The debate over medicinal cannabis in Victoria has flared again, with a family claiming hospital treatment for their child was withdrawn because of increased pressure over the issue.
Rhett Wallace and Cassie Batten said doctors at the Northern Hospital in Melbourne had been helping administer medicinal cannabis to their three-year-old son Cooper up until this week.
The parents claim the hospital has withdrawn the treatment due to uncertainty about potential criminal charges.
Mr Wallace said a hospital lawyer also warned them that if staff suspected the parents were administering the oil they would confiscate it and hand it over to the police.
“I was devastated that Cooper couldn’t be given this treatment that’s changed his life,” Mr Wallace said.
“Having the lawyer come in and say you can’t do that here on hospital grounds, we were basically put in the predicament of having to choose between his short term health and his long term health.
“As a parent you shouldn’t be put in that predicament.”
Northern Hospital spokesman Ryan Brown said the hospital could not “condone the use of an illegal substance”.
“Northern Health’s primary concern is little Cooper’s health and welfare,” Mr Brown told the ABC.
“We encourage Cooper’s parents to follow the advice of medical professionals.”
Ms Batten says the treatment dramatically reduced Cooper’s epileptic seizures and improved his wellbeing.
“We were a bit confused, it had previously been administered, his doctors knew fully well that he was on it.
“Just the legal issue. I think it was more out of fear and to protect themselves.
“We’ve been a lot more public about it now and trying to get the laws changed.”
Red tape putting Cooper’s life at risk: Opposition
The Victorian Opposition has promised to legalise medicinal cannabis if it wins the November state election, and leader Daniel Andrews said he was concerned by the latest development.
“This is just an ordinary, hard-working suburban family in a growing part of Melbourne and their life has been turned into a nightmare because of bureaucratic bungling, confusion,” he said.
“The lawyers are determining the healthcare that Cooper gets, rather than the doctors.
“That makes no sense at all.”
Mr Andrews said he met the family a number of times and the treatment had significantly improved Cooper’s health.
“To see the difference in him now compared to when he wasn’t taking cannabis oil, when he wasn’t receiving this life-saving medicine, is night and day,” he said.
“His story and others like it are the reason Labor has committed to changing this law, to dragging this law into the 21st Century.”
Mr Andrews said there had been a policy change at the hospital relating to Cooper’s treatment.
“I’m not having a go at the clinical staff at the Northern,” he said.
“But the fact of the matter is this: when Cooper has been admitted to that hospital previously he has been able to get the medical cannabis that has so dramatically changed his life.
“Someone has made a very different decision about Cooper’s care. What was OK months ago is now not OK, apparently.
“Now bureaucracy, red tape and bungling is putting his life at risk. It’s not good enough.
“What’s changed? Who’s changed their mind? Who’s issued this directive?”
Doctors only doing their duty: Premier
The State Government has committed to running clinical trials for medicinal cannabis but Labor said it would not be enough for desperate families like Cooper’s.
Premier Dennis Napthine said the family should make a request to their doctor to use a provision in the Health Act to ask the chief medical health officer for special authorisation to use the cannabis oil.
Dr Napthine said while he has sympathy the family, the doctors at the hospital are only doing their duty.
“They have an obligation under their registration to only prescribe and only use drugs that they know to be safe, that they know to be effective and that they know to be subject to appropriate quality controls,” he said.
“I have compassion and absolute feeling for the parents of this young boy. My heart goes out to them.
“(But) there is a process for them. They should get their local doctor to apply for permission to use this outside the normal therapeutic goods administration.
“But you’ve got to be very, very careful in the medications you take yourself, and particularly medication you give your children.
“That’s why we have a very strict system in Australia, and Victoria, to ensure medications given to children are safe, effective and appropriate quality controls.”
Doctors put themselves at risk: AMA
Victorian president of the Australian Medical Association Dr Tony Bartone said doctors put themselves at risk of legal repercussions if they administered medicinal cannabis outside of a clinical trial.
“I can understand a hospital being guarded about its use which is not part of any clinical trials along the guidelines of any ethics committee that are actually regulating those trials,” he said.
“In practising medicine we need to follow the laws of the land.”
Dr Bartone said he supported the use of medicinal cannabis in some circumstances, but there needed to be more debate before it was legalised.
“There is a growing body of evidence accumulated around the world to show that medicinal cannabis may have a role to play in certain conditions,” he said.
“We’ve been calling for trials in this area and we welcome recent announcements to facilitate those trials.
“The desire to bypass clinically-proven treatments for patients suffering conditions which are difficult to control using current medicines is understandable, but fraught with danger.
“We need to understand the long-term side effects.
“The use of medicinal cannabis needs to be done in controlled circumstances, in specific situations by medical practitioners who are experienced.”