Legal Question in Health Care Law in Tennessee

Doctors Self Prescribing

Is it legal for a doctor to self prescribe prescription only medications? If so, is it legal for a pharmacist to fill this self prescribed medication?


Asked on 9/12/04, 8:00 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Dr. Michael A. S. Guth Tennessee Attorney at Law Assists Pro Se (without a lawyer) Parties

Re: Doctors Self Prescribing

I teach a course in Health Care Economics, where four of the students are nurses. So I posed this question to them. The AMA has guidelines that strongly disapprove on ethical grounds a doctor writing prescriptions for himself. However, in most states it is legal. I know it is legal in Connecticut, but I have not checked for Tennessee. The exception to this rule is for controlled substances. Then it is illegal for a doctor to write his own prescription, because these substances can be addictive and a doctor could create his own addiction that way. It should be illegal in all 50 states for a doctor to write a self-prescription for a controlled drug.

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Answered on 9/17/04, 9:05 am


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