Price Gouging Research Paper
Price Gouging of life-saving drugs According to the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy," experts say that recent increases in the prices of off patent generic drugs are closely tied to the drug shortages that have plagued hospitals for years". These shortages led to the pharmaceutical developers of Epipen raising the price of this life saving drug by almost 400 percent in the beginning of 2016 (Rubin, Rita). Many United States citizens depend on this drug because of the short amount of time they have to receive treatment after an allergic reaction. If a small child that has a peanut allergy touches a peanut to his or her tongue, the child has about 5-10 minutes to get treatment before their airway is completely closed. This reaction
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A patient may choose a treatment that is less successful because the cost of the more effective drug is out of their price range. If a cancer patient is needing a drug that will keep their pain to a tolerable level, they should be able to do so and not worry about how expensive they are. According to Margaret R. Mclean, associate director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and Center bioethics director," Burdensome expense should never be our sole consideration, especially at the end of life, but in the current health care climate, it is best to bring the money elephant out of the shadows and deliberately and carefully consider the ever-increasing cost of health care and the burden it imposes on patients, families, and communities." This is simply stating that in the current healthcare world the patient should not worry about how much pain they are in. They should worry about the cost instead. The patient should not have to undergo extreme pain and illness because the drug that they need is well overpriced and out of their price range. Ethically they should be able to undergo treatment and be kept comfortable until their time of death. In Conclusion, companies that gouge the prices on life saving drugs are doing so unethically. They are abusing the law that allows them to create a patent on a drug and set the price to satisfy their wants. They do not take the
A patient may choose a treatment that is less successful because the cost of the more effective drug is out of their price range. If a cancer patient is needing a drug that will keep their pain to a tolerable level, they should be able to do so and not worry about how expensive they are. According to Margaret R. Mclean, associate director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and Center bioethics director," Burdensome expense should never be our sole consideration, especially at the end of life, but in the current health care climate, it is best to bring the money elephant out of the shadows and deliberately and carefully consider the ever-increasing cost of health care and the burden it imposes on patients, families, and communities." This is simply stating that in the current healthcare world the patient should not worry about how much pain they are in. They should worry about the cost instead. The patient should not have to undergo extreme pain and illness because the drug that they need is well overpriced and out of their price range. Ethically they should be able to undergo treatment and be kept comfortable until their time of death. In Conclusion, companies that gouge the prices on life saving drugs are doing so unethically. They are abusing the law that allows them to create a patent on a drug and set the price to satisfy their wants. They do not take the