By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon

© Solutions

The first Colorado doctor to face the loss of his medical license for improperly authorizing medical marijuana is accused of giving a medical marijuana recommendation to a 20-year-old pregnant woman without ever having examined her or asking why she needed marijuana, according to documents obtained by Solutions.

Dr. Manuel De Jesus Aquino of Denver is accused of authorizing medical marijuana for the unnamed woman in January. According to the complaint filed this month by the Colorado Attorney General’s office on behalf of the Colorado Medical Board,  Aquino never took a medical history from the woman, assessed her vital signs, asked her if she was pregnant,  or followed up on her care.

The woman was 28 weeks pregnant when Aquino saw her on Jan. 20. She gave birth to her baby on April 8 and tested positive for a marijuana screen. The baby was drug exposed and had some initial feeding difficulties. The complaint says Aquino never viewed her prior medical records and did not discuss the risks of medical marijuana use.

“Pregnancy is a contraindication for the use of medical marijuana,’’ the complaint states. “(Aquino) did not ask Patient A if she was pregnant….As part of his assessment of Patient A for medical marijuana, (Aquino) did not perform a physical examination.”

The complaint goes on to say that the doctor never had a “bona fide physician-patient relationship” with the woman.

Solutions was unable to reach Aquino for comment.

He is the same doctor who was arrested in July during a sting operation by the Aurora Police Department.

His lawyer before the Medical Board, Sheila H. Meer, declined to discuss the details of the case.

“He’s got 30 days. At that point, we will respond. It would be premature to talk about it until then,’’ Meer said.

The case is the first substandard care case that the Colorado Board has filed related to medical marijuana.

Aquino, was arrested during an Aurora Police Department sting operation in July. In that case, Aurora police named him as Manuel D. Aquino-Villaman, according to Aurora police Sgt. Cassidee Carlson.

During the 5-month sting operation, two Aurora police officers went to Aquino’s office on 3033 S. South Parker Road in Aurora. He spent a couple of minutes with each officer and gave them marijuana recommendations for “pain” without ever physically examining them or obtaining any evidence that they were ill. Both officers used hidden microphones and each paid $125 for their consultation.

Dr. Manuel De Jesus Aquino, also known as Dr. Manuel D. Aquino-Villaman, 70, faces the loss of his medical license along with criminal charges in Arapahoe County.

The Arapahoe County District Attorney’s office has charged Aquino with attempting to influence a public servant (the state’s medical marijuana registray) and with forgery, a felony.

Officials in the Arapahoe County Clerk’s office say the case is pending with the next hearing set for February 7. Aquino waived his right to a preliminary hearing. He is free on $6,000 bond.

Aquino’s lawyer in the criminal case, Robert Corry, told the Aurora Sentinel that Aquino is taking the charges seriously and has never been in trouble with the law.

“This is really a full-frontal attack on every single doctor in Colorado who advises patients to use medical marijuana,” Corry told the Sentinel. “Every single doctor in the state of Colorado should be taking notice of this, which is probably their intent, to scare doctors away from this medical specialty and intimidate them and thus decrease patient access to medical marijuana.”

“The officers went in and said they were suffering from medical conditions, asked for a medical marijuana recommendation and Dr. Aquino, who denies people who ask for these on a regular basis, believed what these officers were telling him, which was his only mistake,” Corry said.

The woman saw Dr. Aquino at Back to the Garden Health and Wellness Center in Denver. The owner says Aquino wasn't an employee.

The woman in the January Denver case sought a medical marijuana card at Back to the Garden Health and Wellness Center in Denver.

The owner of the center, Kurt Caven said Aquino was one of many doctors who would come to his facility and give out medical marijuana recommendations.

“He never did work for me or my facility,’’ Caven said. “He was just one of quite a few that people could go to to get a recommendation. Now people have to go find a doctor that’s doing medical marijuana recommendations and you go to their office to go through the whole process. There are quite a few of them.

“I don’t know what he was doing or not doing,’’ Caven said. He declined to say whether he suggests that pregnant women use marijuana.  “I’m not sure what he did wrong. I don’t have a feeling about it one way or the other.”

The company’s website says that “our patient’s needs are of the utmost importance. Our team is committed to meeting those needs. As a result, a high percentage of our business is from repeat patients and referrals. We would welcome the opportunity to earn your trust and deliver you the best service and medication in the industry.”

The Colorado Medical Board first reviewed Dr. Aquino’s case on Nov. 17 when the board voted to summarily suspend his license. The board then met in an emergency session on December 9 and upheld the suspension. The Attorney General’s Office filed a notice of complaint that the board is seeking to revoke Aquino’s license on Dec. 17.

“They want to get this resolved as soon as possible because of consumer protection,’’ said Chris Lines, public information officer for the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies. “(Aquino) will not be practicing until this is resolved. And (if the case against him is proven) he will not be practicing at all.”

The Medical Board does not specifically oversee medical marijuana facilities or doctors who work in them. Rather, the board steps in when a doctor is accused of providing substandard care.

