These Ethical Dilemmas

Abstract

This article is all about ethical dilemmas among pharmacists, pharmacy students. These ethical dilemmas are mainly concerned about patient rights and patient welfare. Ethical dilemmas are due to conflicts evolving on socio economic issues between fellow pharmacists and physicians. Some argues that ethical dilemmas are also due to changes in pharmacy field and health care systems.

Introduction

Ethical dilemma can be defined as a complex instinct which involves apparent mental conflicts among moral imperatives. Ethical dilemma among pharmacists may takes place mainly due to failure in application of ethical principles, disagreements of ethical behaviour among pharmacists and clients, pharmacists and physicians or even among pharmacists. Ethical dilemma is mainly due to imbalance between basis values, sense of justice and fairness among the above mentioned parties. In 1950-1970 ethical dilemmas in health care systems often affect the physicians but at present it affects health care providers such as pharmacists due evolution of health care system from simple to complex (Lowenthal, 1988).

Ethical dilemma among physicians and pharmacists are due to increased information on diseases caused and treatments and electronic technology. The problem is the information shared between physicians and pharmacists or between two pharmacists. The only way to overcome ethical dilemma among physician and pharmacist is they should complement each other and should work only for patient's welfare (Lowenthal, 1988).

One of the most argued topic of ethical dilemma in pharmacy is use of placebo products which made both physicians and pharmacists in problems. Placebo products are the form of therapy and also a form of deception. The dilemma involved in administering the placebo products and not telling the truth for the benefit of patients. The physician prescribes and the pharmacist should dispense the medicaments. If the patient suspects that the prescription has placebo products and questions the pharmacist, then pharmacist refers back the patient to physician or supports the physician intent (Lowenthal, 1988).pharmacist also suggest that placebo products are rarely seen in community health system it is more of dilemma issue in teaching hospitals. Another ethical dilemma in pharmacists is that when a child is overdosed with barbiturates then ethically pharmacists should not dispense any drug to that patient even though the physician says prescription was correctly written. Another ethical dilemma in case of young pharmacists is that whether to fill the prescription or not in the absence of physician but this was clear in case of experienced pharmacists that small dosage drugs, dose regimens and therapeutic drugs can be filled to patients who owned the pharmacy(Lowenthal, 1988).

Students in pharmacy indicated that they would be more comfortable