The document discusses a moral dilemma around recommending medications to others without proper knowledge of their effects or ingredients. It describes a scenario where a person recommends over-the-counter drugs to a friend for back pain and sleep issues after they worked for themselves, but the friend has an allergic reaction. The document then examines how direct-to-consumer drug advertising can contribute to these types of dilemmas by misleading consumers and promoting self-diagnosis without medical advice. It argues people should always consult doctors rather than believe advertisements or recommend medications to others without understanding potential side effects or interactions.
The document discusses a moral dilemma around recommending medications to others without proper knowledge of their effects or ingredients. It describes a scenario where a person recommends over-the-counter drugs to a friend for back pain and sleep issues after they worked for themselves, but the friend has an allergic reaction. The document then examines how direct-to-consumer drug advertising can contribute to these types of dilemmas by misleading consumers and promoting self-diagnosis without medical advice. It argues people should always consult doctors rather than believe advertisements or recommend medications to others without understanding potential side effects or interactions.
The document discusses a moral dilemma around recommending medications to others without proper knowledge of their effects or ingredients. It describes a scenario where a person recommends over-the-counter drugs to a friend for back pain and sleep issues after they worked for themselves, but the friend has an allergic reaction. The document then examines how direct-to-consumer drug advertising can contribute to these types of dilemmas by misleading consumers and promoting self-diagnosis without medical advice. It argues people should always consult doctors rather than believe advertisements or recommend medications to others without understanding potential side effects or interactions.
The document discusses a moral dilemma around recommending medications to others without proper knowledge of their effects or ingredients. It describes a scenario where a person recommends over-the-counter drugs to a friend for back pain and sleep issues after they worked for themselves, but the friend has an allergic reaction. The document then examines how direct-to-consumer drug advertising can contribute to these types of dilemmas by misleading consumers and promoting self-diagnosis without medical advice. It argues people should always consult doctors rather than believe advertisements or recommend medications to others without understanding potential side effects or interactions.
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
Download as docx, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1/ 6
“Is This Medication Good for Me?
A Moral Dilemma”
Script for vlog
[HOOK]
Have you ever seen an ad while watching TV or scrolling through your phone in which a person was suffering from a severe back pain, but the pain magically disappeared after consuming a small round tablet?
Or a person was having trouble sleeping but was able to fall asleep quickly after taking another type of small tablet.
Imagine you were experiencing both back pain and difficulty sleeping, so you went to a pharmacy and ordered the drugs you saw in an ad.
You read the directions and ingredients of the drugs, but you don't understand the terms that are written there.
You decided to consume the drug, believing that it was safe because you saw it advertised, and were surprised that it worked for you.
On the following morning, your friend asked for your help because he was also experiencing severe back pain and difficulty sleeping.
You paused for a moment before recommending those drugs to your friend despite not knowing what was in them. In your mind, nothing bad happened to you so maybe that will also be the case for your friend.
The next day, your friend informed you that he had a severe allergic reaction to one of the drugs. Is it your fault that your friend had a severe allergic reaction, or is it the fault of the widely advertised drug?
[INTRO]
A pleasant day to everyone! I would like to welcome you all to my vlog entitled “Is This Medication Good for Me? A Moral Dilemma” but first let me give a short introduction about myself. I am _____ a student from ____ So, before I explain what the scenario earlier is for, let me discuss our two main topics, around which the scenario later will revolve. These two main topics are defining moral dilemmas and explaining why the use of DTCA, or direct-to-consumer advertising of drug companies can cause moral dilemmas.
[INTRO TO MORAL DILEMMA]
Now what is a moral dilemma?
In accordance with Crowder and Turvey (2013) When available options and responsibilities do not allow for moral consequences, a moral dilemma exists. In such cases, a decision or action is expected or considered necessary, and all of the available options violate some moral obligation.
[MORAL DILEMMA IN RELATION WITH THE HOOK]
In the previous situation, the moral dilemma you faced was whether to help your friend and risk his health in the process, or not to help your friend with his back pain and sleeping problems.
You have two options, both with serious consequences. If you choose Option 1, which is to assist your friend, you are immediately jeopardizing his health. If you choose option 2, which is to not assist your friend, you will be viewed as a careless friend who allows his friend to suffer from back pain and sleeping problems.
