The Ethics of Gift Giving in the Pharmaceutica Industry: Annotated Bibliography

1857 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Medical ethicas quiz

Preface:

In the Pharmaceutical Industry an ethical dilemma has arise over the years of gift giving from the drug companies to the doctors they encounter during their drug promotion visits. The medical sales consultants influence doctors to purchase their drugs and other medical items by giving them prestigious gifts to intrigue them to choose their company over their competitors. The purpose of my studies is to analyze gift giving in the industry and determine if the action is ethical or unethical. My data was compiled between February-March 20014, and consisted of four sources, which are all website articles written by professionals in the medical field.

First Bibliographic Citation:

Averill, Sarah. "Is It Ever Okay to Accept Gifts From 'Big Pharma'?" Medscape. Medscape, 25 Feb. 2011. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. .

Rhetorical Situation:

Sarah Averill wrote this website article February 25, 2011, for the purpose of providing information to readers about the ethical issue behind gift giving. She also wanted provide readers with evidence on why gift giving in the pharmaceutical industry is unethical.The audience of this article are people in the medical field and a general audience of people who work and faces the dilemma of gift giving.

Summary:

In “Is it Ever Okay to Accept Gifts From ‘Big Pharma’?, Sarah Averill, St. Joseph’s Hospital and SUNY Upstate Medical University, provided information on why it is unethical for physicians to accept gifts from drug companies and consultants. Averill claimed that it is unethical to accept gifts from consultants because it influence prescribing habits by the physicians. She stated “ Did a fruit smoothie actually motivate them to writ...

... middle of paper ...

... and policies should be developed to prevent it. Ken Johnson angle of vision is that gift giving should be allowed in the industry but with conditions. This article helped me with my research question because it provided two claims that were opposite from each other. One provided me with the positive effects of gift giving and the other the negative effects. By getting both sides argue I was able to see that gift giving can be ethical and unethical under certain circumstances. They nothe deal with gift giving and provided me factual evidence that are supported by primary sources. It strengths are that it is unbiased, it gives the cons are pros, their claims are supported by evidence, and they provided me with information that deals with my topic directly. The weakness of the article is it did not go in depth that much, and it could have provided more information.

Show More
Related

  • Dr. John Abramson Overdosed America Summary

    859 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Corruption of the Pharmaceutical Industry in America

    2937 Words  | 6 Pages

    "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.

    Read More

  • Death with Dignity or Sanctity of Life: Who Gets to Choose?

    978 Words  | 2 Pages

    Denise Dudzinski, PhD, MTS, Helene Starks, PhD, MPH, Nicole White, MD, MA (2009) ETHICS IN MEDICINE. Retrieved from: http://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/pad.html

    Read More

  • case study 4

    583 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Ethics, Pharmacists and Robert R. Courtney

    1666 Words  | 4 Pages

    In July 2001 Robert R. Courtney’s illegal and highly unethical behavior was brought to the attention of local authorities and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Courtney’s blatant disregard for the trust patients placed in him was evidenced by his daily violations of their rights and expectations while he supposedly provided quality healthcare service. By August 2001, following investigation, the FBI filed 20 federal charges against Courtney that carried a maximum prison sentence of 196 years (United Press International, 2002). $8 million of his assets which were estimated to be in excess of $10 million were frozen to be used as restitution for victims in the criminal case. Following a plea agreement Courtney’s prison sentence was pared down to 30 years and he and his company received a $15 million fine

    Read More

  • Morality of Giving

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    How much money is one morally obligated to give to relief overseas? Many In people would say that although it is a good thing to do, one is not obligated to give anything. Other people would say that if a person has more than he needs, then he should donate a portion of what he has. Peter Singer, however, proposes a radically different view. His essay, “Famine, Affluence, and Morality,” focuses on the Bengal crisis in 1971 and claims that one is morally obligated to give as much as possible. His thesis supports the idea that “We ought to give until we reach the level of marginal utility – that is, the level at which, by giving more, I would cause as much suffering to myself or my dependents as I would relieve by my gift” (399). He says that one's obligation to give to people in need half-way around the world is just as strong as the obligation to give to one's neighbor in need. Even more than that, he says that one should keep giving until, by giving more, you would be in a worse position than the people one means to help. Singer's claim is so different than people's typical idea of morality that is it is easy to quickly dismiss it as being absurd. Saying that one should provide monetary relief to the point that you are in as bad a position as those receiving your aid seems to go against common sense. However, when the evidence he presents is considered, it is impossible not to wonder if he might be right.

