Doctor Ordered to Shut Sites for Baldness Pills
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN DIEGO -- Calling it the first such case in California, a judge
has ordered a doctor to shut down two Internet sites that sell a
drug to treat baldness to people without a prescription.
The doctor, James B. DeYarman, is accused of selling Propecia, a
prescription drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat
baldness, without examining people who ordered it, said Thomas S.
Lazar, the deputy state attorney general who filed the accusations.
DeYarman, who lives in the San Diego
community of Pacific Beach, declined to
comment until a hearing is set to determine
whether his license should be revoked or
suspended.
De Yarman, who is licensed by the Osteopathic Medical Board of
California, was ordered May 21 to "discontinue any and all prescribing,
dispensing and/or furnishing of any and all medication, dangerous drug
and/or controlling substance over the Internet."
The order was issued by an administrative law judge, Stephen E. Hjelt,
who ruled on a petition from the osteopathic medical board based in
Sacramento. Board officials said the case is the first in California in which
a medical practitioner was ordered to shut down a Web site for
prescribing a prescription drug without examining patients.
DeYarman, 53, offered customers a prescription through online
consultation, according to state documents.
A state investigator who found out about one of the Web sites logged on
and was directed to a consultation form, which he completed. He then
filled out an order form, which charged him $150 for a three-month
supply of Propecia, a $50 consultation fee and $6 for shipping. The
investigator received the tablets and a receipt for $206 several days later.
The drug could be dangerous to people with abnormalities of the liver
and women who are pregnant, Lazar said.
Information contained in the package received by the investigator listed
the drug's side effects, but "our position is that the physician must perform
a good faith medical examination of his or her patient before prescribing
any prescription drug," Lazar said. "That simply cannot be done over the
Internet."
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