Misinterpreting Analysis

As a student entering into the pharmaceutical profession it is extremely important for me to obtain as much insight as possible in order to learn about what the career truly consist of. Since this class examines the moral theology of health care professionals, it gave me the opportunity to ask about and understand the moral and ethical thoughts from a pharmacist’s point-of-view. This is a topic that I never really thought about discussing before since it was never really apparent on a daily basis from a student’s point-of-view. However, after interviewing Dr. Erica Cipriano, who works at Walmart Pharmacy, I was able to learn about and reflect on different ethical and moral topics that I wouldn't have thought about myself. She graduated …show more content…
Cipriano if following the law is the same as being ethical or moral, she answered no because even though something may be legal, she finds that she is often conflicted by moral issues. An example that she gave was dispensing legal prescriptions for narcotics to people who she strongly believed are addicts. However, to me this may be a contradicting analysis because one will not actually know for sure if the patient is an addict or actually in need for the medication. Misinterpreting the needs of a patient due to one’s own view can be extremely dangerous and even deadly because one will not know for sure the intentions of the patient. A pharmacist should avoid discriminatory practices, behavior or work conditions that impair professional judgment, and actions that compromise dedication to the best interests of …show more content…
Cipriano brought up an very interesting ethical/moral issues that I wasn’t aware about before. The right to die laws. This issue addresses the problem of dispensing prescriptions that the pharmacist knows will kill the patient to end his/her sufferings. In a career where one is suppose to help and do no harm, the pharmacist may feel like he/she has failed in that role by dispensing life-ending medication. Ethically, it may be the right thing to supply the medicine because the patient might actually need it, but morally, it feels wrong. However, as a pharmacist, I would still dispense the drug because I might not know the whole story behind the patient’s need and for the physician to prescribe such medication. It is important for the pharmacist to respect the rights of these patients, as well as personal and cultural differences among patients. While this may be a minor crisis now, hopefully in the future, pharmacists will be given the chance to make the choice of opting out of dispensing life-ending drugs, if it truly troubles