Christmastime hospital-room raid busts dying man for using marijuana extract

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.kansas.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/dion-lefler/article270381287.html

Police went into a room at Hays Medical Center on Dec. 16 and seized a terminally ill patient’s vaping device and some edible paste containing THC. They cited him for drug possession and set a court date for Jan. 2.

He’s essentially bedridden and in the final stages of terminal, inoperable cancer. I called the Hays Police Department about it. The dispatcher said she’d have someone call me, but that hasn’t happened yet.

He said he’s “flat on my back” in his hospital bed and can’t stand up unassisted. He’s been using his vaping device and eating a little bit of the THC paste on bread to relieve his symptoms since he was hospitalized about three weeks ago. He said a doctor told him to do whatever he wants if it makes him feel better, because there’s basically nothing medical science can do for him anymore other than hospice care.

But a hospital staffer caught him vaping and reported him. Police were called and three officers came to his room.

This excerpt is from a column. For a news article, click here: https://fox2now.com/news/national/police-raid-hospital-room-of-terminally-ill-kansas-patient-for-medical-marijuana-use/

[Walleye]

1. I can't even

[KS Toronado]

75. This happened in my home town

There are 2 sides to every story, the Wichita Eagle story is loaded with misinformation and was printed
5 days after the ticket had been "torn up". My neighbor who works at Hays Med. claimed the person was
in the hospital on account of an accident not on account of cancer.

Hays Police Chief statement here, Inaccurate reporting of dismissed ticket issued to Hays cancer patient leads
to threats. No paywall....

https://hayspost.com/posts/106f7794-8246-4577-a9b4-e45b9d7dac96

[niyad]

2. JFC, what the hell is WRONG with these people???

[crickets]

14. This. A whole bunch of this. Wow. nt

[yardwork]

45. That really says it all.

[KS Toronado]

76. The question should be

What in the hell is wrong with the Wichita Eagle for printing misinformation?

Hays Police Chief statement here, Inaccurate reporting of dismissed ticket issued to Hays cancer patient leads
to threats. No paywall....

https://hayspost.com/posts/106f7794-8246-4577-a9b4-e45b9d7dac96

[niyad]

95. Thank you. That a newspaper would print such inaccuracies is beyond

disgusting.

I just read the article you linked--a very different scenario, to say the very least!

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Harrassing the ill or dying should be put in the criminal code

No moral compass, too. Badgering without a license.

[KS Toronado]

77. There was no harassing or badgering......

Hays Police Chief statement here, Inaccurate reporting of dismissed ticket issued to Hays cancer patient leads
to threats. No paywall....

https://hayspost.com/posts/106f7794-8246-4577-a9b4-e45b9d7dac96

[mercuryblues]

4. Whoever called the police should be fired.

[Tetrachloride]

6. Find that person. Harassment of elderly

[KS Toronado]

81. Hospital staff called

Hays Police Chief statement here, Inaccurate reporting of dismissed ticket issued to Hays cancer patient leads
to threats. No paywall....

https://hayspost.com/posts/106f7794-8246-4577-a9b4-e45b9d7dac96

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. The U.S. concept of modern health care has a *lot* of carceral philosophies built in.

[ProfessorGAC]

16. Since You Brought That Up...

...when I was around 50 I had chest pains, so to the ER I went.
It was nighttime. They took blood for the enzyme test & scheduled me for a stress echogram the next day. My wife went home.
Turns out it was acute esophogitis, and antacid for a week ended it.
While getting the echogram/ekg on the treadmill, I was less than 2/3rds of the way through when the cardiologist said "This wasn't a heart attack. Not a thing wrong with your heart." Then we went back to talking about golf. He told me he'd sign the release right away.
Now, to your point: I go upstairs and get dressed, call my wife & tell her she can come & get me. (25 minute drive).
I go tell the nurse my wife will be here in around 25 minutes. She says "You shouldn't have done that. You can't just leave!"
I reminded her it was a hospital not a prison and I was going downstairs to wait for my wife in 15 minutes. She was passed.
3 minutes later, she's got discharge papers & wasn't mad anymore.
But, her first instinct was to tell me I couldn't just leave even after I knew I'd be ok.

