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Opinion 9.6.6

Prescribing & Dispensing Drugs & Devices

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In keeping with physicians’ ethical responsibility to hold the patient’s interests as paramount, in their role as prescribers and dispensers of drugs and devices, physicians should: 

  1. Prescribe drugs, devices, and other treatments based solely on medical considerations, patient need, and reasonable expectations of effectiveness for the particular patient. 
  2. Dispense drugs in their office practices only if such dispensing primarily benefits the patient. 
  3. Avoid direct or indirect influence of financial interests on prescribing decisions by: 
    1. declining any kind of payment or compensation from a drug company or device manufacturer for prescribing its products, including offers of indemnification; 
    2. respecting the patient’s freedom to choose where to fill prescriptions. In general, physicians should not refer patients to a pharmacy the physician owns or operates.
AMA Principles of Medical Ethics: II, III, IV, V
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Opinion 1.1.1

Patient-Physician Relationships

At the heart of medicine lie relationships founded in a “covenant of trust” between patient and physician in which physicians commit themselves to responding to the needs and promoting the welfare of patients.
Opinion 2.1.1

Informed Consent

Informed consent to medical treatment is fundamental in both ethics and law. Patients have the right to receive information and ask questions about recommended treatments so that they can make well-considered decisions about care.
Opinion 11.2.2

Conflicts of Interest in Patient Care

Under no circumstances may physicians place their own financial interests above the welfare of their patients. Treatment or hospitalization that is willfully excessive or inadequate constitutes unethical practice.