Web Prescription of Anti-Depressants Tests California Medical License Law

As seen at Law.com

[snippet]

Two years ago, Christian Hageseth logged on to the Internet in Colorado and prescribed anti-depressant drugs to a Menlo Park, Calif., teenager with a history of mental illness and alcohol abuse. A few months later, 19-year-old John McKay killed himself in his family home.

Upon learning that Hageseth had treated McKay, and that he didn't have a license in California, state medical investigators urged local prosecutors to charge him with a felony. Last year they did, accusing him of practicing without a California license. The maximum penalty, according to the prosecution, would be three years in state prison and state fines.

And although Hageseth's lawyer and deputy district attorneys in San Mateo County, Calif., disagree on many aspects of the case, this much is clear: The 66-year-old Hageseth would be an easier target for prosecutors had he run his virtual doctor's office inside California state lines.

Now Hageseth -- who had a restricted license in Colorado when he prescribed McKay's medication, according to court documents -- is trying to get the case dismissed, claiming that the state courts lack jurisdiction to try him under California law. Though a San Mateo County judge refused his request, Hageseth's attorney, Santa Rosa, Calif., lawyer Carleton Briggs, has persuaded the 1st District Court of Appeal to consider issuing a writ that would overturn that decision.

Briggs claims that if the 1st District agrees with the government's application of medical licensing laws, thousands of out-of-state doctors could face felony prosecution.

"The decision in this case will shape the future of telemedicine [in California]," Briggs wrote in his petition to the appeal court.

[...]

Susan Penney, a lawyer at the California Medical Association, said she thinks it's uncommon for doctors to prescribe medication without first meeting a patient face to face.

California state law requires medical practitioners to conduct a good-faith exam before prescribing medication, Penney said. The CMA declined to weigh in with an amicus brief on Hageseth's behalf, she said, because Hageseth's position appears to be inconsistent with that requirement.

"We do not believe that we can support [Hageseth's] underlying position ... that it's appropriate to prescribe without a good-faith prior exam," she said.

Full article at the Link - Note: paragraph 20 states "After transmitting his credit card number and some details about his medical history, McKay placed an order for fluoxetine, a generic alternative to Prozac."