DOCTORS AND PATIENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 September 1915, Page 7

DOCTORS AND PATIENTS.

A QUESTION OP PRESCRIPTIONS. A Stratford correspondent writes:— "Being a stranger in these parts, I had occasion to visit a doctor. He handed me a prescription, saying, take that to so-and-so, chemist, and have it dispensed I said, 'Doctor, can't I take this prescription to whom I like?' He said, 'No, take it to my chemist.' Now, Mr. Editor, wasn't there some legislation passed some time ago relative to the above matter, and is not a prescription a patient's property. I should like your ruling on this important subject. This is supposed to be a free country, and one should be able to go where one likes for anything they should require." A News representative drew the attention of a New Plymouth chemist to the matter. He stated that legislation had recently been passed putting a stop to the practice of doctors having consulting rooms on the premises of chemists, and it had also been held that a prescription given by a doctor to a patient became patient's property, allowing the patient (o take it to whatever chemist lie chose. Of course, it was necessary that the chemist should be qualified, but otherwise no doctor could insist that the prescription should be taken to a particular chemist. Tiie chemist interviewed stated that he knew of only one doctor who insisted that his prescriptions should be taken to a particular chemist, and to ensure this being done this doctor made up his prescriptions in a formula which only his own chemist could understand. "It is quite time this matter was put before the public, because the practieo is illegal and exists in no other town in New Zealand," added the chemist,