The relationship between doctors and medical or corporate representatives is an old time practice in which the corporate representative primary goal is to directly inform the medical profession of the company’s products. There is nothing wrong with this practice, but it becomes situational when the medical representative is being offered financial incentives or on the company’s pay policy. Recently, GlaxoSmithKline publicized that they stop paying physicians to promote their products and try new marketing strategies (article 1). GlaxoSmithKline’s new policy is an improvement from the ethical standpoint because the relationship between the two parties are tainted and no longer a respectable relationship. This essay reviews the aspects conspicuous relationship between medical profession and drug companies, such as GlaxoSmithKline, and its future consequences. The purpose drug companies interact with doctors is to promote their medical product. For the companies to reach out to the medical doctors and leave a memorable impression, they might compensate the doctors in the form of gifts and other incentives such as pens and notepads with the company’s name. Under the PhRMA’s code of conduct regarding the interaction of pharmaceutical companies and medical profession this sort of conduct is sufficient (article 2). From this sort of action both parties benefit, the pharmaceutical representatives are able to have their say, and medical doctors obtain are informed with the latest information of the company’s product line and obtain small rewards that would not have a powerful effect to the human psyche. Moral doctors would promote the drugs that have the most benefit to their patients and as well take in consideration of patient’s eco... ... middle of paper ... ...doctors and pharmaceutical companies. Though there should be some boundaries or acceptable guidelines to avoid unethical medical practice such as the PhRMA code and the U.S. law. Unfortunately, these guidelines and regulations have a common drawback which is they can be written for subject to interpretation. To blame it on the lack of guidelines or regulations would be inappropriate because there is an assumption that medical doctors and pharmaceutical companies are incapable of thinking if their actions have any ethical implications or they were not able to differentiate from right and wrong. It takes two to tango, both teams are at fault. They have forgotten how their decisions would take in effect on patients. Pharmaceutical companies and medical doctors need to remember that their actions are to better help humanity and never forget the that power entails of.
Dr. John Abramson’s book Overdosed America debunks the myths about the excellence of American medicine. Abramson backs up this claim by closely examining research about medicine, closely examining the unpublished details submitted by drug manufacturers to the FDA, and discovering that the unpublished data does not coincide with the claims made about the safety and effectiveness of commonly used medicines. Abramsons purpose is to point out the flaws of the pharmaceutical industry in order to warn the readers about the credibility of the drugs they are buying. Given the critical yet technical language of the book, Abramson is writing to an audience that may include academic physicians as well as those who want to learn about the corruption of the pharmaceutical industry.
In Melody Peterson’s “Our Daily Meds” , the history of marketing and advertising in the pharmaceutical industry is explored. The first chapter of the book, entitled “Creating disease”, focuses on how major pharmaceutical companies successfully create new ailments that members of the public believe exist. According to Peterson, the success that these drug manufacturers have experienced can be attributed to the malleability of disease, the use of influencial people to promote new drugs, the marketing behind pills, and the use of media outlets.
"In the past two decades or so, health care has been commercialized as never before, and professionalism in medicine seems to be giving way to entrepreneurialism," commented Arnold S. Relman, professor of medicine and social medicine at Harvard Medical School (Wekesser 66). This statement may have a great deal of bearing on reality. The tangled knot of insurers, physicians, drug companies, and hospitals that we call our health system are not as unselfish and focused on the patients' needs as people would like to think. Pharmaceutical companies are particularly ruthless, many of them spending millions of dollars per year to convince doctors to prescribe their drugs and to convince consumers that their specific brand of drug is needed in order to cure their ailments. For instance, they may present symptoms that are perfectly harmless, and lead potential citizens to believe that, because of these symptoms, they are "sick" and in need of medication. In some instances, the pharmaceutical industry in the United States misleads both the public and medical professionals by participating in acts of both deceptive marketing practices and bribery, and therefore does not act within the best interests of the consumers.
Slosar, J. P. (2004). Ethical decisions in health care. Health Progress. pp. 38-43. Retrieved from http://www.chausa.org/publications/health-progress/article/january-february-2004/ethical-decisions-in-health-care
Even since ancient times, it was recognized that doctors had power over their patients, and that there must be ethical implications coming with this responsibility. This was first represented in the Hippocratic Oath, which was created by an Ancient Gree...
