The Conscience of a Pharmacist


Book Description

At a point in an individual's journey as a pharmacist, one becomes aware of the immense gap between the potential and the actual performance of pharmacy as a health profession. For some pharmacists, this is a fleeting cognizance with a significance so troubling that it is denied and buried forever. Other common reactions include resignation, frustration, cynicism, and escape. The most constructive response is dedication to reform of the profession, in whatever sphere of influence a pharmacist has. A spirit of reform shaped the essays in this book, which were first published as editorials in the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy(AJHP). The editorials selected for this book-half of them written in 1990s, the rest earlier-are still relevant to the state of pharmacy today. In some cases, the essays offer historical perspective on particular choices the profession has made, such as the adoption of Pharm.D. degree education as the minimum for all new practitioners. The hope is that this book will attract and arouse new readers-the practitioners, educators, residents, and students who have not been exposed to the pharmacy literature of the past twenty years-and incite them to make pharmacy a better profession.




Conscientious Objection in Health Care


Book Description

Historically associated with military service, conscientious objection has become a significant phenomenon in health care. Mark Wicclair offers a comprehensive ethical analysis of conscientious objection in three representative health care professions: medicine, nursing and pharmacy. He critically examines two extreme positions: the 'incompatibility thesis', that it is contrary to the professional obligations of practitioners to refuse provision of any service within the scope of their professional competence; and 'conscience absolutism', that they should be exempted from performing any action contrary to their conscience. He argues for a compromise approach that accommodates conscience-based refusals within the limits of specified ethical constraints. He also explores conscientious objection by students in each of the three professions, discusses conscience protection legislation and conscience-based refusals by pharmacies and hospitals, and analyzes several cases. His book is a valuable resource for scholars, professionals, trainees, students, and anyone interested in this increasingly important aspect of health care.




Case Studies in Pharmacy Ethics


Book Description

Pharmacists face ethical choices constantly -- sometimes dramatic life-and-death decisions, but more often subtle, less conspicuous choices that are nonetheless important. Among the topics confronted are assisted suicide, conscientious refusal, pain management, equitable distribution of drug resources within institutions and managed care plans, confidentiality, and alternative and non-traditional therapies. Veatch and Haddad's book, first published in 1999, was the first collection of case studies based on the real experiences of practicing pharmacists, for use as a teaching tool for pharmacy students. The second edition accounts for the many changes in pharmacy since 1999, including assisted suicide in Oregon, the purchasing of less expensive drugs from Canada, and the influence of managed care on prescriptions. The presentation of some cases is shortened, most are revised and updated, and two new chapters have been added. The first new chapter presents a new model for analyzing cases, while the second focuses on the ethics of new drug distribution systems, for example hospitals where pharmacists are forced to choose drugs based on cost-effectiveness, and internet based pharmacies.




The Conscience of a Pharmacist


Book Description

A collection of essays written by William A. Zellmer. Include comment on important events in health-system pharmacy over the past 30 years. Essays are grouped into topics (such as "Pharmacy's Professional Imper ative," "Pharmacists and Patient Safety."







Ethics in Pharmacy Practice: A Practical Guide


Book Description

This textbook offers a unique and accessible approach to ethical decision-making for practicing pharmacists and student pharmacists. Unlike other texts, it gives clear guidance based on the fundamental principles of moral philosophy, explaining them in simple language and illustrating them with abundant clinical examples and case studies. The strength of this text is in its emphasis on normative ethics and critical thinking, and that there is truly a best answer in the vast majority of cases, no matter how complex. The authors place high trust in a pharmacist’s moral judgment. This teaches the reader how to think, based on ethical principles, not necessarily what to think. This means navigating between the two extremes of overly theoretical and excessively prescriptive. The cogent framework given in this text uses the language of competing duties, identifying the moral principles at stake that create duties for the pharmacist. This is the balancing act of normative ethics, and of deciding which duties should prevail in a given clinical situation. This work presents a clear-cut pathway for resolving ethical dilemmas encountered by pharmacists, based on foundational principles and critical thinking. Presents a clear-cut pathway for resolving the ethical dilemmas encountered by pharmacists, based on foundational principles and critical thinking. Jon E. Sprague, RPh, PhD, Director of Science and Research for the Ohio Attorney General




