Drugs, Ethics, and Quality of Life

Weigh pivotal healthcare ethics, law, and public policy issues that resulted in tipping-point legal actionsWeighing the ethical considerations in healthcare and drug issues can be emotionally difficult and mentally challenging. Drugs, Ethics, and Quality of Life: Cases and Materials on Ethical, Legal, and Public Policy Dilemmas in Medicine and Pharmacy Practice is a fascinating casebook that clearly discusses the most contentious ethical conflicts that resulted in legal actions. This easy-to-read text provides all sides of controversial real-life cases that provoke spirited debate while teaching the fundamentals of pharmacy law and ethics. The book is a unique exploration into the basic principles of bioethics, end of life care, and drug research. Drugs, Ethics, and Quality of Life explains in detail the concepts of ethics, quality of life, beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, and justice. Recent cases provide illuminating backdrops for the exploration of these concepts, making them easily understood. A special introduction includes important information about ethics and the pharmaceutical code of ethics. Two appendixes provide further opportunities for discussion and the examination of law and decisions, and resources about drug use decisions and situations. This thought-provoking textbook plainly shows the crucial role ethics plays in today's society. Ethical topics explored in Drugs, Ethics, and Quality of Life includes legal cases on: - tobacco - COX-2 inhibitors - medical marijuana - the morning after pill and other emergency contraceptives - pain medications and palliative care drugs - physician-assisted suicide - drug use in medically futile situations - gene therapy Drugs, Ethics, and Quality of Life is valuable, insightful reading as well as a good adjunct text for pharmacy students, pharmacists, medical students, physicians, bio

Bruce D. White

Foreword, Preface, Acknowledgments, Introduction: Pellegrino on Professionalism: A Human Values Basis for the Healing Arts, Special Additional Introduction: Ethics and a Code of Ethics in Pharmacy Practice, PART I: FOUNDATIONAL BASICS, Chapter 1. Tobacco and Choices: How Values and Definitions Impact Decision Making, Chapter 2. COX-2 Inhibitors and Conflict: How Balancing Beneficence and Nonmaleficence Influences Decision Making, Chapter 3. Marijuana, Individual Liberty, and Police Power: How Autonomy Drives Decision Making, Chapter 4. The "Morning-After" Pill and Systematic Ethics and Public Policy Analysis: How Justice Tempers Decision Making, PART II: PAIN MEDICINES AND END-OF-LIFE DRUGS, Chapter 5. Pain Medicines and Palliative Care Drugs, Chapter 6. Drugs Used for Assisted Suicide, Chapter 7. Drug Use in "Dwindling" Patients and in Medically Futile Situations, PART III: DRUG EXPERIMENTATION, Chapter 8. Gene Therapy and Experimentation, Afterword, Appendix 1. Law and Decisions, Appendix 2. Continuing Dilemmas Involving Drugs, Ethics, and Quality of Life: An Outline for Further Discussion, Notes, Index