Providers must act in the best interest of the patient and their basic obligation is to do no harm and work for the public’s wellbeing. A physician shall always keep in mind the obligation of preserving human life. Providers must communicate full, accurate and unbiased information so patients can make informed decisions about their health care. As a result of their recommendations, providers are responsible for generating costs in health care but do not generate the need for those expenses. Every hospital has both an ethical as well as a legal responsibility to provide care, even if the care may be uncompensated.
LEADERSHIP BRIEFING PAPER Leadership Briefing Paper After spending your entire working life in one giant corporation that went down overnight; investing most of your retirement in stock options that plummet to zero; you are suddenly jobless and your retirement money is gone. Yet, perhaps even more threatening; our skilled and managerial jobs are steadily going abroad, due to poor corporate ethics. The crisis of poor ethics has jeopardized public trust, caused an erosion of organizational cultures, created human suffering, caused unemployment, and profit losses. Poor ethics
FDA, so many people were harmed. Even other countries versions of the FDA approved it which
The New England Journal of Medicine. Ethical Physician Incentives-From Carrots and sticks to shared purpose. 14 Mar 2013. 20 Mar 2014. Web. {http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1300373}
3Walker, Hugh: Market Power and Price levels in the Ethical Drug Industry; Indiana University Press, 1971, P 25.
Print. The. Freudenheim, Milt “Influencing Doctor’s Orders” New York Times. " Off the Charts: Pay, Profits and Spending by Drug Companies." Families USA, July 2001.
Merck was one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Merck was about to lose patent protection of two of its best selling drugs, which had been a significant part of their $2 billion annual sales. Merck began putting millions of dollars into research (up to $1 billion) and within three years, Merck was able to discover four powerful medications. Profits weren’t all that Merck cared about; Merck’s founder believed that "medicine is for people. It is not for the profits." • He also believed that following the “medicine is for people” philosophy would lead to profits and had yet to fail.• River Blindness is caused by parasitic worms, which can be found in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.• These places are developing, so many citizens are poor. • The worm larvae can enter the body through fly bites, with some people getting thousands a day. • Worms can cause grotesque growths, but the major problem lies in reproduction when millions of progeny are released in the system. •The resulting itching is so intense the infected have committed suicide. • Eventually, the larvae may cause blindness. • Two existing drugs could kill the parasite, but have serious, potentially fatal, side effects. • The only safe combative measure available was insecticides that eventually lose potency with immunity of the flies. • The average drug takes $200 million in research and 12 years time to produce. • In order for companies to stay in business (and ease human pain), they must make complex decisions about which drugs offer the most promise. • Investing time/money into drugs for rare diseases is risky (because the pool of recipients is small). • There are enough people with river blindness ...
A major controversial issue that has been very commonly seen around our everyday society is cosmetic surgery. In case number seven, ‘Aggressive Advertising For Cosmetic Surgery’, describes the aggressiveness of the advertisement that cosmetic surgery. The case addresses the questions whether it is ethically acceptable for physicians to provide services that employ their medical skills for ends other than treating a medical illness or condition, if it is ethically acceptable for physicians to stimulate demand for sure services with attention-grabbing advertisements that may take advantage of some people’s insecurities, as well as the question that addresses if medicine best understood as a business or as a profession with stricter moral norms
Medicine, medical supplies, and medical treatment are multi-billion dollar industries crucial to the wellbeing of the public. Doctors and other members of the health-care industry do their best to provide excellent care for the nation’s sick and injured, while scientists and researchers work to develop new drugs and technologies to fight disease. We often view medical care as a basic human right; something that all persons, rich or poor, should have access to in times of need. But despite our notions of what healthcare should be, those who make a living in this industry, specifically owners of firms, must contend with the same economic questions facing businesses in any industry. To learn more about this vast service industry, I interviewed Dr. Martin Slez, a dentist/oral surgeon and owner of a medical practice that provides both general care and specialized treatments for oral diseases. Of the topics discussed, firm goals, pricing, costs, and technology stood out as particularly interesting and unique facets of the organization, as they differed considerably from those in other industries.
Reist, D., & VandeCreek, L. (2004). The pharmaceutical industry’s use of gifts and educational events to influence prescription practices: Ethical dilemmas and implications for psychologists. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 35, 329-335. doi: 10.1037/0735-7028.35.4.329