The Pharmacist of Auschwitz


Book Description




The Shocking Truth about Pharmacy


Book Description

In this explosive new book, Dennis Miller pulls the curtain wide open and exposes many previously hidden facts that are downright terrifying about pharmacy, drugs, pharmacists and chain drug stores. This is the first-ever in-depth expose'' of pharmacy written by a pharmacist. The author takes readers behind the prescription counter and reveals a wide range of critical insights that are not available anywhere else. This is an extremely important and urgently needed book for both pharmacists and the general public. It can--and should--permanently change the world of pills. It is a long overdue expose'' of the lies, hype, deceptions, distortions, and magical thinking that are so pervasive in this field. Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) sets a minimum price for paperback books using this publishing platform. The minimum price that KDP allows for this 430-page paperback book is $10.02. The author receives no royalties for the paperback version of this book. It is the author''s hope that price is not a limiting factor in the decision to read this book. The author is not interested in profiting financially from this book. The author hopes that this book prompts a widespread discussion of the critical issues regarding pharmacists, pharmaceuticals, pharmacy and, indeed, the viability of the profession. The author is not aware of any other book on the market that exposes the shocking truth from the perspective of a pharmacist. This book includes dozens of e-mails the author received from pharmacists as a result of his commentaries for nearly two decades in Drug Topics, one of the most popular magazines for pharmacists. These pharmacists'' e-mails reveal a very disturbing side of pharmacy about which the public is almost certainly unaware. With pharmaceuticals playing such a pivotal role in American society, the public urgently needs to understand how pharmacists have been complicit in legitimizing and promoting pill solutions for every conceivable health or medical problem. Pharmacy customers often say things like this to pharmacists: "I''m not sure whether I really want to take this drug my doctor prescribed. What do you think? Do you think it''s safe?" Pharmacy customers need to understand pharmacists'' attitudes and biases to fully appreciate the very wide variety of responses. Some of the issues discussed in this book include: What do pharmacists really think about the drugs they dispense? Have pharmacists swallowed Big Pharma''s Kool-Aid? Why are so many pharmacists disillusioned? Why pharmacy often resembles a religion or cult. Should pharmacists be more transparent about the risks versus benefits of pills? Are pharmacists as positive and supportive of drugs in conversations with close friends and family in comparison to discussions with customers? Do pharmacists take more (or fewer) pills than our customers? Do pharmacists feel that Americans are overmedicated (or grossly overmedicated)? Do pharmacists feel pressure from chain drug store corporate management to be basically positive and supportive toward drugs and to downplay adverse effects? Do pharmacists agree with Pharma''s overwhelmingly mechanistic and reductionist approach toward illness? What causes many pharmacists to wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat? Do pharmacists feel that pharmacy school focuses too heavily on molecules, cells and chemistry rather than on the health of the whole person? Why are pharmacists silent about the uneven quality with some generic drugs? Do pharmacists feel that many of our customers would be healthier spending their money at a farmers market rather than at a drug store? Are pharmacists nagged by the concern that they are supporting and legitimizing a model of health based disproportionately on pills rather than prevention?




The Conscience Wars


Book Description

Explores the multifaceted debate on the interconnection between conscientious objections, religious liberty, and the equality of women and sexual minorities.




Conscience in Reproductive Health Care


Book Description

In Conscience in Reproductive Health Care, Carolyn McLeod responds to a growing worldwide trend of health care professionals conscientiously refusing to provide abortions and similar reproductive health services in countries where these services are legal and professionally accepted. She argues that conscientious objectors in health care should have to prioritize the interests of patients in receiving care over their own interest in acting on their conscience. McLeod defends this 'prioritizing approach' to conscientious objection over the more popular 'compromise approach' in bioethics--without downplaying the importance of health care professionals having a conscience or the moral complexity of their conscientious refusals. She begins with a description of what is at stake for the main parties to the conflicts generated by conscientious refusals in reproductive health care: the objector and the patient. Her central argument for the prioritizing approach is that health care professionals who are charged with gatekeeping access to services such as abortions are fiduciaries for their patients and for the public they are licensed to serve. As such, they have a duty of loyalty to these beneficiaries and must give primacy to their interests in gaining access to care. McLeod provides insights into ethical issues extending beyond the question of conscientious refusal, including the value of conscience and the fundamental moral nature of the relationships health care professionals have with current and prospective patients.