doctor shopping
Americannoun
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the act or practice of illegally obtaining prescriptions for a controlled substance from more than one healthcare practitioner at a time, concealing from each the fact that one is doing so.
Doctor shopping and prescription forgery are common methods of prescription drug abuse.
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the process of visiting one physician after another in search of a satisfactory one or a particular outcome.
I did some doctor shopping before deciding on the plastic surgeon recommended by a friend.
She had to do a lot of doctor shopping, as it was very hard to get a diagnosis for her rare symptoms.
Etymology
Origin of doctor shopping
First recorded in 1930–35
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They may require help getting out of bed, taking a shower or going to the bathroom; getting to the doctor; shopping for groceries or making meals.
From New York Times • Dec. 2, 2023
Cui Yang, a 31-year-old doctor shopping for a Tesla in Beijing after the recent price cut, said he was won over by "the minimalist interior style and tech feeling".
From Reuters • Feb. 13, 2023
His staff collected online posts in which parents skeptical of vaccines discussed doctor shopping for medical exemptions.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 22, 2019
And with tighter controls, doctor shopping by patients has fallen dramatically by 70 percent in the past five years.
From Washington Times • Apr. 7, 2016
“I might be the third, fourth or fifth neurologist taking a crack at what the diagnosis is. People go doctor shopping and don’t get the right answer.”
From US News • Oct. 27, 2014
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
