diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2cc402b5..5a9360a8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -162,8 +162,6 @@ The SDK and CLI read credentials from environment variables such as
 `IMEDNET_API_KEY` and `IMEDNET_SECURITY_KEY`. You can set these in your shell or
 use a `.env` file. Copy `.env.example` to `.env` to get started.
 
-> **Note**: `imednet.load_config()` only reads from existing environment variables (`os.getenv`). While the CLI automatically loads `.env` files, standalone Python scripts must explicitly call `load_dotenv()` from the `python-dotenv` package to read from a `.env` file before calling `load_config()`.
-
 See [configuration](docs/configuration.rst) for the complete list of options.
 Use `imednet.config.load_config()` to access these values in your code.
 
diff --git a/examples/async_quick_start.py b/examples/async_quick_start.py
index 619c8983..975617be 100644
--- a/examples/async_quick_start.py
+++ b/examples/async_quick_start.py
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@ async def main() -> None:
     configure_json_logging()
     load_dotenv()
 
+    # Load environment variables from .env file if it exists
+    load_dotenv()
+
     try:
         cfg = load_config()
     except ValueError as e:
diff --git a/examples/quick_start.py b/examples/quick_start.py
index 7135daf5..21dabab6 100644
--- a/examples/quick_start.py
+++ b/examples/quick_start.py
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ def main() -> None:
     configure_json_logging()
     load_dotenv()
 
+    # Load environment variables from .env file if it exists
+    load_dotenv()
+
     try:
         cfg = load_config()
     except ValueError as e: