Word automation freezing

I hope I'm posting this in the appropriate forum. I have created an Access database. My database creates documents in Microsoft Word through automation. The documents have passwords to keep them secure. The system is designed so that the documents can only be opened from within the Access database since the password is complicated and not intended to be input manually. The documents also have writepasswords so that a document that has been designated as "final" (stored in the "status" field in the documents table) cannot be edited further.
When the user opens a document from within Access, if the "status" field corresponding to the document contains "final" then the program prompts the user to inform him that the document is final and can only be opened as read-only. If the user chooses "ok" then the program uses the Word "Open" method and provides the password but not the writepassword, thereby forcing the user to open the document as read-only.
The problem is that when the document is opened after prompting the user to inform them that it will be opened as read-only, the computer locks up (until I go into TaskManager to end the WinWord process that has been opened) but the exact same command sent without prompting the user, opens the document properly (the user gets prompted for the writepassword by MicrosoftWord but has the option of choosing to open the document as read-only). In fact, if I put any msgbox before the line that opens the document, Word freezes.

Here is the section of code the way I would like it to work:

If ctl.Column(2) = "final" Then
intResponse = MsgBox("This note has been finalized and cannot be edited!" & vbCr & "Open note as 'read only?'", vbDefaultButton1 + vbOKCancel, "Read Only!")
If intResponse = vbOK Then
WrdApp.Documents.Open strWrdFileName, Passworddocument:="password"
blah
blah

Here is the same code but with the Open method before the prompt, it opens fine (obviously, this defeats the purpose of the prompt and is being done for debugging purposes only):

WrdApp.Documents.Open strWrdFileName, Passworddocument:="password"
If ctl.Column(2) = "final" Then
intResponse = MsgBox("This note has been finalized and cannot be edited!" & vbCr & "Open note as 'read only?'", vbDefaultButton1 + vbOKCancel, "Read Only!")
If intResponse = vbOK Then
blah
blah

What's even more puzzling is that if I put the same open statement later in the program (in particular, I can put it in the "else" section of the "if" conditional that checks the "final" status of the document) it runs perfectly, even if there is a msgbox in front of it!

Thank you for any and all suggestions/help.

Sorry for the length of the question.

By the way, is there a way to open the Word document as read-only without prompting the user for the writepassword?

Thanks.