Some doctors are writing prescriptions -- and in some cases selling the drugs -- on Internet web sites, a practice which nearly all government health-care regulators contend is illegal or at least fails to meet accepted standards of care. The prescriptions are often written for patients the doctor has not seen.

• The impotence drug Viagra is by far the most common prescription being requested, experts report.

• Medical boards say no cyber-patients have complained thus far, no injuries have been reported and no doctor has been taken to court.

• Information technology experts and even some doctors say the sites are just the beginning of an Internet-driven revolution in the doctor-patient relationship as the new technology makes for better-informed consumers who will go on-line for convenience and privacy.

• State and federal regulators say they lack the tools to police practice over the Internet -- although at least five states have launched formal investigations into the sites and the Federal Trade Commission has planted a fake site on which a consumer alert pops up when it is accessed by those in search of Viagra.

Experts say that federal and state regulators are hampered by a morass of complicated jurisdictions. So far, only five states -- Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Washington -- have ongoing investigations into doctors performing on-line consultations for Viagra prescriptions. Several of the Web sites reportedly closed up as soon as state medical boards began making inquiries.

Source: Rita Rubin, "Prescribing On Line," USA Today, November 2, 1998.