It sometimes alternatively refers to purportedly excessive or unnecessary prescriptions.

In France, an "Antibiotics are not automatic" government campaign started in 2002 and led to a marked reduction of unnecessary antibacterial prescriptions, especially in children.

When the beneficiaries' physicians were unwilling to provide medically unnecessary prescriptions, the patient recruiters asked other physicians to write prescriptions based on cursory examinations of the patients.

Bessie admitted that from 2004 to 2009, she and her co-conspirators solicited and received kickbacks from Jones in return for medically unnecessary prescriptions for Medicare beneficiaries.

Obtaining regular and appropriate specimens for culture from potential sites of infection remains vital, as does avoiding unnecessary prescription of antibiotics unless there are clinical signs of infection.

Many of these events are avoidable; a review of physician visits and prescriptions estimated that unnecessary prescriptions for NSAIDs were written in 42% of visits.

The sponsor of the bill, Representative Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, asserted that the practice, which he said was small but growing, could lead to overpricing and unnecessary prescriptions.

Might he be tempted to write unnecessary prescriptions?

The real skill is trying to make the patient feel listened to and taken seriously without feeling the need to back this up with an unnecessary prescription.

The American Medical Association, the nation's largest organization of physicians, agreed yesterday to study whether consumer drug advertising leads to unnecessary prescriptions, potentially harming patients and driving up health costs.