B.C. doctor disciplined over U.S. prescriptions
A Richmond doctor has been fined and reprimanded after admitting he was guilty of unprofessional conduct for filling prescriptions for U.S. patients, without ever seeing them.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. says Dr. Satnam Singh Gandham was counter-signing prescriptions written by U.S. doctors so Americans could save money by buying their drugs in B.C. pharmacies.
He's been fined $25,000, assessed costs of another $4,000 and given a formal reprimand.
- LINK: College announcement
The College's deputy registrar, Doug Blackman, says Dr. Gandham was risking the safety of those patients.
"You don't have a relationship with these patients, your prescribing is obviously a medical act based on a proper full history of the patient, an examination of the patient to come to a diagnosis and a treatment plan.
"But without a face-to-face contact with those patients, you haven't established those criteria on which to be prescribing."
And while Dr. Gandham is the first B.C. doctor to be disciplined, Blackman says this is a growing problem.
"I think this is happening extensively across the country, probably more extensively in some provinces than others," he says.