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DALLAS - Peter Beasley is a busy man who has no health insurance.
"To make an appointment and see a doctor, the whole process is very inconvenient," he said.
Beasley is a customer of TelaDoc Medical Services, a setup that allows him to call an unknown doctor and get medicine prescribed sight unseen.
Within an hour or so of his call to a toll-free number, he gets a call from a doctor who discusses his symptoms and can write a prescription.
TelaDoc provides its members - which the company estimates at 30,000 - with access to a doctor 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
While members praise the service as convenient, others in the health care industry say treating patients without seeing them in person could be dangerous.
TelaDoc chief executive Michael Gorton said the Dallas-based company is providing a needed service and is not meant to replace the family physician.
TelaDoc subscribers are guaranteed to hear back from a doctor within three hours of their call. After paying a registration fee of $18 and completing a medical history, a subscriber pays $4.25 a month and $35 per consultation.
Gorton said ailments range from urinary tract infections to strep throat to allergies.
But doctors' groups and medical ethics experts question the notion of putting convenience first.
While the American Medical Association doesn't have a specific policy on such services, there are some concerns for the patient, said Dr. Edward Hill, AMA president. "Nothing, we think, can replace the face-to-face with a doctor."
Gorton said doctors with his network won't hesitate to send patients to an emergency room if their symptoms warrant it.
Five states - Florida, Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi and South Carolina - require an examination, Gorton said. In those states, he said, patients must get bloodwork and have their temperature and blood pressure checked to enable them to use TelaDoc.
The Medical Board of California has opened an investigation into the company. Gorton says he welcomes the scrutiny.
"We expect boards of medical examiners to look into what we're doing and we expect to come out of it squeaky clean," he said.