Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
Lacey resident Linda Schroeck-Connors keeps passing out.
It has happened at the Ocean County Mall and ShopRiite, resulting in trips to the emergency room. She has lost consciousness many times at home, and has a service dog, Venus, to warn her when an attack is on the way.
"This week alone, I have had five seizures," said Schroeck-Connors in a recent email. "I'm home alone all day and it's a very scary thing."
Schroeck has epilepsy. And recently her doctor had a potential solution to her problem: medicinal marijuana. A bureaucratic snafu kept her from getting an identification card from the New Jersey Medicinal Marijuana Program until Press on Your Side got involved.
What was wrong? Her maiden name — Schroeck, which she uses in her real estate business — was on one of her documents needed to prove her identity. She was told that wasn't acceptable even though she sent in her marriage license, and had other supporting papers as well.
"I'm being denied a very expensive treatment that I have to pay for out of my own pocket to protect my name in the business world despite proving by a legal document, my marriage certificate and drivers license, that I am one in the same."
Here's what happened.
Life change
In the real estate business for 30 years, Schroeck-Connors owns Linda Schroeck Realty Group in Toms River. She worked at different real estate offices in Middlesex County until she moved to Ocean County in 1999 and opened her own real estate business.
Her life changed about two years ago. She started collapsing and passing out.
Doctors attributed it to complications from an earlier gastric bypass and low blood sugar. She was told to eat more. But the episodes continued. "They basically kept blaming my surgery," Schroeck-Connors said. "They were saying that I couldn't get enough food in, that my stomach was no longer communicating properly with my brain."
About two months ago, she passed out at her neurologist's office and was rushed to the hospital. Her doctor had her undergo an electroencephalogram, which checks electrical activity in the brain. The diagnosis was a shocker: epilepsy. She was having seizures.
She was prescribed some medication, but it made her "deathly sick," Schroeck-Connors said. Her doctor decided to try medical marijuana to help relieve her symptoms. An opponent of marijuana, Schroeck-Connors said she "left his office in tears."
But she decided to pursue it. "If this is the one chance I have to feel normal again and to get my life back under control, I will try it," she said. And she knew that she could bake medicinal marijuana in brownies and didn't have to smoke it.
Paperwork problems
Her doctor certified her condition and Schroeck-Connors submitted her paperwork to the medicinal marijuana program, which is under the state Department of Health and Senior Services. At first, she was denied because her driver's license had expired. (She doesn't drive anymore.) She renewed it and sent in all her supporting documents, including a bill from Jersey Central Power & Light.
But her JCP&L bill listed her maiden name, Linda Schroeck. Her other documents, including her driver's license and patient registration, were in the name of Linda Connors, her married name. She married in 2007. Schroeck-Connors said she continues to use Schroeck in her business life as it's how her real estate business is known. She uses Connors in her personal life.
She was denied her card. She submitted her marriage license, which showed she was the same person, but that didn't help. (She was unable to change the name on her utility bill because it's attached to her Social Security number, which is also in her maiden name.)
Her next step was to the Asbury Park Press and Press on Your Side. "I am 52 with a disability that is basically stopping my life and despite my doctor approving me, I am being denied," Schroeck-Connors said.
Press on Your Side contacted a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Senior Services and shared Schroeck-Connors' story and concerns. It didn't seem fair, we said. The spokeswoman said she would bring it to the program's attention.
Three hours later, Schroeck-Connors received an email saying her identification card would cost $200. She would be approved once she paid.
A spokeswoman would not comment on what happened, citing patient confidentiality.
What was the problem?
Schroeck-Connors said she spoke with the program's acting manager who told her the program is trying to make sure applicants are established residents. The addresses on all her documents were the same. The official told her the program is working to streamline the process to help people who are in similar situations, Schroeck-Connors recalled.
Press on Your Side is glad it's cleared up. Hopefully, it will make it easier for others who may find themselves in the same situation.
Schroeck-Connors has traveled to Compassionate Care Foundation, a dispensary in Egg Harbor, to start her treatments.
So far, it has been a success. Her epilepsy is "calming down" and she hasn't lost consciousness since she took her first dose. She bakes the medicinal marijuana in a brownie, which she eats two times a day, "I'm in complete shock. I keep waiting for the ball to drop, but I have been feeling good,'' Schroeck-Connors said Thursday.
"I woke up for the first time in two years with no headache. I had forgotten what that felt like," she said. "The best thing is my brain doesn't get fuzzy on it. Just my body feels the effects.
"I was never a supporter of this but I feel like I want to shout it from the roof tops to try if you have a qualifying condition," she said in an email. "I am amazed and feel like I'm on the road to getting some quality of life back."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Maiden Name Kept Woman From Medical Marijuana
Author: David P. Willis
Contact: 732-922-6000
Photo Credit: Peter Ackerman
Website: Asbury Park Press
It has happened at the Ocean County Mall and ShopRiite, resulting in trips to the emergency room. She has lost consciousness many times at home, and has a service dog, Venus, to warn her when an attack is on the way.
