Kansas police raid hospital room of terminally ill patient

[CatWoman]

HAYS, Kan. (KSNF/KODE) — A terminally-ill Kansas man’s hospital room was raided by co7ps because he used a weed vape and THC paste to ease the symptoms of the cancer that will kill him within weeks.

On December 16th, Hays, Kansas police raided the hospital room of 69-year-old Greg Bretz, who is suffering from terminal cancer, after a hospital worker at Hays Medical Center caught him vaping marijuana. Bretz said he has been vaping, as well as eating THC paste with bread, to relieve symptoms of his condition, since being hospitalized roughly three weeks ago. 

Bretz is in the final stages of terminal, inoperable cancer and told The Wichita Eagle that he most often lies ‘flat on his back’ in his hospital bed and can’t stand up without being assisted. Bretz told the Kansas City Star that his doctor told him to use whatever was necessary to relieve his pain, including products containing THC — the active ingredient in cannabis.

Bretz was cited for drug possession and is set to appear in court after the new year on January 2nd, 2023.

https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/national-news/kansas-police-raid-hospital-room-of-terminally-ill-patient/amp/

[niyad]

1. May all involved receive everything they deserve.

[Zambero]

2. The highest law enforcement priority in Kansas at that very moment

Forget about any unsolved murders and let's go dredge up some low-hanging victimless "evidence". Oh. look!! Grab that dying man's slice of bread!

[Arkansas Granny]

3. Unbelievable. I suppose they'll issue an arrest warrant if he doesn't appear in court.

[MuseRider]

4. JFC!

My state. The state you had to put your drinks away when you FLEW over it. Yes, yes, yes we know.

Home of Vern Miller, it has never really gotten over those days. The R's have been trying as hard as they can to get that kind of power back so....the "evil weed" (yes, our legislators call it that) cannot be considered.

We will see. There is a push for legalized Medical Marijuana but even that has been hard. They are growing it here, or at least planning to be growing it so it is all very confusing. I guess our wonderful, mostly male, R legislators are still getting hard over "busting hippies". We know the cops are.

We will see, there are always some conflicting voices and it is all very confusing but any state whose leaders are so damned dumb and prehistoric as to call it "evil weed" in their recorded speeches are going to hold us back as long as possible.

How fucking dare they do this to a terminal patient. What do they think the guy is going to do? Set up a sales gig in his hospital room? Fucking assholes.

[Permanut]

5. They "caught him"..

Sure. Confirmation again that there is no limit to human cruelty.

[MuseRider]

7. It was a high speed

chase but they got 'em. Now they will lock him up for the rest of his life.

Now those 2 things could be funny but they really are not at all. I would like to ask what these fuckers were thinking but apparently they lack those skills along with compassion and understanding.

We remand you back to your hospital bed to die in pain. Now that is understandable to them apparently.

[BadgerKid]

6. Charge was dismissed, apparently.

https://www.ksnt.com/news/kansas/police-raid-hospital-room-of-terminally-ill-kansas-patient/

The hospital confiscated those products before turning them over to the police. Although Greg was not arrested, he was issued a ticket.

“The officer, as he was leaving the building, he didn’t feel comfortable writing the ticket,” Chief Scheibler said. “That day, the officer sent an email to the city prosecutor requesting that the charge be dismissed.”

Due to the holidays, that charge was dismissed on Tuesday, eight days after the initial incident. However, Lee says it’s just not enough.

Posted: Dec 27, 2022 / 10:41 PM CST
Updated: Dec 27, 2022 / 10:41 PM CST

[Hekate]

13. Sounds like the actual officer had more brains, common sense, & compassion than we knew ...

Thank gods for that mercy.

I hope the employee who so self-righteously reported the pain medication of a dying man gets their ass kicked righteously to the curb.

[GPV]

14. Thanks for the follow-up

[Bev54]

8. The stupidity is astounding on so many levels.

[lees1975]

9. Wasn't the crime rate one of the big gripes and issues during the midterms?

Can't be too bad if police have time and resources to do this.

[Chainfire]

10. I find that the lack of judgement of some people involved in law enforcement to be amazing.

That sounded as if the cops and DA got together and planned what the could do to do the most damage to their credibility. What could they do to make them look like the damn Gestapo. That was an incredibly stupid move and heads should roll.

[hack89]

11. Here is a more accurate account - the cops pulled the ticket the same day

Hays Police Department Chief Don Scheibler said while officers did cite an individual being treated at HaysMed on suspicion of drug possession on Dec. 19, a request to pull the ticket was made the same day. The opinion piece was not published until five days later on Dec 24.

“The hospital staff had reported they discovered a patient who was vaping with an electronic device with a controlled substance in the vape machine, and they were concerned,” Scheibler said.

He said the staff was concerned about the fire risk caused by using a vaping device and the effects of its use on the staff, so they called the police department. Two–not three as reported–HPD officers responded to the call, Scheibler said. “The staff already had the items,” Scheibler said. “So, they collected the items from the staff.”

https://hayspost.com/posts/106f7794-8246-4577-a9b4-e45b9d7dac96

[EarthFirst]

15. If I'm reading this correctly...

…hospital staff took it upon themselves to search a patients’ personal belongings in an effort to turn them over to law enforcement rather than having LEO’s handle the situation?

[hack89]

16. Or they saw him vaping and confiscated it?

The guy couldn’t get out of bed so you have to believe the paraphernalia in question was not hidden or stored with his personal effects.

[nuxvomica]

12. When my dad was dying, I smuggled "brownies" into his hospital room

This was back when it was still illegal in New York State. He had lost a lot of weight and wasn't eating so I made a few calls and was able to secure the right amount in only an hour, much to my surprise. I read on the internet how to make "green butter" with a double boiler and used it with a brownie mix and ran them up to his hospital room as soon as they cooled. I was careful to be upfront about all this with his doctor and the nurses and they're reaction was always "I have no medical issue with what you are suggesting but if anyone asks, you have told me nothing about this." My dad started eating again, even sharing Christmas dinner with us before passing a week later. To this day, I am thankful for the compassion shown by the dealer and the hospital staff. Somebody at that Hays Medical Center should be fired for simply demonstrating the lack of it. They are in the wrong line of work.

[hamsterjill]

17. So now the man can't have what he needs to help?

Good grief. We ARE all high and mighty as a society, aren’t we?

This is absolutely disgusting, not to mention heart wrenching, that someone dying can’t get pain relief.