The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1896-11-07
PREPARING PRESCRIPTIONS



IN ordinary nature, and who have been
in the habit Of having their ailment pre-.
soribed for by physicisn, will look
with asknnce upon the methods adopted
by number Of physicians Of late Of in.
structing the druggist who fills the pre-
scr1ption not to refill the prescription
without IN order from the physician.
This arbitrary ruling Is in the nature Of
mild form Of highway robbery when
viewed from the standpoint of the pa
tient. but from the physician's point of
viev It il merely alegitimate method OF
adding to his professional income.
This rule, which happily has been
adopted by only small percentage Of
reputable physicians in the city, has
many obnoxious features, while it has
few good points to recommend it to
favor. ssSs
One Of the many objections made to 1t
h the fact that 1t works . hardship
upon the poorer class of patients, who
comprise by far the largest proportion
Of the clientele of the medical profes-
sion. A large number Of the. patients
who call upon the members of the med
ical profession are suffering from only
. slight indisposition, which. while it
may be chronic, is, At the same time,
not of q serious nature, and one which a
prescription calling for simple REM
edy will either cure entirely or tempora-
rily relieve the sufferer. In such cases.
where relief is obtained through the
prescription given by the physician, the
patient, upon q return Of a similar at
tack, would naturally desire to have .he
efficacious remedy refilled by the drug
gist without calling upon the physician
again. With this rule adopted by the
physicians, however, he would be un-
able to obtain the remedy a second time
before obtaining a prescription from
the physician, and paying another fee.
unless the druggist saw At to disregard
the request made by the physician.
It will be seen from this statement
of facts that the real motive for the
action taken by these physicians in ask
ing druggists not to refill one Of their
prescriptions or to give a duplicate to
customer lies in the fact that it. will add
materially to their incomes. The phvsi-
clans themselves, however, deny that
they are actuated by such a mercenary
motive, and claim that their purpose
is to prevent the possibility of any Of
their patients coming to harm by reason
of having prescription refilled which
may contain some powerful poison.
Very often. they say. they write pre-
scriptions which contain a poisonous
ingredient which if taken oftener tl1nn
prescribed would seriously endangcr
the lives Of their patients. 1t is to pre-
vent any such contingencies that they
have taken these precautions.
Without the cooperation of the drug
gisls, however. these orders of the pily-
sicians not to refill any of their prescrip-
tions would be unsuccessful. While
very small proportion Of the druggists
about town express themselves in favor
of obeying the instructions of physi-
clans in this regard, by far the majority
Of them admit that they disregard them
on every occasion, except in those in
stances in which they know that the
prescriptions asked for by their custom
ers contain dangerous poison. The
druggists generally argue that pre-
scription which one of their customers
has paid q physician to secure belongs
to the Gust omer, and that if he wishes |
to secure a duplicate or to have it re-
filed he has q perfect right to do so.
Many of the druggists say that even If
the physicians gave them orders to re-
fuse duplicate prescription they would
ignore it.-St. Louis Republic.