Can a doctor Change a prescription without telling the patient?

Answer 1

Yes. Think of it this way. When a physician gives you a new prescription he placing you on a medication which you were not previously receiving. Does he have that power? Of course. Can he force you to take what he prescribes? No he may not. You may choose not to fill the prescription at all or you may seek to fill it but change your mind due to cost or undesireable side effects.

Just as a doctor has the power to prescribe a medication, he also has the power to discontinue it without your permission. Your option in this instance is to seek the services of another physician.

When a doctor changes your prescription what he is really doing is stopping your prescription of one medication and starting you on a brand new prescription. He is essentially combining both powers described above into consecutive orders - sopping the old, then starting the new. Again, in this instance if you disagree you are free to discuss the matter with the doctor or go elsewhere.

One area where there is some disagreement is whether a doctor may originally prescribe a generic medication instead of a brand medication and by virtue of his Rx for the generic prevent you from requesting and paying for the brand name yourself. I believe that the same premise by which generics are prescribed in place of brand name - that they are identical - applies the other way around as well. Namely, that since the generic and the brand are identical that you should have the option to choose whichever version you wish without the doctor's interference.

Just as we have the option of purchasing Bayer Aspirin instead of Walmart aspirin, which are after all supposedly the same substance that same right belongs to you when the generic and the brand are the same substance.

Incidently, whle it may be true that in many instances a generic is capable of performing as well as a brand drug this is not always true. For one thing, generic manufacturers are permitted to operate within tolerances where each generic tablet is considered the equivalent of the brand so long as the dose has between 75% and 125% of the active ungredient in each tablet or capsule.

Such a fluctuation may me 'close enough' when it comes to many prescription meds it certainly is not for all prescription substances. For example Coumadin or the generic warfarin are used to thin the blood to prevent strokes. Since it is extremely important to the patients health and life and limb that the patient adhere to a daily dose which is neither too small nor too large, the 75% to 125% span is far to broad to allow for proper calibration of blood levels, particularly when a pharmacy may be jumping back and forth between using a generic version made by one compaany or by another.

Another area is in pain relief. In situations where a patient's pain is controlled sufficiently with say 80mg, a shift to a generic can mean that thee patient could very well be receiving only 60mg per day instead. This might not present a problem if patients were generally permitted to veer off from their normal dose, taking a little more a day to make up for the deficit. But these days in particular, pharmacists, for reasons which have everything to do with the pharmacists fear of losing his license and not a bt to do with protecting the patient.

Another factor which can render a generic medication different from the brand is that the 'delivery system', in other words the other compounds used with the active ingredient which can either promote or intrerfere with absorption.

Answer 2

Oh yes, all prescription medications are dispensed and recorded by pharmacies to the doctor's ID number. This list is referenced back to the prescribing doctor and any irregularities are reported.

If there are noticeable changes on the paper prescription, some pharmacies won't authorize the script to be filled. If you change the quantity or dose by adding a number unless it matches the rest of his scripts precisely it can be denied.

If the drug is a controlled substance you are breaking a federal law by altering the script - if the pharmacy catches on they may notify not only the doc but the DEA and your state feds - who will have the pharmacy fill the script like all is normal, then arrest you with the goods in hand.

There are careless doctors who don't watch for these errors. There are others who will check every script the way a banker balances his check book - to the penny.

Doctors here write their prescriptions out in duplicate, so if the patient's copy is altered, then a comparison with the doctor's original will show it.

Answer 3

No. That would be practicing medicine without a license. However, if the doctor has allowed you to be treated by a nurse practitioner, he or she may prescribe you a different med, and the doctor will sign off on it later.

Answer 4

absolutely not. a nurse cannot change anything without a doctors consent. they may call the doctor and ask him and this would be OK. but the nurse cannot just change the dose.

Answer 5

Yes im almost positive they can becuse the have to someone i know.

Answer 6

Yes he can. He is the expert in this sort of thing.

Answer 7

I think thats wrong -