SOLANA BEACH, Calif. — The Medical Board of California has given a psychiatrist a public reprimand after he recommended the parents of a 14-year-old boy allow their teenager to use marijuana to “ease tensions” in his home.
Dr. Edward Siegel started seeing the boy in 2017 for ADHD. The teen had a history of substance abuse, anxiety and depression.
Siegel, a Solana Beach psychiatrist, gave the teen medications but didn’t document the possible adverse side effects of the controlled substances, the medical board’s reprimand says.
In 2018, he “engaged in alternative therapies” with the boy including “mini-hypnosis” and teaching piano.
The teen told Siegel he was vaping and smoking marijuana on multiple occasions and vaped in front of the doctor.
In 2019, the boy’s parents placed him in an intensive outpatient program for substance abuse. The same year he told the doctor he tried to kill himself two years prior.
Dr. Siegel did a home visit at the teen’s villa and noted he “helped (sic) some with massage,” according to the medical board.
During the visit, Dr. Siegel proposed to the teen’s parents “they allow him to vape marijuana in order to ease tensions in the household, and they should consider obtaining a prescription for appropriate medicinal THC.”
Siegel, who got his medical license in 1973, did not discuss the risks of cannabis use or the potential problems of taking marijuana along with controlled substances, the board’s reprimand said.
“It would alarm me because there are side effects, especially when they're mixed with these other drugs he was prescribed. You know, he's in school, so there could be a brain fog. He may not be able to learn as well,” said patient safety advocate Marion Hollingsworth, who read the medical board’s findings against the doctor.
Siegel declined an on-camera interview request but claimed in an email “the accusations were proven false and were thrown out.”
Medical Board spokesman Aaron Bone said that wasn’t an accurate reflection of the case. He said the disciplinary order against Siegel remains in effect and was adopted by the board in July.
“Known as a stipulated settlement, this is an order that Dr. Siegel agreed to which involved him waiving his right to contest the board’s charges against him,” Bone said in an email.
Siegel has been ordered to take courses in record keeping and prescribing practices in addition to receiving the public reprimand.
