Journal of pain & palliative care pharmacotherapy
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jan 2002
Medications through the Internet: what clinicians and patients need to know.
Patients are now able to obtain mail order prescriptions through the Internet from reputable online pharmacies without leaving their home. While this can be a great convenience, the Internet also provides a new means for easily questionable or even illegal prescription medications, i.e., prescription legend medications may be obtained without a prescription and drug products not legally available in the United States can be obtained in this way. ⋯ Clinicians should know where their patients obtain medications, how to verify the validity of the sources of prescriptions, and how to report fraud. Ways to verify the legitimacy of an online pharmacy are described.
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Palliative care is the care of patients whose disease is incurable and whose life expectancy is limited to weeks or months. This commentary describes the development of modern palliative care, some of the elements and underlying philosophical constructs of such care, and calls for expansion and improvement in end of life care throughout the world.