Please stop sharing your prescription medicine!

EVERY medication prescribed for a patient by a medical practitioner is always personalised. We do not simply throw drugs at patients while hoping something will stick and miraculously cure them. In fact, the first principle in medical ethics is to do no harm, non-maleficence.

I was reviewing a patient during her regular hypertension follow up when her husband, who had accompanied her, had a terrible bout of coughing. After completing my patient’s assessment, I asked permission to perform a quick physical examination of her husband. As I suspected, he was actually having an episode of bronchospasm (narrowing of airways).