Peer Reviewed
Medicine and the Law
Doctors’ duties in prescribing on the internet
Abstract
The internet provides a way for patients to obtain drugs without their GP knowing. But what are the e-doctors’ duties in prescribing for patients with whom they have no real-space contact – they cannot even see their patients, let alone physically examine them?
Key Points
- taking no steps to examine patients or to ensure that information provided by them was truthful and correct
- failing to inform the patients’ GPs about the drugs prescribed
- failing to provide appropriate monitoring or follow up care
- failing to act in the patients’ best interests.
An English doctor is currently being investigated by the General Medical Council (GMC) for ‘supplying prescriptions for anti-impotence and slimming drugs via an internet website’. According to the press report, the doctor was accused of:
The case has apparently been adjourned ‘while the doctor’s mental health is being assessed’ to determine whether he is fit to continue practising.
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