A hospital spokesperson tells 11 News,
"Memorial Hospital has approved a new policy to allow parents who
currently administer CBD oil to a child suffering from seizures to
continue administering the oil while that child is admitted at the
hospital and under the care of a pediatric neurologist."
Memorial went on to say, "Parents must understand
that there are risks involved with giving patients CBD oil and must
sign a release in order to continue this therapy while in the hospital.
Nurses and physicians will not administer it themselves. Memorial
Hospital may reevaluate this policy as circumstances and clinical
research develop."
The Stier family says they are relieved by the
news. Their little girl uses cannabis oil to help fight seizures. But
after Children's Hospital ended its affiliation with Memorial Hospital
earlier this month, Memorial told the Stiers that Cora wouldn't be able
to use it when she came in for surgery on the 17th.
Alicia Stier says she talked to the hospital Tuesday morning and Cora will now be allowed to use it during her stay.
Stier says she's relieved they no longer have to worry about it.
PREVIOUS 6/15: 11 News reporter Katie Pelton first told you about the story over the weekend. She talked to the family again Monday.
Cora has a rare condition and takes cannabis oil
twice a day as part of her daily regimen. But come Wednesday, she won't
be able to take it while she's at Memorial Hospital undergoing surgery.
As of a few weeks ago, Memorial Hospital is no longer affiliated with
Children's Hospital Colorado, which has caused a major policy change:
cannabis oil use, which was permitted at Children's Hospital, is now
only allowed at Memorial on a case-by-case basis.
Cora's mother tells 11 News she's frustrated with
the hospital's decision. They told her Monday evening that Cora can't
use cannabis oil during her stay Wednesday. They also said she could
postpone the appointment to a later date.
"To postpone the surgery is not necessarily in her best interest, and patients should come before policy," said Alicia Stier.
The board of directors met Monday to discuss their policy. No word yet on what happened at the meeting.
"Even if the policy was approved by the board,
they didn't have any procedures in place so that staff can follow, so
that would not be ready before Wednesday," said Stier.
Now Cora's family is faced with a tough decision.
"If we are willing to miss one dose of medicine,
but there is a complication and she ends up needing to be admitted, what
would the hospital do then?" Stier asked.
It's an outpatient procedure, meaning Cora likely
won't need to stay longer than 24 hours. She will miss at least one
dose of cannabis oil while she's there.
But, Stier says if there's a complication, Cora may need to stay longer.
"You run the risk of adding a complication to a
possible complication," said Stier. "So if she were to have some
bleeding or some other complication with the surgery, and then we add
taking away the cannabis oil that her body has been used to for such a
long time and has really good benefits for her, then you add another
possible complication."
And if there is a complication, what happens next?
"Would they admit her knowing that we fully want
to administer and continue our cannabis oil or would they sent her to
Children's Hospital?" Stier asked.
Stier says the hospital told her they would have more information Tuesday morning. We'll let you know what she finds out.
Stier says this last minute stress could have been avoided.
"I don't think that's in any patient's best
interest to postpone a procedure necessarily unless it's for medical
reasons--and this is for policy reasons," said Stier. "So it's
frustrating."
Stier says Cora has been going to Memorial for eight years and has received great care.
"For us, the answer was to postpone," said Stier.
"So to me, that says that there is not really a case-by-case policy in
place now, because there's no procedure to follow."
We'll keep you updated on what happened at Monday's board meeting.
"This is a safety issue," said Stier. "This is a
health issue for my daughter and it's not just for her, it's for other
children and there needs to be something in place."
No comments:
Post a Comment