The Ethical Landscape in the Medical Research Profession.

The Ethical Landscape in the Medical Research Profession.

The Ethical Landscape the Medical Research Profession

The medical research profession serves the most critical part of the economy. Human health is one of the essential pillars of any administration. However, some of the interests that the profession serve may overlap and create a steady state of conflict. For starters, one of the ethical standards in this profession is to produce quality medicine for a particular medical condition or illness. The rule is set such that the drug they research on, and products meet all the requisite criteria for human use.

In the medical research profession, one of the leading ethical dilemmas is gift-giving. Gift giving is the practice where pharmaceutical companies or researchers want to market their products through doctors or other health care providers. They target people with drug prescribing authority, and the sales representative of a pharmaceutical company offer certain rewards to these practitioners. In some cases, the prescribing nurses and doctors are awarded trips and holidays. The prescribing of the drug is done without offering an alternative to a medication that would have worked better. This act of gift-giving raises an ethical dilemma of whether doctors and health practitioners should be marketing for a particular pharmaceutical company (NCBI, 2003).

That said, the researchers face some ethical dilemmas internally. Most of the research required to come up with the drugs require massive investments. The need for intensive capital injection means seeking funding across the board; hence the commercialization of the profession and the sector at large. In any commercial company, what matters the most is the bottom line. The profit margin more often than not supersedes all other factors. The researchers may be forced to cut corners in the production of the drugs so that they can increase their margins. The cutting of corners means releasing substance products to the market. It also means that the companies will not publish damning reports that will hurt their sales.

The patenting of drugs is also another ethical dilemma. Although it is their right to make a profit for a product they made, it is also unethical that the patenting may deny the drug to a patient in need. It is brought about by the researcher not satisfying the market demand fully. The patent laws also ensure that there is no competition. The lack of competition ensures that monopolies are formed. These newly formed monopolies dictate the prices of the medicine that the patients receive regardless of the financial consequences. The researchers and pharmaceutical sector players have time and again faced accusation of not having the patient welfare at heart.

The Legal Landscape in the Medical Research Profession

Due to the critical nature of the sector, the United States government has come up with a way of regulating the medical research profession. The government has formed the Food and Drug Administration. The primary role of the Food and Drug Administration is to rigorously test the safety, efficacy, and the minimal effects of new drugs. The agency is also mandated in checking and approving the standards of new medical devices. The recent shakeup in the sector has led to the FDA, even including stringent and robust measures of conducting clinical trials. The new rules are in place to ensure the safety of the participants is of the most important to the company(FDA, 2020).

One of the significant legal hazards that exist is the delay in the checking and approving of the new drug. The FDA has put in stringent measures that ensure the medicine go through rigorous tests. These tests may cause delays. Such delays may be a matter of life and death in instances where the drug is safe for human use. In cases of information leak to the public regarding a drug that is experiencing a delay in testing may lead to negative publicity. The negative publicity affects the sales of the drug regardless of the quality assurances that may come from the companies of the FDA (FDA, 2018).

The strict regulation by the FDA is not all gloom and doom. When the FDA approves the product, its sales are likely to increase thanks to the confidence the public has with the drug. The public’s trust in the FDA is transferred to the researcher and the drug company hence reduced marketing budget. The researcher also gets to enjoy the testing and training services that the FDA give. The added layer of testing ensures that their products are up to standard. The standard product has the ripple effect of reduced suites against the researchers and their pharmaceutical companies (FDA, 2018).

Lastly, the FDA offers a lot of information regarding drug testing and clinical trials which reduces the burden of the researchers from explaining to their client. With the knowledge that patients and health practitioners get from the FDA, they feel comfortable purchasing the drug that has their approval. The administration also has a website that details its mandate and responsibility. As such, one can contact them and get the requisite legal aid that they need (FDA, 2018).

My Personal Views.

In my own opinion, I do not see a conflict between the law and ethics of a medical researcher. The rule of law in the sector is in place to ensure that the ethical conduct of the industry is maintained. I believe the end goal of the pharmaceutical industry is to produce drugs and medical equipment that solve medical issues. Making a profit should be their secondary goal. As such, I believe the law that is in place is ensuring such standards are maintained. The introduction or the continued use of the law is not in any way affecting the ethical nature of conducting business in the sector.

The role of a medical researcher is to carry out legal, medical research and come up with solutions that solve medical related problems. The resources in the FDA portal were beneficial. In the future, in case I doubt a drug that has been prescribed to me, I know where to go and the procedure to follow. Lastly, I agree with the entire law and policy that govern the medical research sector. The rules are in place to secure the primary individual, the patient (FDA, 2018).