Jonathan Weiss

Eagle Tribune
North Andover psychiatrist fined for prescribing antidepressant to patient’s dog
October 12, 2023
By Teddy Tauscher

— Excerpt

ANDOVER A North Andover psychiatrist has been fined $5,000 by the Massachusetts Board of Medicine for wrongfully writing a prescription for Prozac to quiet a patient’s dog.

Dr. Jonathan Weiss said only after the incident did he learn that he doesn’t have the legal right to prescribe to a dog.

“Frankly, it did not occur to me that I wouldn’t,” he said. “In retrospect, what I should have done is say to the woman ‘Go to your veterinarian and have them prescribe Prozac’ for the dog.”

Weiss was fined $5,000 and has received a reprimand, according to a report from the board.

In 2019, a patient of Weiss’s described an issue with their dog.

“When they left the house and the dog was alone, they went nuts,” he said. “It clearly was having separation anxiety.” …

The prescription was not written in the usual course of practice, according to the board. Weiss has also agreed that writing the prescription was wrong…

Weiss has had an office in North Andover since 2005 and is also licensed to practice in New Hampshire. He has been licensed to practice in Massachusetts since 1984…