A minor preparing for South Korea’s college entrance examination obtained antidepressants through a telehealth app after falsely claiming symptoms of depression, according to SBS. The student had heard the medication wrongly described as a way to improve concentration, but later experienced severe anxiety and suicidal thoughts while at a private academy.
The medication carried a warning that prescribing it to adolescents requires caution because of the risk of suicidal thoughts. The student’s guardian told SBS that the prescribing process did not include an explanation of that risk. The case highlights the danger posed when unverified claims about academic performance combine with remote consultations that fail to examine a young patient’s condition closely.
- Consultation length
- 57 seconds in the SBS reporter’s telehealth test
- Prescription proposed
- A two-month supply of antidepressants
- New safeguard
- Mandatory video calls for remote depression-drug prescriptions from Dec. 24
In a separate test, an SBS reporter used a telehealth app and described lethargy to a physician at an orthopedic clinic. The physician proposed prescribing two months of antidepressants without closely confirming the symptoms or explaining potential side effects, SBS reported. The telephone consultation lasted 57 seconds. Unlike controlled psychotropic drugs that were barred from remote prescribing, antidepressants were within a regulatory gap at the time.
Video consultations and guardian checks will be required
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said video calls would become mandatory for remote prescriptions of depression medication from Dec. 24, when the broader telehealth system takes effect. For minors, physicians will also have to confirm a guardian’s consent. These safeguards are intended to make patient identity, symptoms and family involvement harder to bypass during a brief remote consultation.
A child and adolescent psychiatrist told SBS that consent alone is insufficient and that physicians should also obtain treatment-related information from a guardian. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety separately stressed that there is no such thing as a medicine that makes someone better at studying. It also urged caution over the prescribing and use of ADHD treatments and cardiovascular medicines, which can likewise be misrepresented as tools for academic performance.