A report is a reason to investigate
According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a medicine report by itself cannot establish that a drug caused the problem.
How frequently a problem happens cannot be learned from those reports either.
Why this source matters
FDA is the Food and Drug Administration. An unwanted event reported after medicine use is not the same as a proven effect.
Ask whether the claim comes from a medicine label, a study, a report of a problem, or an advert. Then ask what that kind of source can answer.
Advice about care is not the same as a law
The national group for state bodies that license doctors is the Federation of State Medical Boards.
Its advice on phone and video visits gives state boards an example of rules they can use.
That advice is not itself a nationwide law.
Use it to ask about the care, then check the state’s rules to find out what is required.
Why this source matters
Each state’s rules set the requirements for care in that state.
- Where is the original document?
- Which part supports the claim?
- What does it leave unanswered?