Thinking About Forging or Altering a Veterinary Prescription? Read This First
If you have searched for “can I buy pet medication without a prescription?”, “can I use an old veterinary prescription?” or something similar, you may simply be frustrated by what feels like unnecessary paperwork.
Perhaps your pet has taken the medication before. Perhaps you have run out. Perhaps your veterinary practice charges for written prescriptions. Or perhaps you have found the same medication much cheaper online and do not understand why you cannot simply order it.
Those are understandable frustrations.
The important bit
Altering, creating or forging a veterinary prescription is not a legitimate shortcut. Depending on exactly what has been done, deliberately presenting a false prescription may potentially amount to a criminal offence — and some of the offences that may apply carry prison sentences.
Why Do I Need Another Prescription if My Pet Already Takes the Medication?
This is a reasonable question.
Your dog or cat may have been taking the same medication for years. You might know the exact strength, dose and quantity they normally receive. You may even have an old prescription saved on your computer.
But an old prescription is not permission to create a new one.
Changing the Date
Changing the date can alter the apparent validity of the prescription. If a prescription has expired, the correct approach is to contact the prescribing veterinary practice.
Changing the Quantity
The quantity supplied is part of what the veterinary surgeon has authorised. Increasing it yourself changes that authorisation.
Adding Repeats
A repeat can only be used where the prescribing veterinary surgeon has actually authorised one and the prescription meets the relevant requirements.
Copying a Signature
Copying a genuine veterinary surgeon's signature or date from an older prescription does not make a newly created document genuine.
What About Copying a Vet's Signature or Details?
This can make the situation considerably more serious.
Taking a veterinary surgeon's genuine signature, name, practice details or other identifying information from a real prescription and placing them onto a document that the vet did not create or authorise is not simply “editing a prescription”.
You are creating a document that purports to have been issued by another person.
Using Someone Else's Identity
Copying a vet's genuine signature or professional details can involve using another person's identity or credentials to make a false document appear authentic.
Although “identity theft” is not necessarily the specific offence that would ultimately be charged, conduct of this kind may form part of offences involving fraud, false representation and/or forgery.
Under the Fraud Act 2006, a false representation can include representing that a document is genuine when it is not. Where a forged document is presented as authentic, that representation may itself be relevant to a fraud investigation.
In practical terms, copying your veterinary surgeon's signature onto a prescription they never issued is not borrowing their permission. It is representing to the person dispensing the medication that the veterinary surgeon personally authorised something that they did not.
That distinction matters.
What if I Just Alter the Date on My Veterinary Prescription?
Do not do it.
The same applies to changing the quantity, adding a repeat, altering the medicine or strength, changing dosing instructions or copying details from another prescription.
If there is a genuine problem with your prescription
- If it has expired, contact your veterinary practice.
- If your vet has made an error, ask them to correct it.
- If it has been lost, ask the practice what replacement options are available.
- If you need a different quantity, ask the vet whether they are willing to authorise it.
- If cost is the issue, ask for a written prescription so you can compare legitimate dispensing prices.
Editing the document yourself is an entirely different matter.
Is Forging a Veterinary Prescription a Criminal Offence?
Potentially, yes.
Depending on exactly what has been done and the surrounding circumstances, deliberately creating, altering or presenting a false veterinary prescription may potentially engage criminal offences relating to fraud and/or forgery.
Under the Fraud Act 2006, fraud can include dishonestly making a false representation with the required intention to make a gain, cause a loss or expose another person to a risk of loss.
Fraud can carry a prison sentence
An offence of fraud under the Fraud Act 2006 can, on conviction on indictment, carry a maximum sentence of 10 years' imprisonment, a fine, or both.
That does not mean that somebody who alters a veterinary prescription will automatically be prosecuted, convicted or sent to prison. The offence potentially committed, charging decision and eventual sentence depend on the individual circumstances.
It does mean that deliberately presenting fabricated paperwork as though it were a genuine veterinary prescription should not be viewed as a harmless way of obtaining medication online.
“But It's Only a Few Cheap Tablets...”
The monetary value involved can sometimes be remarkably small.
We have encountered a confirmed falsified veterinary prescription involving an order that amounted to less than £5.
Potentially exposing yourself to a criminal investigation over medication worth only a few pounds makes very little sense.
The seriousness of deliberately creating or presenting a false document does not simply disappear because the medication involved happens to be inexpensive.
Do Online Veterinary Pharmacies Actually Check Prescriptions?
Yes.
A legitimate veterinary medicines retailer is not simply an automated website that accepts any PDF, scan or photograph uploaded alongside an order.
Prescription medicines are subject to legal controls and prescription orders must be appropriately checked before dispensing.
