The first women’s movement in the mid-nineteenth century endorsed anesthesia during childbirth and some of the very patterns of obstetric practice that became anathema to the natural childbirth movement a century later.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(3):253-257. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.3.msoc1-1503.
The drug Neurontin is used as an example of why it is permissible for physicians to engage in off-label prescribing, but off-label marketing by pharmaceutical companies is prohibited by the FDA.
Physicians should be diligent in taking a medical history, adhering to the standard of care and documenting their actions during every patient encounter, particularly when there is no established patient-physician relationship.
Physicians need to perform their due diligence and practice caution when prescribing addictive pain medications to relieve their patients' chronic pain due to increased federal monitoring of pain prescriptions.
There are numerous state and federal laws designed to protect against misuse and diversion of prescription drugs that apply to patients' behavior, physicians' prescribing practices, and dispensing.