[IbogaProject]

38. They have to say that for liability reasons

They can't physically stop you. And the Dr's orders is the be all and end all for their interests.

[ProfessorGAC]

43. I Know

But. WG was commenting on the carceral mentality. "You can't just leave" reinforces that belief.

[GB_RN]

19. I'm A Nurse...

We don’t have a “healthcare system”. We have a profit-off-your-healthcare system. And there’s a huge difference. You want to see an actual healthcare system? Go to Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, etc,. In other words, anywhere but here in the US, where we are told that we have the “greatest healthcare system in the world.”

Nah. We just spend 2x as much as anyone else and our outcomes are no better…and in some cases, worse.

/rant

[DENVERPOPS]

32. In all honesty

We have a........ "Corporate Controlled profit off your healthcare system"

My brother and sister are both specialists and RETIRED EARLY because they felt they no longer truly "practiced medicine".....they felt they were now required to practice "Corporate Policy, '*for maximum profits*, interpretation of Medicine". They both had just had it, and were out of there...........In addition they felt they could no longer deal with the incredible numbers of Anti-vaxers, Anti-maskers, and especially Anti Covid vaxers.

[GB_RN]

55. Don't Even Get Me Started On Anti-vaxxers...

I detest those idiots. And the number of them on the left is simply astounding. The number of them in healthcare is even more dumbfounding. 🤦‍♂️

[area51]

34. THIS.

We desperately need universal healthcare.

[GB_RN]

54. I Will NEVER Disagree With This.

Never have, never will.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

37. What we have is a system, and it has a lot of carceral thinking built in.

[RipVanWinkle]

92. The "healthcare system" is a scam.

I'm an ex-healthcare auditor. Over a 15-year period, I audited Medicare, Medicaid, and VA hospitals.

You are 100% correct. Our "healthcare system" places profit way above patient care. Many of the audits I participated in resulted in a lot of money recouped.

This may be an exaggeration, but it's not far from the truth: the "healthcare system" is a scam.

[RainCaster]

10. Violation of medical privacy

This is a big time HIPAA violation. S/he should lose their job and any ability to be rehired in that state.

[Zeitghost]

67. A HIPAA violation?

It is absolutely not a HIPAA violation to report vaping or any other drug use in a hospital room.

[soldierant]

47. Sure, but first

someone - or some two - or some ten - need to take edible THC and vaping supplie to that man's room, and they need to be armed.

Ifhe's still alive.

Sadly, they won't be needed long.

[Zeitghost]

66. You think hospital workers

Should allow vaping, of any kind, in a hospital room? Seems like a bad idea for a variety of reasons.

[mercuryblues]

72. It wasn't just vaping

They also took away his paste that he spread on crackers. Then arrested him. They stated the only reason they took away his vape was because of oxygen use. Only, he wasn't on oxygen.

Whoever reported him to the police, is nothing more than a nosey ass wipe. The busybody didn't report it to the nurses, the Dr, or anyone in the chain of command. Nope went straight to the cops. Then cop chose to arrest a dying man for using the only thing that gave him some relief from pain.

[KS Toronado]

79. He was never arrested

Hays Police Chief statement here, Inaccurate reporting of dismissed ticket issued to Hays cancer patient leads
to threats. No paywall....

https://hayspost.com/posts/106f7794-8246-4577-a9b4-e45b9d7dac96

[Zeitghost]

104. Again

He was vaping in a hospital. That's a problem no matter how you feel about pot. You can't have patients self medicating in a hospital or vaping in their rooms.

Read the follow up posted above.

[KS Toronado]

78. Hospital staff did after reporting the illegal stuff

Hays Police Chief statement here, Inaccurate reporting of dismissed ticket issued to Hays cancer patient leads
to threats. No paywall....

https://hayspost.com/posts/106f7794-8246-4577-a9b4-e45b9d7dac96

[SheilaAnn]

5. God knows Florida has its problems but thank the almighty I don't live in Kansas. What a dump!

[WhiskeyGrinder]

9. There are busybodies in every state.

[NH Ethylene]

39. Florida does have legalized medical marijuana.

So at least they don't arrest dying patients.

