Oh, the temptation to offer a really biting, cynical answer lampooning the medical profession and health care in general...

*Trying to restrain myself...*

Dear Kebsfroggy, here's my take on the specific incident you described: Your p-doc does have a p-doc's knowledge of drugs (though not a pharmacologist's or psychopharmacologist's knowledge), but does not have

• a direct link to your pharmacy's official formulary, nor
• an established procedure to check that formulary as part of his prescription process.

Consequently, your p-doc gave no consideration to the actualities of the way the drug is prepared and offered to you. For their part, the druggies...I mean, the druggists at the store are besieged by all sorts of regulations mandating they fill prescriptions just, just so, giving them little or no leeway to act on their own initiative. The insurance company...well, Heaven help us all...

My p-doc and I are part of an insensate...I mean integrated system with electronic prescribing: the doctor is directly tied into the pharmacy when he writes scripts, so he sees exactly what pills and dosages are available. When he hits "enter," the script is in the hands of the pharmacy and the drugs show up in the mail two-four days later. As long as no one hacks the system or we have a giant electromagnetic pulse hit North America, we're all hunky dory and I can continue to be a minimally functional, flighty, non-contributing member of society.