The complaint against Aquino alleges that he “engaged in unprofessional conduct” and that the board will determine whether his license will be revoked.

Aquino first was licensed to practice medicine in Colorado on Feb. 14, 2007.

Doctors in Colorado may not write prescriptions per se for medical marijuana.

“In the eyes of the law, medical marijuana is still an illegal drug. When they write them a card, it says nothing about prescriptions,’’ Lines said.

Health insurance companies that want to increase the cost of their premiums by 10 percent or higher will now have to justify those proposed rate hikes, the Obama administration announced today.

See the ABC News coverage.

Map shows children in low physician regions by percent

The Kansas City Star reports that “there are enough children’s doctors in the United States; they just work in the wrong places, according to a new study. Some wealthy areas are oversaturated with pediatricians and family doctors. Other parts of the nation have few or none.

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Since its inception one year ago, the Colorado Medication Take-Back Pilot Project has collected and incinerated more than 7,000 pounds of medications that otherwise would have been disposed of in the trash, flushed down the drain or simply left in the home presenting a danger of accidental poisoning or misuse.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and a consortium of concerned organizations launched the Colorado Medication Take-Back Pilot Project in December 2009. The project offers the public a secure and environmentally responsible way to dispose of unwanted household medications.

The holiday season, with its rush of visitors, is a sensible time to make your home a safer place. Unsecured medicine cabinets can be an attractive temptation to small children who don’t understand the dangers, or for others looking for easy access to drugs.

With the recent addition of a drop box in Castle Rock, the Medication Take-Back Pilot Project now offers 11 locations for the disposal of unwanted medications. The boxes are intended for household medications, including prescription drugs and over-the-counter products, but cannot accept narcotics; controlled substances; or medications from clinics, hospitals or nursing homes. A guidebook attached to each collection box explains which products can be deposited. Boxes are available at the following locations:

Aurora                   King Soopers, 4271 S. Buckley Rd.

Boulder                 King Soopers, 1650 30th St.

Breckenridge         City Market, 400 N. Pkwy.

Castle Rock           King Soopers, 100 Founders Pkwy.

Commerce City     County Health Department, Suite D, 4201 E. 72nd Ave.

Denver                  King Soopers, 2810 Quebec St.

Denver Health, Wellington Webb Center for Primary Care, 301 W. 6th Ave.

Dillon                    City Market, 300 Dillon Ridge Rd.

Englewood            County Health Department, 4857 S. Broadway

Highlands Ranch   King Soopers, 9551 S. University Blvd.

Wheat Ridge          King Soopers, 3400 Youngfield St.

If you don’t have access to one of the locations, Greg Fabisiak, environmental integration coordinator for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, offers the following advice: “Don’t flush unwanted medications. Contact your local city or county government to see if a collection event is planned for your community. If not, mix unwanted medications with kitty litter or coffee grounds to make the medicine unusable and place it in your household trash on the day of collection. Also, for security reasons, blot out or remove your personal information from containers prior to disposal.”

The project is made possible by funding and other support from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the Pollution Prevention Advisory Board, King Soopers-City Market, Tri-County Health Department, Denver Health, EPA Region 8, Denver Water, Summit Water Quality Committee, Aurora Water, High Country Conservation Center, Greenprint Denver, Town of Castle Rock, Peer Assistance Services, Southeast Metro Stormwater Authority, Metro Wastewater Reclamation District, Colorado Pharmacists Society, Rotary of Evergreen and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

For more information about the pilot project, visit www.coloradomedtakeback.info.

The School of Medicine at the University of Colorado Denver is among several institutions that have launched investigations into possible conflicts of interest by physicians compensated for lectures by pharmaceutical companies.

The Colorado Center for Law & Policy has released an issue brief on the Virginia court ruling that declared the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional.

The Center believes that the ruling is counter to legal precedent and will not be the final word. The center outlines other court decisions and expects significant judicial review.

Most experts agree that the case will go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Click here to read the issue brief.

Check out PolitiFact’s Lie of the Year contest. The site’s editors gave their dubious honor to the falsehood that the Affordable Care Act will lead to the government takeover of health care, when in fact, the law requires people to buy private health insurance.

At a pivotal hearing in Florida on Thursday, a federal judge hinted that he will rule against the constitutionality of the health law. Read the New York Times story. If Judge Roger Vinson rules against the law, he will be the second federal judge to strike down the Affordable Care Act.

The U.S.-raised animals we eat consumed about 29 million pounds of antibiotics in the last year alone, according to a first-ever Food and Drug Administration accounting of antimicrobial drug use by the American livestock industry, according to a story in the Los Angeles Times.

Marijuana use is on the rise among teens. The Los Angeles Times reports that “after nearly a decade in decline, marijuana is making a strong comeback among high school students, with growing use and softening attitudes about the risk of smoking pot starting in eighth grade. For the first time since 1981, high school seniors reported they had smoked marijuana in the last 30 days outnumbered those who said they smoked cigarettes.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse on Tuesday issued its 2010 “Monitoring the Future survey–a yearly look at kids’ drug and tobacco use patterns and attitudes.

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