[BradAllison]

70. Kansas gets it right when it comes to constititional amendments.

Starting to wonder if conservatives were stung about that vote and now want to wave their right wing dicks again.

[KS Toronado]

82. I live 1 mile from that hospital, accurate reporting is in link below

Hays Police Chief statement here, Inaccurate reporting of dismissed ticket issued to Hays cancer patient leads
to threats. No paywall....

https://hayspost.com/posts/106f7794-8246-4577-a9b4-e45b9d7dac96

[cate94]

7. Unbelievable

How mean can you be?

[gratuitous]

11. The misunderstood nurse was trying to save this terminally ill man

Everyone knows it's, like, 24 hours from CBD to a full-blown heroin habit. That nurse is a hero. A hero, I tells ya! And those brave boys in blue taking the drug fiend into custody without shooting him dead are probably all in line for medals and commendations.

[yankee87]

15. Right Wing talking points

I am sure that is how the right wing bootlickers will frame this. Thank goodness I’m in a state where medical marijauna is okay to use.

[GB_RN]

20. The Good Ole Reich Wing...

I hate ‘em all.

[GoodRaisin]

24. Wish I was.

I live in highly gerrymandered North Carolina.

Nothing legal here that’s not Pharma approved.

[Effete Snob]

29. What nurse?

Where in this story are you finding a nurse?

[Hekate]

42. "A hospital worker." I suppose that could be the janitor. Or not.

On December 16th, Hays, Kansas police raided the hospital room of 69-year-old Greg Bretz, who is suffering from terminal cancer, after a hospital worker at Hays Medical Center caught him vaping. At link.

[KS Toronado]

84. More than likely the nurse in charge of that floor

Hays Police Chief statement here, Inaccurate reporting of dismissed ticket issued to Hays cancer patient leads
to threats. No paywall....

https://hayspost.com/posts/106f7794-8246-4577-a9b4-e45b9d7dac96

[KS Toronado]

83. Yes, how mean can a newspaper get with misinformation?

Hays Police Chief statement here, Inaccurate reporting of dismissed ticket issued to Hays cancer patient leads
to threats. No paywall....

https://hayspost.com/posts/106f7794-8246-4577-a9b4-e45b9d7dac96

[AntivaxHunters]

12. Why isn't it legalized yet?

Seriously.

[GB_RN]

21. The Tobacco Companies...

Haven’t yet gotten on board with it. Once they figure out how much they can make, game over. It will be as legal as alcohol.

[Fritz Walter]

31. Big Pharma

As a FL MMU (medical marijuana user) I can personally attest to how effective THC can be in relieving chronic pain. So it’s obvious how legalization directly threatens the bottom-line of the massive pharmaceutical industry. And their lobbyists are working overtime to block nationwide legalization.

[AntivaxHunters]

36. I'm in Colorado & use gummies for pain

There's more dispensaries in Denver than there are Starbucks & McDonald's combined.
President Biden can remove it from the Controlled Substances Act via EO and I don't understand why he hasn't.
It needs to happen.

[soldierant]

48. It does, but

I don't see it changing any state law - unles it's a state where the state drug laws reference the federal schedule. But legislators don't really like to do that.

[malaise]

59. THIS n/t

[Zeitghost]

68. Agreed

But lots of legal activities are illegal in places like hospital rooms.


Why should nurses be forced to work in clouds of vape haze?

[diane in sf]

13. This should be an Onion article, but unfortunately it's not.

[KS Toronado]

85. It qualifies as an Onion piece because of misinformation

Hays Police Chief statement here, Inaccurate reporting of dismissed ticket issued to Hays cancer patient leads
to threats. No paywall....

https://hayspost.com/posts/106f7794-8246-4577-a9b4-e45b9d7dac96

[egduj]

17. I guess it doesn't only happen in Russia.

[2naSalit]

18. Control freaks...

Whose only power is making life suck for everyone else because they are miserable.