"This week alone, I have had five seizures," said Schroeck-Connors in a recent email. "I'm home alone all day and it's a very scary thing."
Schroeck has epilepsy. And recently her doctor had a potential solution to her problem: medicinal marijuana. A bureaucratic snafu kept her from getting an identification card from the New Jersey Medicinal Marijuana Program until Press on Your Side got involved.
What was wrong? Her maiden name — Schroeck, which she uses in her real estate business — was on one of her documents needed to prove her identity. She was told that wasn't acceptable even though she sent in her marriage license, and had other supporting papers as well.
"I'm being denied a very expensive treatment that I have to pay for out of my own pocket to protect my name in the business world despite proving by a legal document, my marriage certificate and drivers license, that I am one in the same."
Here's what happened.
Life change
In the real estate business for 30 years, Schroeck-Connors owns Linda Schroeck Realty Group in Toms River. She worked at different real estate offices in Middlesex County until she moved to Ocean County in 1999 and opened her own real estate business.
Her life changed about two years ago. She started collapsing and passing out.
Doctors attributed it to complications from an earlier gastric bypass and low blood sugar. She was told to eat more. But the episodes continued. "They basically kept blaming my surgery," Schroeck-Connors said. "They were saying that I couldn't get enough food in, that my stomach was no longer communicating properly with my brain."
About two months ago, she passed out at her neurologist's office and was rushed to the hospital. Her doctor had her undergo an electroencephalogram, which checks electrical activity in the brain. The diagnosis was a shocker: epilepsy. She was having seizures.
She was prescribed some medication, but it made her "deathly sick," Schroeck-Connors said. Her doctor decided to try medical marijuana to help relieve her symptoms. An opponent of marijuana, Schroeck-Connors said she "left his office in tears."
But she decided to pursue it. "If this is the one chance I have to feel normal again and to get my life back under control, I will try it," she said. And she knew that she could bake medicinal marijuana in brownies and didn't have to smoke it.
Paperwork problems
Her doctor certified her condition and Schroeck-Connors submitted her paperwork to the medicinal marijuana program, which is under the state Department of Health and Senior Services. At first, she was denied because her driver's license had expired. (She doesn't drive anymore.) She renewed it and sent in all her supporting documents, including a bill from Jersey Central Power & Light.
But her JCP&L bill listed her maiden name, Linda Schroeck. Her other documents, including her driver's license and patient registration, were in the name of Linda Connors, her married name. She married in 2007. Schroeck-Connors said she continues to use Schroeck in her business life as it's how her real estate business is known. She uses Connors in her personal life.
She was denied her card. She submitted her marriage license, which showed she was the same person, but that didn't help. (She was unable to change the name on her utility bill because it's attached to her Social Security number, which is also in her maiden name.)
Her next step was to the Asbury Park Press and Press on Your Side. "I am 52 with a disability that is basically stopping my life and despite my doctor approving me, I am being denied," Schroeck-Connors said.
Press on Your Side contacted a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Senior Services and shared Schroeck-Connors' story and concerns. It didn't seem fair, we said. The spokeswoman said she would bring it to the program's attention.
Three hours later, Schroeck-Connors received an email saying her identification card would cost $200. She would be approved once she paid.
A spokeswoman would not comment on what happened, citing patient confidentiality.
What was the problem?
Schroeck-Connors said she spoke with the program's acting manager who told her the program is trying to make sure applicants are established residents. The addresses on all her documents were the same. The official told her the program is working to streamline the process to help people who are in similar situations, Schroeck-Connors recalled.
Press on Your Side is glad it's cleared up. Hopefully, it will make it easier for others who may find themselves in the same situation.
Schroeck-Connors has traveled to Compassionate Care Foundation, a dispensary in Egg Harbor, to start her treatments.
So far, it has been a success. Her epilepsy is "calming down" and she hasn't lost consciousness since she took her first dose. She bakes the medicinal marijuana in a brownie, which she eats two times a day, "I'm in complete shock. I keep waiting for the ball to drop, but I have been feeling good,'' Schroeck-Connors said Thursday.
"I woke up for the first time in two years with no headache. I had forgotten what that felt like," she said. "The best thing is my brain doesn't get fuzzy on it. Just my body feels the effects.
"I was never a supporter of this but I feel like I want to shout it from the roof tops to try if you have a qualifying condition," she said in an email. "I am amazed and feel like I'm on the road to getting some quality of life back."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Maiden Name Kept Woman From Medical Marijuana
Author: David P. Willis
Contact: 732-922-6000
Photo Credit: Peter Ackerman
Website: Asbury Park Press