Doctors back Ohrenschall on treatment

Art Nadler

Thursday, Feb. 12, 1998 | 10:07 a.m.

Alleged medical treatment violations cited in a child neglect petition against Assemblywoman Genie Ohrenschall appear to contradict accepted medical industry procedures.

The Las Vegas Democrat is facing a March 2 trial date in Clark County Family Court for being unable to provide for the medical needs of her 16-year-old daughter Katie Ross.

Ross has experienced colon problems -- including bouts with severe pain, rectal bleeding and weight fluctuations -- since July 1995. Ohrenschall had sought recommended American Medical Association-endorsed drug treatments and later experimental homeopathy cures in an effort to avoid surgical removal of the teenager's colon.

But when Ross' colon perforated on Dec. 27 and she was told by a surgeon at Sunrise Hospital that her daughter's life was in danger, Ohrenschall approved the operation.

Prior to the operation, Sgt. Sandie Durgin of Metro's abuse and neglect detail, initiated a criminal investigation of Ohrenschall in response to an anonymous complaint.

It's alleged that Ohrenschall jeopardized her daughter's life by seeking homeopathy treatments for her ulcerative colitis instead of opting for the operation sooner.

However, colitis specialists say surgery should always be a last resort and only done under limited circumstances.

"Normally, you try to suppress the disease with medicine," said Dr. Anil Minocha of the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center in Oklahoma City. "Almost everybody with ulcerative colitis (UC) will bleed. Bleeding can be controlled the majority of the time with pills or an enema. Basically, you have to live with it."

Minocha said UC, an inflammation that starts in the rectum and spreads upward, and Crohn's Disease, which can start anywhere in the digestive tract, both regularly seem to subside and later reappear.

Surgery, he said, should only be done under four conditions:

* If the colon becomes cancerous.

* If severe hemorrhaging occurs.

* If the colon becomes perforated.

* If the colon becomes dilated, and the patient gets very sick.

The American College of Gastroenterology also recommends a treatment plan of medications to reduce or eliminate inflammation, a special diet or elemental formula diet and finally surgery if nothing else works.

Dr. Frank Nemec, the Nevada representative for the American College of Gastroenterology, also agrees that surgery should be a last resort.

"Surgery is considered a cure for colitis, but is not the first line of therapy -- particularly for a young person," Nemec said. "I would sympathize with someone who seeks homeopathy. For the most part, homeopathic drugs will not cause harm, but only delay more traditional therapy."

Nemec said medical therapy should include some form of nutritional support, medications, steroid treatment and use of immunosuppressive drugs.

Reno physician Dr. Michael Gerber, who practices both traditional medicine and homeopathy, said that after reviewing Ross' medical records, he saw that she had been treated with traditional drugs. Unhappy with the results, he said both Ohrenschall and Ross agreed to try homeopathy.

Though opponents of homeopathy question its validity, reports of its alleged successes have teamed orthodox research investigators with alternative medicine practitioners.

Congress mandated in the 1992 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Appropriations Bill that an Office of Alternative Medicine be created. The congressional order, for the first time in history, formed the OAM to "facilitate the evaluation of alternative medical treatment modalities" to determine their effectiveness.

"Some of these people (traditional doctors) Genie thought they knew what they were doing, and some she didn't," said her attorney Edward Marshall. "They were very pushy and said they wanted to do an operation right away. When they (at Sunrise Hospital) presented her with the facts of life -- this being life threatening -- Genie said to go ahead with the operation."

Durgin said she is prohibited by Nevada law from talking about Katie Ross.

The teenager was discharged from Sunrise Hospital this week and released into the guardianship of Dr. Fuller Royal, a Las Vegas homeopath.

Royal said Wednesday that Ross is doing well -- gaining weight, eating well and sleeping normally again.

Ohrenschall is temporarily prohibited from direct contact with her daughter. Her visits, lasting no longer than 90 minutes a day, must be supervised by someone from Child Protective Services.

Marshall said the district attorney won't pursue criminal charges against Ohrenschall.

Judge Fernando Guzman will rule on the civil petition unless it's dropped before the March 2 court date. The proceedings could decide whether Juvenile Court will be involved and place Ross back with her mother or with a ward of the court.