June 21, 1999

Doctors meeting at the annual American Medical Association conference this weekend are deciding what to do about a growing, new problem.

It's prescribing medications over the internet and CNN's Linda Ciampa explains.

With just a few strokes of the keyboard you can order several prescription drugs over the internet, without ever seeing a doctor.

Dr. Donald Palmisano, of the American Medical Association, says, "Remember this risk is the patient's risk."

The A.M.A. is so concerned about the growing trend of internet prescribing, it's discussing the practice at its annual meeting in Chicago.

"The concern here is that the patient will be harmed because there is no complete history, or physical exam, and we don't have all the risks explained to the patient," says Dr. Palmisano.

A simple on-line search can turn up dozens of sites that offer everything from Viagra for impotence to Propecia for baldness to Xenical for weight loss.

Some overseas sites are selling drugs without requiring a prescription. But in most cases, you fill out a questionairre that an on-line doctor reviews and within days, the drug is at your doorstep.

Critics say it's not safe for doctors to prescribe to patients they haven't actually seen.

"A physician or knowlegable person who understands what they're doing should be supervising or guiding a person through all of this," says Dr. Pamela Peeke, of the National Institutes of Health.

Still, one on-line pharmacist told CNN that patients can benefit from getting their prescriptions on the web because in some cases, people are too embarrassed to even seek treatment in person.

And, there are other advantages on-line for medicine. E-mail between doctors and patients has jumped 200 percent in the last year. And people can find valuable information about medical conditions on the internet.

The A.M.A. says it will consider all aspects of the web--pro's and con's-- when it votes on it's first set of rules on internet prescribing, later this week.