[TNNurse]

22. I was a hospital nursing supervisor

I had to enforce rules. I would have worked to get this stupid employee fired.

[patphil]

25. Seems like the right thing to do...can't even let the man die with dignity.

[TNNurse]

26. It is essentially assuring a dying patient suffers.

It could have just been ignored, surely others were able to do that.

I once had a young nurse say she would feel bad it she gave that last pain med to a dying patient, I responded she would let them suffer until they died. If a terminal patient died after I gave that med, I would be gratified.

[TNNurse]

33. I did not assume it was a nurse, could have been anyone who enters rooms.

[Effete Snob]

27. Why does everyone assume it was a nurse?

Is there some other article which identifies the hospital employee, or did I miss something?

[KS Toronado]

87. Here's the truth

Hays Police Chief statement here, Inaccurate reporting of dismissed ticket issued to Hays cancer patient leads
to threats. No paywall....

https://hayspost.com/posts/106f7794-8246-4577-a9b4-e45b9d7dac96

[Karma13612]

107. Thanks for this.

What the country needs to do is take their thumb out of their butt and legalize pot FFS.

Once again, something totally legal in one state is still a crime in another because of flippin’ illogical STATES RIGHTS horse manure. I am completely fed up with that reasoning. And I don’t support that rights of Americans should be handled at the state level. You will not convince me otherwise. And having conflicting Federal and State laws regarding the same thing is just STUPID. It’s legal in Oregon, but illegal on a Federal level.

STUPID ILLOGICAL INSANITY.

It fills court dockets with cases and appeals. And it lines lawyers pockets with money for all the suits and defense cases.

[3auld6phart]

23. Gwdamn

m*****cfeckin pigs what the hell id the matter with you country. Backwards. Holy fuck. Pardon my rant. But this is sickening.

[KS Toronado]

89. Problem is with the 1st newspaper editor. who's 200 miles away.

Hays Police Chief statement here, Inaccurate reporting of dismissed ticket issued to Hays cancer patient leads
to threats. No paywall....

https://hayspost.com/posts/106f7794-8246-4577-a9b4-e45b9d7dac96

[Warpy]

28. I've worked in oncology units were the sweet smell of pot smoke was

as common as alcohol and disinfectant. I was called back to such units (agency and float) because I had enough sense to ignore it along with everybody else on staff. One unit had disabled the alarm on the door to the stairwell, and that's where patients would go to smoke it.

An attempt needs to be made to identify the squealer who is clearly someone who has no business anywhere near that unit. Whether it's a secretary or housekeeper, that person needs to go elsewhere. My guess was that the stink s/he made was prolonged and considerable and the nurses know who it is.

As a practical matter, nothing is going to happen to this man except a few days of increased misery while friends/family resupply him. He can't show up in court and I doubt the court will be permitted in his hospital room.

I don't know why some people in this world are so stupidly, thoughtlessly cruel. I just know I refused to be one of them.

(NM is better now, nobody has to sneak it any more, it's legal)

[intheflow]

57. When the judge hears the details it will be summarily dismissed.

IANAL but citing a dying man in his hospital bed for anything short of murder is harassment as well as cruel.

[KS Toronado]

90. Out of town newspaper made a mountain out of a molehill

Hays Police Chief statement here, Inaccurate reporting of dismissed ticket issued to Hays cancer patient leads
to threats. No paywall....

https://hayspost.com/posts/106f7794-8246-4577-a9b4-e45b9d7dac96

[moonshinegnomie]

101. were the cops wearing body cams?

if not i dont believe the police or the chief. weve seen time and again that cops lie.

and while the ticket was dismissed THEY STILL GAVE HIM ONE IN THE FIRST PLACE

[KS Toronado]

102. Per the Hays Post article...........

After looking into the case, he described the response captured on the officers' audio recorders.

“The hospital staff had reported they discovered a patient who was vaping with an electronic device with a controlled substance in the vape machine, and they were concerned,” Scheibler said.

