Unethical Marketing of Medical and Pharmaceutical Products-Part Two
Tamara Floyd
Sherome Graham
Frances Kadambi
Viviene Smith
Grand Canyon University: NRS 437V Ethical Decision Making in Healthcare
October 20th, 2013
Unethical Marketing of Medical and Pharmaceutical Products Part Two
The pharmaceutical industry along with the manufacturers of healthcare products and technologies often encourage the misappropriation and distribution of marginally beneficial products and technologies in the healthcare industry. These companies often use various advertising methods to influence members of the public to request their products and services without adequate knowledge of their effectiveness and implications to their medical condition.
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Health Care Colleague
The health care colleague interviewed, Faith McClure, has about thirty three years experience in the field. She was the Medical/Surgical Director at my facility, and currently a case manager in my office. This is to emphasize her experience and expertise in the medical field. She obviously had strong feelings about pharmaceutical marketing and was happy to contribute. Her main focus was on the television (T.V.) advertising of medicine that is done in this country. She finds it highly unethical that pharmaceutical companies advertise drugs that are needed by patients. She further explained that it is also the way which marketing is conducted, “showing cheery people with fabulous hair on sunny days” (F. McClure, personal communication, October 14, 2013). The general public is naive to the possible side effects of these drugs and/or do not grasp the severity of many of them. Most people are looking at the pleasing visuals in these commercials, therefore they do not notice the side effects of the drugs, because the notices are in small print or run through so quickly they are incomprehensible. The viewers want what they see and ask their physicians for these drugs by name. In turn, doctors order the drugs; the companies grow bigger and market more drugs. It is a perpetual cycle, McClure expounds, and one that she and many of her cohorts wish would stop.
Friend A friend interviewed had seen a drug on television
I feel it is a person’s choice and it is different than suicide. It has to be well thought out and talked about with a team of people involved including physicians, psychologists, and family. I also think it is based more on
People from all walks of life face many ethical dilemmas. These dilemmas have consequences. Our worldview determines how we deal with these dilemmas, and guides us to the right decisions. In this essay, I will examine an ethical issues through my Christian worldview. I will also present other viewpoints, and compare them to mine.
Ads for pharmaceutical drugs are everywhere. They are in magazines, on television and radio, on billboards, and on the little bags that you get from the pharmacist. These days it is difficult to get away from all the drug advertising. All these ads are for products that require a doctor's prescription. The goal of advertising is to increase profits. By advertising so heavily for drugs that the majority of the population does not need, pharmaceutical companies attempt to create as large a consumer base as they can. In advertising directly to the consumer, the drug companies accomplish two objectives. First, they get information directly to the consumer. Second, they promote the product and
Despite this, the industry did not alter its ways, maintaining that its ad campaigns were "educational," and that people were able to make their own decisions about what they purchased (Payer 66). However, it is evident that the advertisements produced by the pharmaceutical industry are designed for the very purpose of making it difficult for people to make these decisions independently. This marketing produces a large number of often deceptive, misleading tactics which have a large influence on both consumers and medical practitioners. The chief beneficiaries of this marketing are not the consumers but the pharmaceutical companies themselves.
There are proponents of DTC prescription drug ads. They argue that “the ads inform patients about diseases and possible treatments, encourage people to seek medical advice, help remove stigma associated with medical conditions, and provide needed sales revenue to fund costly research and development (R&D) of new drugs (Drug Ads ProCon.org).” On the flip side opponents argue “that DTC drug ads misinform patients, promote drugs before long-term safety-profiles can be known, medicalize and stigmatize normal conditions and bodily functions like wrinkles and low testosterone, waste valuable medical appointment time, and have led to our society’s overuse of prescription drugs (Drug Ads ProCon.org).”