As you can see, both options have nearly identical outcomes. However, the first option will initially make you feel like a good person before crushing you with guilt when your friend tells you he had a severe allergic reaction to one of the drugs. On the other hand, the second option immediately crushes you with guilt for not assisting your friend.
[AUTONOMY AND JUSTICE]
When faced with a moral dilemma concerning a person's health and well-being, autonomy and justice play an essential part in influencing an individual's decision- making process. Autonomy is defined as the ability to make an informed, involuntary choice. In the medical field, this widely known autonomy focuses on the right of patients to make independent decisions about their care based on their individual or cultural values and convictions. Patient autonomy is a fundamental rule of nursing in which the patient has the right to refuse medications, treatment options, or procedures.
The ethics of justice, on the other hand, is an ethical perception in which moral judgments are made on the foundation of universal norms and procedures, in an unbiased and reliable manner, with the goal of guaranteeing the equal and fair treatment of all individuals.
[INTRO TO DTCA]
Moving on, let us now discuss drug companies' direct-to-consumer advertising.
There are both positive and negative views on DTCA.
Let us begin with the positive perspective.
As mentioned by Almasi et al. (2006) By informing the public about treatment options, DTCA promotes the appropriate use of drugs for high-priority illnesses, such as statin use in individuals with ischemic heart disease. However, critics argue that the information in the advertisements is frequently biased and misleading and that DTCA raises prescription costs without providing net evidence of medical benefits.
Now for the negative perspective.
In research from Parekh and Shrank (2018) DTCA has the potential to raise the cost of pharmaceuticals with comparable efficacy, it can lead to life threatening decisions due to misinformation, and it can have a number of negative consequences for the doctor- patient relationship.
DTCA is concerned with the marketing and advertising of pharmaceutical products to
patients rather than health professionals. Furthermore, there are numerous claims that DTCA raises medical costs for patients. Therefore, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. Now how does this create a moral dilemma?
Because drug companies directly advertise their products to consumers, take note that the majority of whom are not medical professionals, they will be unable to determine whether or not the advertised medications are safe for them.
Because it is an advertisement, it will be biased and will only show the drug's positive effects. Only a few seconds are allotted for the warning and potential negative health effects of the drug. As a result, consumers like us are more likely to believe advertisements rather than seek medical advice from doctors.
[DTCA IN RELATION WITH MORAL DILEMMA AND HOOK]
In the previous scenario, you are not a medical professional, but you recommended a drug to a friend without realizing it could be harmful to his or her health.
Would you still recommend a drug to a friend if you knew it contained ingredients that would cause his allergy to flare up? I certainly will not.
We must always keep in mind that what works for you may not work for others because our bodies do not function in the same way.
[CONCLUDING STATEMENT]
We can now see a correlation between moral dilemmas and direct-to-consumer
advertising by pharmaceutical companies, which may benefit some but not the majority of consumers. The preceding scenario is just one of many real-life incidents in which a person's health was threatened due to DTCA.
In summary, to avoid moral dilemmas regarding an individual's health, rather than
recommending drugs that work for you to those seeking assistance, you can always tell them to go consult a doctor so that their health is prioritized and not jeopardized.
Likewise, if you are not feeling well or your body is in pain, go to a clinic or hospital right away. Avoid self-diagnosis and self-medication because, while it may work at first, the longer you ignore the possibility that there is a problem with your health or body, the worse it will become with each passing day. Finally, this is a gentle reminder to not always believe what you see on the internet or watch on television, especially if it has a significant impact on your physical and mental health. The majority of the time, what you see is not always what you get. As a result, it is critical to conduct preliminary research, comprehend what you are about to use or consume, and seek the advice of a professional who can guide you and keep you safe.
[CLOSING REMARK]
With that being said, I hope you have learned something useful for today's discussion. Remember to always trust your doctors and avoid misinformation. Thank you for taking the time to watch this! Have a fantastically blissful day! Reference:
Almasi, E. A., Stafford, R. S., Kravitz, R. L., & Mansfield, P. R. (2006). What Are the
Public Health Effects of Direct-to-Consumer Drug Advertising? PLoS Medicine,