He said the staff was concerned about the fire risk caused by using a vaping device and the effects of its use on the staff, so they called the police department.

And while the goal of the original opinion piece was likely to spur a conversation about medical cannabis use in Kansas, even as regional, national and international news agencies published the story, no one spoke with a member of the police department, leading to the inaccuracies being spread.

What I gather from my neighbor who works at the hospital, the guy was upset with hospital staff taking away
his illegal in Kansas marijuana, calling the cops on him, so he called an out of town newspaper (one of the
largest in the state) and made a mountain out of a molehill and the editor never checked his story.

[Warpy]

105. Looks like damage control to me

[Johnny2X2X]

30. Red states.

Buh muh freedum. The least free states are Republican states. Across the board.

[lonely bird]

63. Their definition of freedom is

“I want to do anything I want to do but I get to tell you want you can’t do.”

[Emile]

35. This is so wrong!

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

40. plus 1

[ck4829]

50. Indeed

[KS Toronado]

91. What is so wrong is the misinformation

Hays Police Chief statement here, Inaccurate reporting of dismissed ticket issued to Hays cancer patient leads
to threats. No paywall....

https://hayspost.com/posts/106f7794-8246-4577-a9b4-e45b9d7dac96

[iluvtennis]

41. Just disgusting -- the man is dying. Let the man deal with the pain of his cancer. n/t

[SunSeeker]

44. Long Beach Memorial Medical Center here in Southern California confiscated my husband's pot.

This was about 10 years ago, he had a medical marijuana license. He was using pot for neck and back pain. California became the first state to allow medicinal cannabis use in 1996. Pot is now legal in California for both medicinal and adult (recreational) use in 2016. My husband was in the hospital for extreme chest pain that nobody in the hospital could diagnose. He didn't want to go on opioid painkillers as he lay there in agony while they put him through dozens of tests. Well, as soon as he lit up his pipe, the nurses took all his pot, including the antique silver snuffbox he kept his pot in, and his pipe. I guess we should be thankful they didn't call the cops on him.

Apparently patients are not allowed to have pot in the hospital, nor any other drug/medication not prescribed by the hospital.

They never did figure out what was wrong with him. His chest pain eventually stopped on its own the next day and they discharged him, without his pot and pipe, although they did give him his snuffbox back after he demanded they return it.

[niyad]

46. In the early hospice days, I remember people having outraged fits over the

"hospice cocktail". OMG- the patient will get addicted! JFC-in those days, the patient had about six weeks. Who CARES if they become addicted?? The cocktail helped with the pain. You want them in pain?? You want them suffering?? What a disgusting, hate-filled little scum you are. I got into it with more than one person.

I will always bless the hospice workers who cared for my mother, and the help I had from a hospice agency when a friend died in my arms. I know there are a lot of horror stories about hospice these days, but I am grateful.

Whoever that interfering, nosey-parkering scum is, may s/he receive everything they deserve.

[ProfessorGAC]

73. Our Recently Deceased Friend...

...was on morphine in hospice. That was ALL she was on. She wasn't even on other maintenance meds. But. It was a shot, not a beverage.
What's the difference between Brompton's cocktail & morphine.
In the US, the active pain suppressant in Brompton was morphine! (In some countries, it was heroin, but that was never approved in the US. )
Morphine is morphine yet one was looked at negatively, the other is OK. Silly.

[ck4829]

49. Not a guy with an AR-15 running into a school, so they get to be brave

[KS Toronado]

93. The officers were polite, courteous and showed the individual empathy.

And while the goal of the original opinion piece was likely to spur a conversation about medical cannabis use in Kansas, even as regional, national and international news agencies published the story, no one spoke with a member of the police department, leading to the inaccuracies being spread.

