Doctor loses license after suggesting weed cookies to control kid’s tantrums – By Tamar Lapin (New York Post) / Jan 28 2019
A holistic Hollywood doctor’s medical license went up in smoke after suggesting that a 4-year-old boy consume weed cookies to control his temper tantrums, according to a report.
Dr. William Eidelman, a natural medicine physician who misdiagnosed the boy with attention deficit hyperactivity and bipolar disorders, recommended marijuana as treatment, the California medical board said.
“Tantrums alone … do not support either diagnosis,” the board’s decision said, according to The Los Angeles Times. “‘Being agitated’ and ‘having trouble sitting still’ hint at ADHD, but could simply hint at a preschooler not happy to have driven many miles to a doctor’s appointment.”
The board said Eidelman, 69, was “grossly negligent” for diagnosing the kid without consulting a psychiatrist — but not for prescribing the weed.
“It has not been established, by clear and convincing evidence, that the recommendation of medical marijuana to [the boy], with his father’s consent, violated the standard of care,” the decision reads.
The board still found the recommendation of marijuana as treatment improper — since the boy actually didn’t have the conditions with which he was diagnosed.
The doc’s license was pulled Jan. 4 — but he says it’s still active and he continues to practice, the newspaper reported.
His lawyer Tracy Green said they’ve appealed the board’s decision, and that a San Francisco County Superior Court judge ordered the revocation be halted until a hearing in March.
The medical board said they haven’t heard anything about a court order and maintain his licence is revoked. Practicing medicine without a license is punishable with up to a year of jail under California law.
