I'm appalled!

[brownrice]

Have any of you seen the drug websites that allow you to order all types of drugs without a prescription? They ask a couple disclaimer questions, like any kidney/liver disease, how long since you have seen a doctor, then ask for your credit card. For stuff like ativan, ultram, etc., etc. How can this be legal? There are tons of these sites. If this is possible, I'm surprised self medication is not a bigger issue. The only think is, you have to pay for these drugs, as opposed to insurance plans paying for them after the pcp prescribes. Maybe this is what stops a lot of people--they want it free through their insurance?

[EricJRN, MSN, RN]

Here in TX they've disciplined a few doctors participating in these things, under the rule that you can't prescribe meds without establishing a doctor-patient relationship, doing a physical exam, etc.

Amazing that these companies can stay afloat, isn't it?

[Papadoc]

Yeap, it's there. But many of these sites are not registered or operated from the U.S.A. That's why they are not subject to the State and Federal law. Many are just pure scham. They'll take your credit card,but you don't know what you're getting, and/or you're getting anything at all.

Sad but true.

[texas-rn-fnp]

These websites have been around for quite some time. Although they are s ounethical, many states do not have laws that address the situation so they are not illegal. If there are laws in Texas that say it is illegal than they will operate out of another location.

I used to be a pharmacy technician before I became a nurse. I know of a group of pharmacy staff that did a test of ordering various meds from vaious websites. They determined that generally the medication ordered from the websites to be legitimate (in that you really received the medication you ordered) and less expensive than paying 100% out of pocket from the local pharmacy.

The obvious problem is that the patient is not being evaluated by a trained, licensed professional, and no follow up. This is similar to the situation in Mexico. There anyone can go to the local pharmacy and purchase any medication, except pschotropics and narcotics. The attitude is that if you use a medication and have an untoward effect it is your own fault for taking it, because you should not have been.

So what does all this mean? Although the internet websites are questionable in nature and not ideal, they may be an alternative for many people that do not have insurance and must pay for all expenses out of pocket. Obviously, there is a risk involved, because of possible lack of supervision over these websites, let the buyer beware.

The whole medication problem is at debate. Is healthcare a right or a privelage? We have seniors taking the drug bus to Canada to buy their prescriptions because they can't afford to buy them in the States. That is sad. We need to look at how our system of health care is operated. The over 45 million people in the US that don't have adequate health insurance is sad. We can spend over a half a trillion dollars to save people that want us dead, but we can't take care of our seniors or our retired people. Obviously something is wrong. I don't have the solution, but I can recognize that there is a problem.

[gauge14iv, MSN, APRN, NP]

Many of these websites - although you can't tell if they are well done - operate out of india or china or some other country - that's how they get away with it. If the mail gets caught coming into the country - then there is trouble - but I'm betting much of the time, it's never caught.