Researchers say their work shows it can be potentially dangerous to seek prescriptions over the web.
Five web sites tested by the magazine supplied a slimming drug to a man for whom it was inappropriate, and none tried to get adequate details of his diet history. Researchers from the magazine posed as patients and tested 15 sites to obtain prescription drugs or have an online consultation. A panel of two GPs and a pharmacist then assessed the responses. Because of the other medication he was taking he should have been refused the anti-impotence drug. Viagra has been linked to the deaths of heart patients, and should not be prescribed to anyone already taking nitroglycerin or other nitrate drugs for heart disease.