Liability Risk Is Only a Click Away
Physicians caught in Internet prescribing activities that result in patient injury face a number of liability scenarios.
Those who prescribe over the Internet could be sued for malpractice "if you're prescribing medication for someone who [doesn't] need it," Ms. Hager told this newspaper.
Malpractice actions may also come up if a physician licensed in one state prescribes the wrong drug to a patient in another state, she said. The trick with these cases, however, is, "Where do you sue that physician? Normally you would sue in the state where the patient got hurt," but the seamless world of Internet prescribing makes it much harder to prosecute someone.
To settle the jurisdiction issue, lawyers in some states might begin suing physicians under a tort action, which relates to any action that harms someone else, she said. The argument would be, "You prescribed medication; you harmed my client," she said.
But if drugs are prescribed in another jurisdiction, the physician could conceivably be accused of practicing without a license, which in some states is the basis for a claim of punitive damages, she said.