Local pain specialist cleared on three of five transgressions

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on December 1, 2022.

https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews

A local doctor has been cleared of the most serious accusations in a professional hearing that he improperly prescribed cannabis for pain management in 2017, but will have his prescriptions monitored for one year and pay minor costs of the hearing.

Dr. Gaylord Wardell will be required to cover one-fifth the cost, amounting to about $13,000, of proceedings held by the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons last spring.

They examined whether the Medicine Hat pain management specialist improperly practised telemedicine during online video conference sessions, ignored more convention therapy or reverted paperwork to referring physicians.

A decision published Monday states the penalties for only two of five alleged transgressions were proven. Penalties were determined at an Oct. 13 hearing and published on Nov. 28.

They found the contraventions “while serious, were not egregious” that Wardell failed to provide followup care within three months and failed to cross reference cannabinoids against other drugs patients were taking to determine potentially adverse effects.

Unproved were allegations he failed to consider specific patients’ medical history, communicate with referring doctors and failed to meet telemedicine standards.

Counsel for Wardell argued in the submission that the use of cannabis is a rapidly evolving sector of medical treatment with regulations updated often, making full compliance difficult. Since 2017 there has been an 85 per cent reduction in requests to his office regarding licences to grow own-use cannabis.

They submitted that Wardell was fully co-operative with investigators and felt the penalty was proportionate.