Hays Police Chief statement here, Inaccurate reporting of dismissed ticket issued to Hays cancer patient leads
to threats. No paywall....

https://hayspost.com/posts/106f7794-8246-4577-a9b4-e45b9d7dac96

[Meowmee]

51. Lots of crazy and incompetent people work in hospitals

There is no doubt about that. This is so wrong and so typical of the US. There is no peace even in dying and death here.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

58. Not just crazy and incompetent, but downright malicous.

Getting stuck with a fascist health care provider can have tragic consequences. I wish there was a way to screen providers by political ideology, so I could be relatively sure that I was not being treated by a Qanon wacko or a MAGAt fascist.

[Meowmee]

103. Yes true

I would’ve said vile and they don’t have to be a right wing to be that either.

[Solly Mack]

52. K&R

[xmas74]

53. My oncologist at KU gave me the go-ahead for mj

She said I was lucky I lived in Missouri where it is legal compared to Kansas.
She did warn me not to bring it with me to any appointments with them because it's still illegal in Kansas but to notify them if I decided to get my license.

[3Hotdogs]

56. Thank God for alert hospital staffers.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

60. Nurse Ratched strikes again. nt

[nightwing1240]

61. What a crock of crap by the police and the one that turned him in

How dare they! How damn heartless can you be? It's like people are trying to outdo each other. SMDH

[harumph]

62. I read it but fail to see that it was a nurse that called it in.

It says "hospital staffer," could have been any number of people in any number of roles... but sure
let's shit on nurses.

[cstanleytech]

64. Update

https://hayspost.com/posts/106f7794-8246-4577-a9b4-e45b9d7dac96

[ripcord]

65. At least everyone got to take free shots at the police, that made them happy

[sl8]

71. Thank you. nt

[KS Toronado]

94. Thanks for posting that

This is one time we shouldn't be attacking the cops, they were just doing their jobs by the letter of the
law like they're trained to and then tore the ticket up after talking to a superior. Only live a mile from
Hays Med, might go over to see him and get the story straight from the horse's mouth. How did you
find the HaysPost article, have roots to the area?

[cstanleytech]

96. I was simply wondering how it turned out so I did a simple search on Google and

it was rather easy to find.

[KS Toronado]

99. Inquiring minds always seek truth

Shame repugs have so few of them, ones they had became never-trumpers.

[cstanleytech]

108. I am willing to wager that the majority of Republican voters know exactly what type of

people they are voting for.
Knowing that and still voting for them speaks very loudly about what type of person they truly are.

[KS Toronado]

109. Prior to the 2020 election

Local MAGAt told me the thing he liked most about tfg was "I love the way he lies", I quizzed him that
he wasn't being serious, but he was.

[gulliver]

100. Thanks for posting

These "too bad to be true" stories always end up being just that.

[FlyingPiggy]

69. FFS. People are such STUPID, STUPID assholes. SMDH...

[ismnotwasm]

74. We just call security and make a behavioral plan when vapes appear.

I’ve had patients cheek pocket oxycodone and stash it in their bedside table to cook later. Had a patients SO chase me around the unit because I found a syringe of heroin and wasted it. We’ve taken many vapes away, busted people smoking in bathroom, given narcan more times that I can count. Cleaned maggots out of a head wound of a very unfortunate unhomed substance abuser, only to have him walk out, still dripping maggots. I’ve been hit, bit, kicked and have had hair pulled in my nursing career.

I suspect there is a bit more to the story.

[cstanleytech]

80. Check the Update post I made. It explains more in depth what actually happened and

how it turned out.

[ismnotwasm]

98. Oh I see, the larger point is the man is facing actual charges

I live in Washington state, so I forget sometimes people are still going to jail for medical Marijuana.

That is fucked up

[cstanleytech]

106. "the man is facing actual charges" No, he isn't.

Or at least assuming I read it correctly they decided not to proceed.

[The Jungle 1]

86. Our country has forgotten what freedom is.

The biggest problem facing this nation: Americans who can't mind their own fucking business.

[jmowreader]

88. Yeah, let me be the judge on this one

“I hereby sentence you to buy an AC-powered vaporizer if you don’t already have one, pick up your weed and go back to your bed, and I sentence Hays Medical Center to let this man be.”

[cstanleytech]

97. I sentence you to check the Update post!!!