Can a Doctor Write a Prescription for Family

As a doctor, it is inevitable that a friend or family unit member will ask you for a prescription. They see yous every bit a convenient resource.

A junior physician called Avant'southward Physician-legal Advice Service (MLAS) for advice wondering if she could prescribe a contraceptive pill for a friend who needed a new script and couldn't get in to see her normal GP.

These requests usually occur in situations outside the typical consultation. You may exist asked for repeat prescriptions, or for new medications.

Every prescription you write comes with clinical, ethical, and legal responsibilities. Specific medications, like drugs of dependence, carry important additional legal responsibilities. For more than information, read our factsheet 'Prescribing drugs of dependence'.

What does the code of conduct say?

Doctors accept a duty to act in accord with professional person standards. The Medical Board's Good medical exercise: a code of conduct for doctors in Commonwealth of australia (the Code) outlines the conduct expected from doctors. The Lawmaking assists the Medical Board'due south part of protecting the public. A doctor will be expected to explain and justify their conduct should they deviate significantly from that standard.

The Code states:

"Whenever possible, avoid providing medical care to anyone with whom you have a close personal human relationship. In near cases, providing care to shut friends, those you piece of work with and family members is inappropriate because of the lack of objectivity, possible discontinuity of care, and risks to the patient and doctor."

"In some cases, providing care to those shut to you is unavoidable, for example in an emergency. Whenever this is the instance, adept medical practise requires recognition and careful management of these bug."

The Code also requires you to assess your patients, and to maintain adequate records.

Critical factors to consider

While prescribing for friends and family is not strictly prohibited, doctors should judge each situation on its ain merits. If yous are asked to prescribe a medication that they are already taking, you should consider:

1. What are the effects, side-furnishings, indications, contraindications, and drug interactions with this medication?
2. Practice you need to have a total medical history?
3. Is at that place potential for damage?
4. Should you only prescribe a minimal corporeality until the patient can see their usual dr.?
5. Should you lot communicate this prescription to the usual physician?
6. What dr.-legal risks are posed?
7. With reference to the Lawmaking, how would y'all be judged in this situation?

Requests for new medications

Requests for a new medication from a family unit fellow member or friend raise boosted complex issues. Your duty of care is arguably greater, extra care is required, and you need to ask yourself:

• Would you exist inbound into or encouraging a long-term doctor-patient relationship?
• Would yous exist interfering with an existing doctor-patient human relationship?
• Would a reasonable standard of care dictate that you take a full history, perform an examination, and gild any tests or investigations?
• Can yous really brand an objective clinical judgment on the person who asked you for the prescription or are yous too close to them?
• How would yous exist judged in relation to the Code?

There is no right or wrong answer. However, if a family unit member or friend asks you to prescribe a medication the beneath advice can help you to make the appropriate decision:

• Whenever you write a prescription, you are inbound into dr.-patient human relationship.
• Unless the risk of harm of not writing the prescription outweighs the take a chance of harm of writing it, you should avoid doing so.
• Ready an explanation every bit to why yous tin't assist. For example: "I would love to assist, simply the Medical Lath doesn't permit prescriptions to exist written for friends and family. Perhaps I tin can help you get an appointment to see some other doc".
• Exercise not enter a continuing doctor-patient relationship with a family member or friend. This also applies to anyone with whom you have a business or working human relationship.
• Go on an appropriate tape of whatever prescription you lot write, including the circumstances surrounding the request.
• Never prescribe Schedule 8 and other drugs of dependence (such equally benzodiazepines).
• Consider whether it may be prudent to consult the family member or friend in your practise, so that you tin take a full history and perform an advisable examination with a well-defined dr.-patient purlieus.

Information technology is never piece of cake to say "no" to friends and family. However, you need to think that if something goes wrong, in addition to adversely affecting your relationship with your family or friend, you may exist asked to justify your conclusion to the Medical Board, court or tribunal.

You might also exist interested in…

• Factsheet - Prescribing drugs of dependence
• Article - GP retires afterward inappropriate prescribing
• Factsheet - Opioid prescribing-related claims

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Source: https://www.avant.org.au/news/prescribing-requests-from-family-and-friends/

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