ABSTRACT To the Editor.— A patient, whom I attend, recently called to ask for a refill of her prescription for orally administered contraceptives, not being able to come in herself because she was at total bed rest subsequent to a compression fracture of the second lumbar vertebra.Much discussion in both lay and professional journals concerns a possible relationship between the use of oral contraceptive agents and thromboembolic disease. The increased incidence of thrombophlebitis in patients treated with a regimen of bed rest for a variety of orthopedic and nonorthopedic reasons is well known. Because of these considerations, it was decided not to accede to the patient's request until she became ambulatory. It would seem prudent to question patients so treated concerning their ingestion of oral progestational agents; and, although no synergism between them and bed rest in the genesis of phlebitis has been established, to interdict their use during that