NationStates Jolt Archive

I have been having doubts about the current prescription system after my dad has been sent to residential Rehab for antibiotics and decongestants. Basically what happed is my dad is a pharmacist (chemist in the UK) my younger half brother got sick and rather then take pay for a doctor he simply used his position as a pharmacist to buy the treatment he knew a doctor would prescribe. I know technically this is wrong, and the laws exist for good reason, but sending someone to Rehab and threatening their career, essentially for antibiotics is a bit silly in my book.

rehab?

you mean like a drug rehabilitation program? as if he was abusing antibiotics to get high on?

yes. Very weird system.

Antibiotics are one of the few drugs I think should need to be prescribed but rehab sounds overboard. Some fine would have sufficed.

yes I know but even then he was using it in a responsible manner and not over using it.

prescribing drugs is serious business and your father broke the rules

he knew the risks

my dad is a pharmacist (chemist in the UK) my younger half brother got sick and rather then take pay for a doctor he simply used his position as a pharmacist to buy the treatment he knew a doctor would prescribe.

you can really tell he is a chemist :D

prescribing drugs is serious business and your father broke the rules

he knew the risks



you can really tell he is a chemist :D

Yeah I guess chemist in the UK are the same way sometimes?

Can your dad get me some morphine? I mean, when he gets out of rehab?

Can your dad get me some morphine? I mean, when he gets out of rehab?

when I was little he would take me to his office and id help him work by counting pills and stuff. and I know that the morphine is locked up tight in a safe that informs higher ups every time it is opened. So I would say No. and I doubt he would do such a thing even if he could.

There is a reason why they require doctors to prescribe drugs. Most drugs, including antibiotics can be harmful or even fatal if given to someone with a misdiagnosed condition. Doctors go through 8 years of uni for a reason, and while I do not say that a pharmacist does not know their stuff, a pharmacist simply does not have the diagnostic training that a doctor does. All the obvious symptons may indicate a fairly standard condition, but doctors are trained to rule out the differentials.

There is a reason why they require doctors to prescribe drugs. Most drugs, including antibiotics can be harmful or even fatal if given to someone with a misdiagnosed condition. Doctors go through 8 years of uni for a reason, and while I do not say that a pharmacist does not know their stuff, a pharmacist simply does not have the diagnostic training that a doctor does. All the obvious symptons may indicate a fairly standard condition, but doctors are trained to rule out the differentials.

really so last time you had a running nose and a fever the doctor did tons of test on you ??? cause last time i did i went in told him my symptoms and got prescribed antibiotics.

While rehab is the inappropriate response, to simply prescribe a course of antibiotics all by himself, and bypassing a doctor, carries its own costs, especially given the results an overuse of antibiotics has had on the evolution of the illnesses they were designed to combat.

really so last time you had a running nose and a fever the doctor did tons of test on you ??? cause last time i did i went in told him my symptoms and got prescribed antibiotics.

I would hope the the doctor had access to your medical history though. For example, mine shows a severe allergy to penicillin, if your dad had given that to me in an attempt to be helpful then he'd have a death to explain.

Not to say that he's an idiot and doesn't know everything there is to know about your half-brother, just that these laws are in place for a reason.

Geez. A pharmacist is a medical professional. I think he'd have the brains to provide a simple antibiotic. A pharmacist knows as much as a physician when it comes to use, dose, side effects, etc. of standard medications. The actions of the government are absurd. It looks like authoritarian fascism to me.

really so last time you had a running nose and a fever the doctor did tons of test on you ??? cause last time i did i went in told him my symptoms and got prescribed antibiotics.
There is alot you can learn without doing tests. The doctor would have had a primary Dx of a flu, but in the Differential Diagnosis he would have had included many different conditions (list of causes of flu-like symptons: http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/symptoms/flu_like_symptoms/causes.htm). If he was a good doctor, he would have narrowed it down by doing basic history and physical examinations until he reached a single diagnosis.

So unless your father went through and eliminated every other possible disease (which of course, first required him to know the exact symptons of the diseases, plus how to test for them), he could have been potentially giving dangerous drugs to your half brother.

yes I know but even then he was using it in a responsible manner and not over using it.

Using antibiotics without a prescription is not using them "in a responsible manner" it's a good way to create super-viruses when you discover that "no I didn't have a sinus infection, just a cold".

Geez. A pharmacist is a medical professional. I think he'd have the brains to provide a simple antibiotic. A pharmacist knows as much as a physician when it comes to use, dose, side effects, etc. of standard medications. The actions of the government are absurd. It looks like authoritarian fascism to me.

He doesn't have the qualifications to diagnose illness though. Just because he knows the effects of the drug doesn't mean he knows which drug to prescribe based on the patients symptoms.

Geez. A pharmacist is a medical professional. I think he'd have the brains to provide a simple antibiotic.

I'd presume that a pharmacist would have the brains NOT to provide an antibiotic without a proper diagnosis. Apparently in regards to the OP's father I would have presumed wrong. Rehab is ridiculous though, he just needs to have his license to practice suspended for a while.

Obviously pharmacists are blithering idiots and any doctor should run a whole array of tests for every runny nose. :rolleyes:

Doctors do not and simply can not know everything. When you see a doctor, they take down a list of symptoms then leave the room for a bit, all they are doing is going to look up your symptoms in the physicians desk reference to find the appropriate medication. Do you honestly believe a doctor can remember everything about every illness and every medication?

Pharmacists know far more about the medications they are dispensing than a general practitioner does. Doctors are trained for diagnostics of everything from sinus infections to fractured bones, pharmacists are trained in medications - I would rather trust a pharmacist to know the details and various interactions of drugs than a GP.

Much of the world does not have ludicrous controls on medications - while I can see the point when it comes to addictive substances, if it is not a medication likely to be abused, I see no problem whatsoever with just being able to go down to the local chemists and get what you need.