whether the staffer broke state and 
hospital rules governing patient privacy by reporting him to the police.

But Alison Holcomb, an attorney for the ACLU of Washington and the 
author of last year's marijuana-legalizing Initiative 502, says 
Zimmerman's privacy was violated.

"He was fully compliant with the law, but even if he weren't, I think 
there is still an issue of patient confidentiality being breached," 
Holcomb says. While physicians are duty bound to report patients' 
conduct to authorities if they threaten the general public (say, a 
patient confides that he has urges to kill a bunch of people), merely 
smelling of marijuana does not meet that high bar. She says Zimmerman 
should complain to the Medical Quality Assurance Commission, the 
state board that investigates complaints of disciplinary breaches of 
medical health professionals.

This troubling incident could also be seen as further proof of 
religious hospitals unnecessarily overreaching into the lives of the 
people they serve. Catholic hospitals often refuse to honor women's 
rights to access legal abortion unless a mother's life is in imminent 
danger. Medical staff at some religious hospitals also won't discuss 
the state's death with dignity law or other medical procedures that 
conflict with Catholic teachings.

Zimmerman says he has filed a complaint with the state. He describes 
the whole experience as "upsetting and embarrassing." Not only did 
the nurse practitioner apparently divulge his private information by 
identifying him to the police, he says, she also ensured that he was 
stopped and questioned in public about his use of a perfectly legal substance.

"We apologize that the patient may have been embarrassed by the 
response," says Thompson. "We are investigating the situation further 
so we can ensure that future situations are handled in the best and 
most compassionate way possible." He declined to elaborate on the 
hospital's current policies or procedures guiding patient marijuana 
use or to put The Stranger in contact with the cop-calling nurse.

For his part, Zimmerman finds the nurse's actions hypocritical and 
the hospital's reaction less than satisfying.

"They don't call the cops on everyone who they hand out pills to, but 
they call the police when they smell some marijuana?" Zimmerman asks 
rhetorically. "I wasn't under the influence. I just smelled like 
weed. They shouldn't be talking about my private information, about 
what I say inside the doctor's office, obviously."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom