title: Do cheap internet drugs threaten the safety of the doctor-patient relationship?
abstract: During traditional office visits, trusted physicians give their patients careful and leisurely diagnostic attention, communicate sound and understandable clinical impressions and, more often than not, write prescriptions that can be filled at convenient neighborhood pharmacies. Or do they? In reality, harried doctors rush through appointments, leaving patients confused about prescriptions they cannot afford, either because their insurance plans do not cover the recommended medication or because they lack the cash to pay out of pocket for obscenely priced products. Internet pharmaceutical acquisition offers a cheap alternative. Or does it?
authors.affiliation: Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. bostwick.john@mayo.edu
authors.forename: John Michael
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bostwick
authors.forename: Timothy W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Lineberry
mesh_terms: D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000191:economics* / Q000592:standards; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000191:economics*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012449:Safety / Q000191:economics* / Q000592:standards
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations