I. Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the recent ethical scandal of Dr. Eugene J. Gosy of Williamsville, New York. Dr. Gosy is a local pain management specialist who has been accused of illegally prescribing pain medication which resulted in six patient deaths. The 166-count federal indictment states that Dr. Gosy disregarded warning signs of abuse or addiction in his patients. Instead, he continued to prescribe millions of prescription pills for no legitimate medical purpose. (Fairbanks, 2017) This paper will further examine the ethical dilemma by investigating the facts presented against Dr. Gosy, considering contextual factors that may have played a role in his decision making process, and detailing the outcomes of the ethical scandal. I will also provide my personal ethical perspective on the issue, based on the information collected.
II. The Ethical Issue at Hand …show more content…
Now, more than ever, a Physician whose goal is to provide care for patients with chronic pain must answer a number of difficult questions. According to the article Ethical Principles in Pain Management by Mark Sullivan, “These [questions] include: What importance does pain have in medicine? What role does pain management play in the clinical care of patients? What duties do health care practitioners have concerning the pain of their patients? What other duties must be balanced against the duty to provide pain relief?” (Sullivan,
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the recent ethical scandal of Dr. Eugene J. Gosy of Williamsville, New York. Dr. Gosy is a local pain management specialist who has been accused of illegally prescribing pain medication which resulted in six patient deaths. The 166-count federal indictment states that Dr. Gosy disregarded warning signs of abuse or addiction in his patients. Instead, he continued to prescribe millions of prescription pills for no legitimate medical purpose. (Fairbanks, 2017) This paper will further examine the ethical dilemma by investigating the facts presented against Dr. Gosy, considering contextual factors that may have played a role in his decision making process, and detailing the outcomes of the ethical scandal. I will also provide my personal ethical perspective on the issue, based on the information collected.
II. The Ethical Issue at Hand …show more content…
Now, more than ever, a Physician whose goal is to provide care for patients with chronic pain must answer a number of difficult questions. According to the article Ethical Principles in Pain Management by Mark Sullivan, “These [questions] include: What importance does pain have in medicine? What role does pain management play in the clinical care of patients? What duties do health care practitioners have concerning the pain of their patients? What other duties must be balanced against the duty to provide pain relief?” (Sullivan,