Complaint: Doctor Prescribed Pot To Pregnant Woman
DENVER (AP) -- The Colorado Medical Board will consider revoking the license of a doctor suspected of improperly recommending marijuana to a woman who was 28 weeks pregnant.
Dr. Manuel De Jesus Aquino of Denver could become the first Colorado doctor to lose his license or face a sanction over a medical marijuana recommendation.
The complaint filed this week said the 20-year-old woman didn't explain she was pregnant, and Aquino didn't thoroughly examine her or even take any notes on his three-minute evaluation before giving her a pot recommendation in January.
The doctor also didn't ask about the woman's medical history or give her instructions on follow-up care, according to the complaint, which adds that pregnancy should preclude marijuana recommendations.
Messages left by The Associated Press seeking comment from Aquino and his attorney in the licensing matter were not immediately returned.
The Denver dispensary Back to the Garden Health and Wellness Center, where Aquino worked at the time, declined comment.
The complaint was first reported by Solutions, a health policy news agency affiliated with the University of Colorado-Denver. Solutions and The Denver Post also sought comment from Aquino and his lawyer but were unsuccessful.
Aquino faces criminal charges in a separate case in Aurora. The doctor was arrested in July for investigation of writing shoddy medical-marijuana recommendations to two undercover police officers. Aquino is scheduled to be arraigned on those charges early next year.
The latest complaint accuses Aquino of failing to establish the bona fide physician-patient relationship that Colorado law requires for marijuana recommendations.
When the woman gave birth in April, she tested positive for marijuana and the baby "had some initial feeding difficulties," according to the complaint. It doesn't say whether the mother was accused of wrongdoing or what happened to the baby.
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