By Kisean Joseph
Health professionals are cautioning the public about the growing, potentially life-threatening practice of doctor and pharmacy hopping — in which patients visit multiple physicians and pharmacies to obtain multiple prescriptions for the same medications, often taking them simultaneously.
Speaking to Observer Media, Dr Courtney Lewis, Vice President of the Medical Association of Antigua and Barbuda, described the practice as far more common than most people realize, and warned that patient autonomy, while a cornerstone of medical ethics, can become a double-edged sword when abused.
“The issue is if I give you a prescription today, you go to a pharmacy, you pick up those meds, you go to another doctor the day after, you go to a whole new pharmacy, get a whole new set of meds, and you don’t stop the first set,” Dr Lewis explained. “You just take all of them together.”
He noted that a physician seeing a patient for what they believe is a first consultation could unknowingly prescribe a fifth or sixth medication to someone already on a cocktail of drugs, with no awareness of what else that patient is taking.
Dr Lewis also highlighted how the practice distorts a patient’s medical history over time. Each new doctor, he said, tends to extract more detail from the patient than the last, giving the impression that a new diagnosis is more accurate — when the patient has simply accumulated more information to present. The result is a story that morphs with each visit, ultimately bearing little resemblance to what the first doctor was told.
He said the risks are compounded when patients deliberately bypass pharmacy checks by filling prescriptions at multiple dispensaries, knowing that a single pharmacist might flag the duplication.
Regarding which medications are most sought through hopping, Dr Lewis pointed to antibiotics as the leading culprit.
“Patients believe that antibiotics cure all,” he said, noting cases of individuals presenting with chronic pain or a simple runny nose, convinced they require the strongest antibiotic available. He added that painkiller abuse is also prevalent, with repeated self-medication gradually desensitizing patients to standard doses — meaning what once required a paracetamol now demands significantly stronger relief.
Dr Alafea Stevens, President of the Medical Association of Antigua and Barbuda, echoed those concerns and praised the vigilance of pharmacists across Antigua and Barbuda, describing them as a critical frontline defense against prescription abuse.
“You have to tip your hat to the pharmacists we have here in Antigua and Barbuda, working so diligently,” Dr Stevens said, “because sometimes they’re able to pick up on what is happening, where persons would have filled a prescription in recent times for the same drug and try to fill it again.”
She noted that some individuals go further, attempting to alter prescriptions before presenting them — a practice that pharmacists are trained to detect, particularly because all valid prescriptions in Antigua and Barbuda must carry a doctor’s official licence stamp, not merely a signature.
Dr Stevens stressed that the relationship between doctors and pharmacists must remain strong and communicative, as it is often that professional collaboration that brings suspicious activity to light and prompts action.
She also cautioned that pharmacy hopping is not confined to any demographic, noting that people of any age can fall into the habit — sometimes not out of malicious intent, but out of a misguided belief that they know what their body needs. By the time some of those patients seek professional help, she warned, organ damage from prolonged unsupervised medication use has already occurred.
Both doctors are urging the public to remain with a single physician, disclose all medications currently being taken, and engage openly with their pharmacist before starting any new treatment. Dr Stevens warned that, in addition to health consequences, those found in violation of prescription laws face serious legal penalties.
“The long-term effects of prolonged use of these drugs are detrimental to your health,” she said, “and the legal penalties are also serious in the eyes of the law.”