Nurses are faced with ethical dilemmas every day. There are a lot of different beliefs surrounding ethics and the code of ethics. Ethics and ethical issues have always existed, that is why they have put in place the code of ethics. The American Nursing Association (ANA) Code of Ethics isa guideline to help nurses determine which course of action to pursue. Every minute many ethical decisions are made, some may not comply with guidelines and others the patient’s will never understand. In this case study the nurse is put in an uncomfortable position and has two find a way to comply with the family, the patient, and the doctor’s orders.How can she report to the doctor the information the daughter has told her? How she approached
In journalism, an ethical dilemma is a complex issue or situation that often involves an emotional and psychological conflict between moral obligations and duties, in which to obey one would transgress the other. Within the media there are many stories that can be deemed an ethical dilemma; some more so than others. One of the most recent and prominent ethical dilemmas was the worldwide coverage surrounding the shooting of two American WBDJ journalists, Alison Parker and Adam Ward. Despite the fact that the shooter filmed the ordeal clearly showing the two slain journalists being shot, news outlets had picked it up and ran with the story, which ultimately went viral in minutes. This essay will analyse and thoroughly examine the reporting
Milton Manufacturing Company is a closely-held company has been in business since 1999 when its President Irv Milton first opened the business with its primary operations in Long Island City, New York and factory branches and warehouses in surrounding areas. The business had increased revenue over its first ten years of business from $500,000 in its first year to $5 million in 2008.
Discuss the ethical dilemmas PMHNPs sometimes find themselves in and name the opposing ethical principles
Society undermines these ads just as it undermines the promotion of various medicines on the market. Unaware of the dangers caused by pharmaceutical drugs, consumers are encouraged to purchase medications that are capitalistically endorsed. Pharmaceutical businesses and the government suggest that there are minor flaws with prescription drugs, but ultimately, they are safe to use. Although the marketing and promotional techniques for pharmaceuticals are completely different when compared to illegal substances, they are still extremely similar to one another. Several pharmaceuticals are just as addicting as any illegal drug and they are just as profitable as well.
Your post was both, thought-provoking and true to the essence of a classic ethical dilemma. I can relate to your scenario as I have seen and experienced cases in which the family decides to hide the truth from the patient. While I have yet to fully comprehend why anybody would want to lie to a loved one in their final days; oftentimes, the reasons cited include their desire to protect the patient from the truth as well as to avoid distressing situations that may impact the patient's psychological well-being. My default stance in this type of scenarios is to act in the best interest of the patient by allowing him or her to make the best informed decision possible and this is directly related to the amount of information the patient
Pharmaceutical drug companies spent nearly $4.6 billion more on advertising aimed directly at consumers in 2009 than in 1995. This dramatic increase is largely due to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to reform their standards regarding direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising. Prior to the changes that occurred in 1997, all DTC advertisements had to include a brief summary of the drug’s warnings, precautions, adverse effects, and situations in which the drug should not be used. In place of the brief summary, the FDA’s new regulations introduced two new criteria: the major statements clause and the adequate provision clause (Ventola). Instead of a brief summary, the major statements clause requires advertisements to disclose only
This advertising method is directed at healthcare providers rather than consumers, as is the case in direct-to-consumer advertising. This method of pharmaceutical advertising is equally as concerning because as reported by Weeks, Wallace, and Kimberly in the article "The Changing Face of Pharmaceutical Advertising," healthcare providers “control more than 80% of healthcare expenditures” with their power to write prescription medication (27). Pharmaceutical companies understand this relationship and thus, aggressively advertise to healthcare providers through medical journals and magazines. The pharmaceutical advertisements to healthcare providers is problematic because as D’Arcy and Moynihan notes in her article “Can the Relationship between Doctors and Drug Companies Ever Be a Healthy One?” there is a direct conflict of interest between the two parties. Pharmaceutical companies are businesses that want to “maximize profit” while the goal of a healthcare provider is to “provide the best care possible for patients” (1). There is an outlandish amount of pharmaceutical advertising that healthcare providers are exposed to as they peruse medical journals and magazines. The immense power that these advertisements hold on the prescribing behavior and beliefs of healthcare providers coupled with the high volume of advertisements is a dauntingly influential
The ethical dilemma is a situation by which it’s difficult to determine whether a situation is can be handled without disappointing both sides. Therefore, an ethical dilemma exists when the right thing to do is clear or when members of the healthcare team cannot agree on the right thing to do. Ethical dilemmas require negotiation of different points of view (potter, Perry, Stockert, & Hall 2011pg 78).
Ethics can be dangerous to your career. The danger may come not from your own ethics but from the ethics of people around you and the organization of which you are a part. Employees have various moral decisions to make. Many of these decisions should be made on the basis of our moral obligations, but sometimes the morally preferable action could require courage and be performed beyond the call of duty. One defense against involvement in wrongdoing is vocalizing when there are unethical practices being made. While being prepared for organizational challenges that will inevitably test your personal values, moral beliefs, and commitment may be doing the right thing, is it ethical when one’s job is on the line?