    Read More

  • Leadership Briefing: Poor Ethical Practices Of Pharmaceutical Companies

    946 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Not-for-Profit Healthcare, For-profit Healthcare and Physician Incentives

    1258 Words  | 3 Pages

    Some medical facilities are not-for-profit organizations. They can be a charitable organization or an educational organization or both. There are other not-for-profit medical and public health programs that provide health care to many communities in this country. Some of the best hospitals in America are educational not-for-profit facilities. They work with some of the newest technology and some perform experimental procedures. Most public health programs are ran as not-for-profit organizations and operated for charitable and educational purposes. The not-for-profit organization is not liable to pay taxes under IRS code 501 (c)(3) (.org). This allows the organization to put its revenues back into the organization versus having to pay investors or owners. Unfortunately, over the past 20 years the amount of for-profit organizations has increased (Santa). The growing commercialization of health care has ethical implications and has become a matter of heated controversy (Santa). It’s becoming more difficult despite all the laws and regulations to protect patient’s privacy and confidentiality. An ethical implication that for-profits face is physicians receiving incentives for keeping cost down to increase profits. Some for-profits will encourage doctors to promote profit producing drugs, surgeries, tests and treatments. (Santa). Some of these same physicians may own the facility they operate which creates a huge conflict. On the other hand, financial incentives can cause physicians to delay important tests and treatments or to not perform them at all. In some cases patients are being discharged from hospitals before they are ready to go home (Orentlicher). On an ethical standpoint, the patient’s well being is put in jeopardy and the...

    Read More

  • The Rise in the Price of Prescription Drugs

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    3Walker, Hugh: Market Power and Price levels in the Ethical Drug Industry; Indiana University Press, 1971, P 25.

    Read More

  • Giving Children ADHD Medication

    1641 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sharpe, Katherine. “Medication: The Smart-pill Oversell.” Nature: International Weekly Journal of Science. Nature Publishing Group. 12 Feb. 2014. Web. 7 March 2014.

    Read More

  • Nursing Ethics Case Study

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    In critical and complicating medical cases, family members often find it tedious to decide as to what mode or procedure of treatment is idyllic for the recovery of their patient. In such cases, well-qualified and medically educated can play a pivotal role in deciding the kind of treatment that should be given to the patient to enhance its recovery. In a contrary situation a nurse may know that administering a particular drug may improve the patient’s condition, but may be refrained from conducting the required action due to doctor’s absence or non-permission. There are numerous cases through which ethical dilemmas in the profession of nursing can be discussed. Nurses in order to remain within the defined boundaries ...

    Read More

  • The Power and Benefits of Monopolies in the Pharmaceutical Industry

    1993 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Negatives Of Personal Morality In Healthcare

    989 Words  | 2 Pages

    When one initially chooses a career path, one rarely looks at all the negatives that may be associated with that choice. Most career paths have some negatives associated with the field, but few face the moral dilemmas associated with modern healthcare. Those who choose to be in the healthcare profession today are faced with moral and ethical dilemmas that would make King Solomon tear his hair out. In many cases, doctors, and sometimes nurses, are faced with life and death decisions without the benefit of knowing the patient’s, or the patient’s family’s, wishes. However, aside from those tragic times when a patient’s wishes are unknown, healthcare professionals must always put their own morals aside, and act

    Read More

  • Oncology Case Study Essay

    794 Words  | 2 Pages

    There were many ethical issues within this case; the first indication of an ethical problem was the administration of an incorrect medication to the patient. The doctor, administration, and providers involved in the care of the patient must decide what is ethically moral when informing the patient. I believe that it is the patient’s right to know that she received the wrong medication for a number of days. Although no major medical consequences occurred, I believe this

    Read More

  • Ethics and Scientific Research

    1422 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Pharma Firm Lundbeck Wins Ethical Award for Stopping Use of Drugs in Executions." Reprieve. March 29, 2012. http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/2012_03_29_lundbeck_ethical_award/.

    Read More

More about The Ethics of Gift Giving in the Pharmaceutica Industry: Annotated Bibliography

Open Document