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Comment by vidarh | Hacker News Reader

I found it weird to realise CPAP machines requires prescriptions some places. In the UK you can just order one next delivery from Amazon.

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The US (as well as other countries) has weird hangups because there's not a lot of granularity in prescription rules and insurance won't cover things unless they require a prescription.

So patients and doctors fight to have things continue to be restricted so that their workplace insurance will pay for it.

CPAP machines require a prescription in the UK.

https://www.hope2sleep.co.uk/cpap-machines-sleep-apnoea.html

Amazon is breaking the law by shipping one to you. I suspect there is very little enforcement of this law, which is why Amazon is unknowingly breaking it.

I can't find anything to support the claim that they require a prescription from any authoritative source. The page you reference cites guidelines from an association that has no legal power. The relevant Act seems to only define a prescription regime for medication, and to only specify category classifications for medical devices for the purpose of certification, not restrictions on purchase. But I'm not a lawyer.

Which law is it you think Amazon would be breaking?

EDIT: In fact the page you linked itself points out that the "prescription" they are talking about is in fact not a prescription. "When the word 'prescription' is used for the purchase or rental of a CPAP machine, this is not like a standard prescription which GP's provide for medication."

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