Off-label medicine use/prescribing controversies through patients' eyes/"rights": the example of povidone-iodine enemas/suppositories for "terminal" pouchitis
Off-label drug use/prescribing, although not uncommon by any means, is often stigmatized when no benefits and/or adverse effects occur, occasionally leading to legal vulnerability for doctors, especially when considered "experimental". Viewing the matter through a patient's insistence...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Pan African Medical Journal
2019-07-01
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| Series: | The Pan African Medical Journal |
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| Online Access: |
https://www.panafrican-med-journal.com/content/article/33/155/pdf/155.pdf
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| Summary: | Off-label drug use/prescribing, although not uncommon by any means, is often stigmatized when no benefits and/or adverse effects occur, occasionally leading to legal vulnerability for doctors, especially when considered "experimental". Viewing the matter through a patient's insistence/willingness to assume all responsibility and risks in order to obtain doctors' prescriptions to use povidone iodine enemas/suppositories against severe pouchitis, the suggestion is put forth that drugs in the World Health Organization's "list of essential medicines" may be considered "quasi-experimentally appropriate" for first-time off-label prescriptions, waiving legal repercussions for doctors and at the same time, respecting the patient's "right" for a last resort treatment. |
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| ISSN: | 1937-8688 1937-8688 |