A recently published Mayo Clinic study compared the safety of ordering prescription medications online versus the traditional physician consultation method. An analysis of most safety variables revealed that the safety of online pharmacies outperformed that of the traditional physical presence consultation method. Specifically, the study found that:
- Product Information was provided to online patients 100% of the time;
- 75% of the online patients even received customized documentation; and
- Only 45% of the traditional consulation patients received written infromation.
The study concludes:
A state-regulated e-medicine system was shown to be similar to a traditional multidisciplinary primary care system for all safety end points in prescribing PDE-5 inhibitors. The e-medicine system outperformed the traditional system in most of the safety variables tested. Additional studies of e-medicine vs traditional medicine systems are needed to confirm our results.
Clearly this is a limited study. It only analyzed 500 patients being treated for erectile-dysfunction (ED). While the results might be statistically significant for ED, they might not be for pain or anxiety. Nonetheless, the study does highlight one interesting result which I believe to be true for many internet pharmacies. Many, as a matter of policy, provide patients will quality information about the drugs prescribed and, with regards to the pharmacies affiliated with online consultation internet pharmacy websites, usually fill prescriptions written after a doctor’s thorough review of a patient’s medical history and verified proof of chronic illness. Simply put, the thorough measures taken by many OCS websites do not resemble the sketchy no record pharmacies of the past. Of course, this is not to say all OCSs are clean, legitimate enterprises, but an generalized indictment on all of them is undoubtedly refutable.
The content on this post does not constitute legal advice and is for informational purposes only. You should not act upon the information presented on this website without seeking the advice of legal counsel. Should you wish to speak to an experienced criminal defense attorney knowledgeable in internet pharmacy, prescription, and drug law, please feel free to contact me directly.
Category: Doctors Online Consultations Pharmacies Studies Website Owners
