A Redding woman has sued a medical marijuana doctor alleging she allowed a Record Searchlight reporter to surreptitiously interview and videotape her during a consultation in which she sought a recommendation for the drug.
The allegations are denied by both the newspaper, which wasn't sued, and the doctor's attorney.
In a lawsuit filed late last month in Shasta County Superior Court, Tawnya McKee alleges that on Sept. 11, 2009, she went in to Dr. Cristal Speller's Natural Care for Wellness clinic in the Market Street Promenade.
While she was there, a Record Searchlight reporter videotaped the then 32-year-old woman in a consultation with Speller that ended with Speller giving her a recommendation for medical marijuana.
The suit, which doesn't name the Record Searchlight as a defendant, alleges the conversation was recorded in a surreptitious manner, in what amounted to eavesdropping.
"(McKee) didn't intend that her consultation with (Speller) be made public," her Redding attorney, David Edwards, alleges in the suit.
As a result, McKee was denied a job, Edwards said.
He declined to say more, saying the complaint spoke for itself. He also declined to say why the Record Searchlight wasn't sued.
The suit seeks at least $25,000 damages due to professional negligence, violation of privacy, federal patient privacy and California wiretapping laws.
David Benda, the Record Searchlight reporter who interviewed McKee and videotaped the consultation, said he made it very clear that he was a reporter working on a story.
He said he had asked McKee for permission to sit in on her 10-minute consultation with Speller, a Glendale-based physician who holds clinics in Redding, Chico, Santa Barbara, Palmdale and Northridge.
Benda embedded the video from the consultation in a story posted on Redding.com about the proliferation of medical marijuana-related businesses springing up in Redding. In it, McKee tells Spelling about her medical history.
In an interview not included in the taping, McKee told Benda that she has smoked marijuana medicinally for about 13 years and that she had visited Speller to "become legal."
She told Benda she can't tolerate pain medications like Vicodin, so marijuana helps her cope with the effects of endometriosis, a painful condition in which the tissue that normally lines the uterus grows in other areas of the body.
"I don't have to hide anymore," McKee said after she received the doctor's recommendation.
Speller's Los Angeles attorney, Tracy Green, said that it was clear during the consultation that Benda was a reporter and that McKee had given him verbal permission to sit in on the consultation.
She said McKee is just looking for a cash payout.
"She (Spelling) heard Ms. McKee agree to be interviewed, and she (McKee) was aware that a reporter and photographer were there," Green said. "This wasn't someone accidentally overhearing a conversation; this was explicit consent. This is as if Ms. McKee wants someone to be her baby sitter."
Green said that though McKee gave verbal consent to be interviewed, most of the patients who agree to have their information disclosed to outsiders are first asked to sign a patient-privacy release form.
"I think it looks like maybe something had fallen through the cracks," Green said.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Record-Searchlight
Author: Ryan Sabalow
Copyright: 2010 Record-Searchlight
The allegations are denied by both the newspaper, which wasn't sued, and the doctor's attorney.
In a lawsuit filed late last month in Shasta County Superior Court, Tawnya McKee alleges that on Sept. 11, 2009, she went in to Dr. Cristal Speller's Natural Care for Wellness clinic in the Market Street Promenade.
While she was there, a Record Searchlight reporter videotaped the then 32-year-old woman in a consultation with Speller that ended with Speller giving her a recommendation for medical marijuana.
The suit, which doesn't name the Record Searchlight as a defendant, alleges the conversation was recorded in a surreptitious manner, in what amounted to eavesdropping.
"(McKee) didn't intend that her consultation with (Speller) be made public," her Redding attorney, David Edwards, alleges in the suit.
As a result, McKee was denied a job, Edwards said.
He declined to say more, saying the complaint spoke for itself. He also declined to say why the Record Searchlight wasn't sued.
The suit seeks at least $25,000 damages due to professional negligence, violation of privacy, federal patient privacy and California wiretapping laws.
David Benda, the Record Searchlight reporter who interviewed McKee and videotaped the consultation, said he made it very clear that he was a reporter working on a story.
He said he had asked McKee for permission to sit in on her 10-minute consultation with Speller, a Glendale-based physician who holds clinics in Redding, Chico, Santa Barbara, Palmdale and Northridge.
Benda embedded the video from the consultation in a story posted on Redding.com about the proliferation of medical marijuana-related businesses springing up in Redding. In it, McKee tells Spelling about her medical history.
In an interview not included in the taping, McKee told Benda that she has smoked marijuana medicinally for about 13 years and that she had visited Speller to "become legal."
She told Benda she can't tolerate pain medications like Vicodin, so marijuana helps her cope with the effects of endometriosis, a painful condition in which the tissue that normally lines the uterus grows in other areas of the body.
"I don't have to hide anymore," McKee said after she received the doctor's recommendation.
Speller's Los Angeles attorney, Tracy Green, said that it was clear during the consultation that Benda was a reporter and that McKee had given him verbal permission to sit in on the consultation.
She said McKee is just looking for a cash payout.
"She (Spelling) heard Ms. McKee agree to be interviewed, and she (McKee) was aware that a reporter and photographer were there," Green said. "This wasn't someone accidentally overhearing a conversation; this was explicit consent. This is as if Ms. McKee wants someone to be her baby sitter."
Green said that though McKee gave verbal consent to be interviewed, most of the patients who agree to have their information disclosed to outsiders are first asked to sign a patient-privacy release form.
"I think it looks like maybe something had fallen through the cracks," Green said.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Record-Searchlight
Author: Ryan Sabalow
Copyright: 2010 Record-Searchlight
