Without clear answers, hospitals, doctors, and patients are left to their own devices, which can result in poor treatment and needless suffering.
Hospitals and other medical facilities have to decide what to do with newly hospitalized patients who normally take medical marijuana at home.
Some have a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach, said Dr. Devinsky, who sometimes advises his patients to use it. Others ban its use and substitute opioids or other prescriptions.
Young adults, for instance, have had to stop taking cannabidiol compounds for their epilepsy because they’re in federally funded group homes, said Dr. Devinsky, the director of New York University’s Langone Comprehensive Epilepsy Center.
“These kids end up getting seizures again,” he said. “This whole situation has created a hodgepodge of insanity.”