INTERNET PRESCRIPTIONS ARE LEGAL

Observers say, however, that fraudulent claims would be breaking laws

It is legal for a physician to prescribe a drug for a patient based on a Web
site solicitation, a method that could become a popular way to obtain
medications, a pharmacy professor said Wednesday.

But there are laws to prosecute physicians -- or anyone -- who would use the
Internet as a scheme to defraud people, an assistant U.S. attorney
specializing in medical fraud said.

However -- legal, illegal, unethical or whatever -- Thomas Kowalski,
president of the Milwaukee County Medical Society, said prescribing drugs to
patients sight unseen is based on "greed" and "not consistent with good
medical practice."

"I cannot understand why a doctor would blindly prescribe for a patient he
has never seen. I don't know which malpractice insurance company he has,"
Kowalski said.

Kowalski was referring to David Michael Thomas, an osteopath, whose Vascular
Center for Men, 9900 W. Blue Mound Road, used a Web site to advertise
Viagra -- a prescription drug to treat impotence. Thomas prescribed the pill
over the telephone to hundreds of men across the country.

"This looks like a blatant attempt to offer people a pleasure medication.
The use is to enhance one's pleasure. Come one, come all. Give me your 50
bucks," Kowalski said.

The Web site, which shut down Tuesday, said Thomas charged $50 for a
consultation "by phone or in person." After issuing prescriptions for Viagra
to patients, Thomas referred them to pharmacies.

"The drug is for people who have major impotence problems," Kowalski said.
"But, this was advertised for people who wanted a good time, and (said) this
drug will make it better. It does not seem that it is legitimate."

Matthew Jacobs, an assistant U.S. attorney, said that if a physician's Web
site made promises for a drug that were exaggerated, he could be prosecuted
under existing wire fraud laws.

If the fraudulent activity involved billing Medicare, charges from new laws
aimed at ferreting out Medicare fraud could be filed.

Thomas' original Web site showed a graphic photo and promised "better sexual
performance and more enjoyment" with the use of Viagra.

The site also gave a Milwaukee number to call "for your prescription," and
said Viagra was "ideal for everyday or just for special occasions."

Pfizer Inc., Viagra's maker, has adamantly asserted it makes no such claims
for the drug.

"The key is making false representations and getting money. That's a scheme
to defraud. But, as far as I know, what he (Thomas) did was completely
legal," Jacobs said.

Douglas Pisano, a registered pharmacist who is an assistant professor of
pharmacy administration for the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied
Health Sciences in Boston, agreed.

"There isn't anything legally wrong with it," Pisano said. "A medical board
may be interested in this individual because of a possible ethical problem.

"But, how different is this than anybody getting on a television and saying,
listen, if your hair is receding or if you want to lose weight or your nose
needs reshaping?"

Arthur Thexton, prosecuting attorney for the state Department of Regulation
and Licensing, said the issue was not the fact that Viagra was advertised
over the Internet, but whether the ad was fraudulent.

"The medium is not the issue. The content is the issue."

Jerry Hancock, director of consumer protection for the Wisconsin Department
of Justice, said "We would argue that there are laws in place that regulate
the advertising of products on the Internet that are stringent and are
exactly the same laws that regulate advertising in any other medium."