At Vetalia, all prescriptions are reviewed by a qualified veterinary surgeon before prescription medication is supplied.
Prescription Verification
There are numerous things that may cause a prescription to require further verification.
We deliberately do not publish a detailed checklist of exactly what those things are.
Where necessary, we can contact the veterinary practice named on the prescription directly and ask them to confirm whether they issued it and exactly what they authorised.
How Can an Online Veterinary Pharmacy Tell if a Prescription is Fake?
Unsurprisingly, we are not going to provide a step-by-step guide to the checks used to identify suspicious prescriptions.
Prescription verification can involve reviewing the information contained within the document, considering whether it is consistent with applicable prescribing requirements and, where necessary, independently verifying details with the purported prescribing veterinary practice.
Simply making a document look like a veterinary prescription therefore does not guarantee that it will be accepted.
What Happens if an Online Veterinary Pharmacy Thinks My Prescription is Fake?
Prescription medication will not simply be supplied because an order has been submitted or payment details have been provided.
Supply Can Be Stopped
Medication will not be knowingly dispensed against a prescription believed to be fraudulent or altered.
The Vet Will Be Contacted
The purported prescribing practice will be asked to confirm whether the prescription is genuine and what they authorised.
Records Will Be Retained
Relevant prescription, transaction and communication records will be retained where concerns have arisen.
Further Action May Follow
Where appropriate, suspected criminal conduct will be reported to the relevant authorities.
Cancelling an order afterwards does not necessarily make the underlying concern disappear.
What if I Accidentally Submitted the Wrong Prescription?
That is completely different.
Genuine mistakes happen.
- The wrong document is uploaded
- A veterinary practice makes an error
- A customer misunderstands the authorised repeats
- A prescription has expired
- An original prescription is lost in the post
- The wrong quantity is ordered
- The wrong strength is selected online
- A replacement prescription has been issued
None of these things automatically means somebody is attempting prescription fraud.
If something is not right, contact us. We would much rather help identify the problem and explain what you need to obtain from your veterinary practice.
How Can I Get My Pet's Medication More Cheaply Without Breaking the Law?
There is a much easier and entirely legitimate option.
If your veterinary surgeon has prescribed medication for your pet, ask whether they can provide you with a written veterinary prescription.
You can then compare prices from legitimate veterinary medicine retailers and, where legally appropriate, have the medicine dispensed elsewhere.
Ways to Reduce the Cost of Long Term Medication
- Ask your vet for a written prescription
- Compare legitimate online dispensing prices
- Ask whether a larger quantity can appropriately be authorised
- Ask whether repeat prescribing is suitable
- Check whether a lower cost equivalent medicine may be clinically appropriate
Your veterinary surgeon remains responsible for deciding what is clinically appropriate for your pet.
Can My Vet Refuse to Prescribe a Medication?
Yes. Your veterinary surgeon remains responsible for deciding what treatment and medication are clinically appropriate for an animal under their care.
Finding a medicine available cheaply online does not itself mean that a veterinary surgeon has to prescribe it.
Likewise, an online veterinary retailer cannot simply change the medicine, quantity, strength or dosing instructions your veterinary surgeon has authorised because another option would be cheaper or more convenient.
Can I Use an Old Veterinary Prescription?
Only if that prescription itself remains valid and still authorises the supply you are requesting.
An old prescription should never be digitally altered to give it a new date, additional repeats, a different quantity or other new instructions.
If you are unsure whether an existing prescription can still be used, ask the dispensing retailer or your veterinary practice before placing the order.
Can I Buy Prescription Pet Medication Online Legally?
Yes.
Buying your pet's prescribed medication online can be a perfectly legitimate way of obtaining treatment and may reduce the cost of long term medication.
The crucial part is that prescription medicines still require the appropriate valid veterinary prescription.
Buying medication online changes who dispenses the prescription. It does not remove the need for the prescription itself.
The Bottom Line
There is nothing wrong with wanting to reduce the cost of your pet's medication.
There is nothing wrong with shopping around.
There is nothing wrong with asking your veterinary practice for a written prescription.
And there is certainly nothing wrong with contacting us because you are confused about what documentation you need.
What you should not do
- Do not alter the date
- Do not increase the quantity
- Do not add repeats
- Do not change the medication or strength
- Do not alter the dosing instructions
- Do not create a new prescription using details or a signature copied from an old one
A prescription that needs correcting is usually a straightforward problem to solve.
Turning it into a false document can create a considerably bigger one.
This article provides general information about veterinary prescriptions and does not constitute legal advice. Individual circumstances vary. Information about criminal offences and penalties is available through UK legislation.