Director's Rethink-Nordisk Case

Introduction The twenty-first century has seen pharmaceutical companies grow in unprecedented size and strength. Due to the unprecedented growth the larger pharmaceutical companies have gained leverage and power in the prescription drug industry, but they lack innovation to market and they seek ways to help the business continue to increase its profits. The pharmaceutical industry was once ethically sound and was a valuable player in the development of human health. However, overtime with the lack of innovation pharmaceutical companies are becoming an unethical market that exploits patients, doctors and anyone else it can to increase its profitability. With eyes only on profitability this can create a hazard for patients because there

Big Pharma: An Unethical Reputation The Pharmaceutical industry has been in the spotlight for decades due to the fact that they have a reputation for being unethical in its marketing strategies. In The Washington Post Shannon Brownlee (2008) states, “We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow.” This honorable statement is completely lost in today’s world of pharmaceutical marketing tactics. These tactics are often deceptive and biased. Big Pharma consistently forgets their moral purpose and focuses primarily on the almighty dollar. Big Pharma is working on restoring their reputation by reforming their ethical code of conduct.

Erica Lindsay, PharmD, MBA, JD, is a health care attorney practicing in the greater Chicagoland area. She has worked in pharmacy management and compliance for more than 15 years. Dr. Lindsay consults clients through complex pharmacy regulations and guidelines, including 340B, Medicare and Medicaid billing, and HIPAA compliance. She is on faculty of PharmCon providing instruction on pharmacy legal and regulatory issues. Dr. Lindsay is active in various organizations including the American Bar Association where she is Vice of the Nursing and Allied Healthcare Professionals Task Force and members of the Health Care Compliance Association, Cook County Bar Association, and the Chicago Bar Association. She is a graduate of Florida A&M University

· Nurses should be encouraged to question the doctors if a wrong drug is prescribed. They should also restrain from taking verbal orders. Written signed orders should be mandated.

Brittany, Wow, thank you for sharing your personal experience and provoking questions. I do resonate with you that it is difficult to label the conduct of covert medication as ethical or unethical since it can be different from case to case. The goal for care providers is to provide care with

Despite having the knowledge of the side effects that propoxyphene could have on a patient, the pharmacist did not advise the patient or the family on its side effects an action that led to its harmful effects (Leagle, 1994). Pharmacists need to have a good record and trace how drugs are dispensed to the patient, based on this case, it is evident that the pharmacists failed in doing that, even though they had access to a computerized program which allowed them to view patients’ history, an action that led to dispensing of drugs at a faster rate thus its faster consumption. Despite pharmacists engaging Dr. Edwards in dispensing drug, they failed to disclose their views concerning the medication so that together with Dr. Edwards they could manage to dispense the drugs at the right proportion and time thus promoting patient’s

The fear of medical malpractice lawsuits is an issue faced by all who practice medicine. To avoid public criticism by colleagues or the public from their profession and sometimes lose their ability to practice, physicians, and doctors feel forced to follow published standards of care. These treatments often include prescribing medications made to treat

Even though Rite Aid was not in within compliance by disposing of patients pill bottles incorrectly and allowing everyone to view many person’s personal information against proper protocol. These actions are surely against HIPAA act violations, the privacy rules have caused the office of the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the FTC to made an initiative and file a formal investigation against the largest drug store chain. Throughout the investigation it was concluded that Rite Aid was legally in violation with the HIPAA privacy act and the review indicated several issues concerning the failures of disregarding of patient’s personal information. Consequently, after all discrepancies were identified Rite Aid agreed to settle the HIPAA case

I think this particular ethical dilemma encompasses three of the APhA Code of Ethics principles. The principles involved are as follows: “pharmacist promotes the good of every patient in a caring, compassionate, and confidential manner”, second “pharmacist acts with honesty and

The student nurse also found that the doctor had reorder Hydromorph Contin as long term use of for this patient on January 20th. However, instead of three months, the pharmacy entered the duration of prescription as one month. Thus, the pharmacy placed a new reorder sheet on the chart. The student nurse found the new reorder sheet that was placed beside the doctor’s notes as a reminder, but unfortunately was not addressed by the physician, therefore the student nurse left a reminder note for the attending physician. The physician visited the patient later that day and the student nurse addressed this issue with the physician. Hydromorph Contin was reordered after the discussion.

While I was on my clinical rotation at Wal-Mart, I counseled a patient on her Warfarin prescription. During this rotation, I was doing most of the counsels under the direct supervision of the pharmacist. This particular experience, however, stood out from the rest of the consultations because she seemed very angry when picking up the medicine. I approached her and was prepared to deal with an angry patron. I started counseling her regarding her medication and she stated, “don’t worry, it doesn’t work anyway. My INR keeps going down even though they are upping the dose, and nobody cares about it.” This really raised a red flag with me because of the class of medication this is. I informed her that we cared and asked her what I could do to help her.

Traditional doctors prescribe their patients all types of drugs to treat conditions and diseases. Most people trust their physicians to give them the best care possible, but many doctors prescribe and recommend medications based on their relationship with a company. Pharmaceutical companies pay doctors or even provide meals, in exchange for meetings and education. In an article from Time Magazine from September 18, 2014, Your Doctor Should Reveal Biases and Pharma Ties, Says Group, author Alexandra Sifferlin explains the issue with these relationships. Sifferlin uses ethos, logos, pathos, and links to respectable websites to convince readers that patients should be made aware by their physicians of ties pharmaceutical companies and their positions of controversial practices.

The news segment regarding the breach of duty by members of an Ohio pharmacy was rather informative. It is quite clear the healthcare provider(s) present at the time did not fulfill their responsibility of utilizing the PPCP wheel. The situation was distinctly an error in dispensing which put the patient’s

The case Pierce v. Ortho Pharmaceutical Corp. was over if employee at will has a cause of action against her employers. Dr. Pierce refused to continue a project that she viewed it as medically unethical, however the employer continued with project and suggest for her to work on other

The other allegation of pharmacists tricking patients into declining their counseling is hilarious in my opinion. This scenario is like any other prejudice view, a couple of bad pharmacists make the entire profession look bad. Although I have never worked in a pharmacy, I would rather believe that a pharmacist would not do that to a patient. I have more faith in the profession. If, however, this is a common practice, there is not really much anyone can do about it. The only thing you can do is be the best pharmacist you can be, and if you do the right thing people will follow you and do the right thing.