Assignment 2: Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs

Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs

Medical errors may put patients at risk and can result in death. The errors are common occurrences in the administration of health care services. When providing medication, physicians and doctors should use caution, evidence-based, and informed decisions . To achieve excellent patient outcomes, the correct use of drugs is essential. Health practitioners need to adhere to legal and ethical standards while prescribing medication to patients. Moreover, nurses must be well-versed on the legal and ethical ramifications of prescribing medicines to specific patients and circumstances (Price et al., 2018). The paper will use a situation in which an adult dosage was administered to an infant who was only five years old. The patient suffers the most when many people are involved in the chain of the improper subscription.

An older patient’s prescriber is in the first position in the chain of events that lead to the administration of prescribed medicine. The prescribing doctor is the first person to make a mistake. Ethics and law are unjustified when the practitioners make wrong prescriptions. The prescriber is well aware of the patient’s status as a minor (Parimbelli et al., 2018). According to a conventional senior practitioner, children are in danger of overdosing, and the practitioner is at risk of a lawsuit if they are prescribed the wrong medications. It is also the pharmacist’s fault for making the prescriber’s error to become worse by giving the wrong prescription to the patient. Pharmacists should be concerned about the health of the patients they treat. Patients’ demographic characteristics, such as age and sex, must be considered before prescribing drugs (Khazzaka, 2019). Ethical and legal principles have not been broken by the patient and their loved ones when they take the wrongly prescribed medicines. Therefore, patients should believe in their doctors and take their prescriptions without doubting their expertise.

Calling the patient and setting up an appointment for a physical examination is the first strategy in getting to know the patient before prescribing medicine. In order to get a complete picture of the patient’s medical history, a physical examination and an interview are necessary. The method may also expose quack practitioners, under-trained practitioners, and pseudo practitioners (Parimbelli et al., 2018). Recording medical mistakes and implementing legislative frameworks to deal with instances in court is essential for the healthcare industry to underline the seriousness of medical errors.

The second strategy is that a clinical test should be performed before administering any medication to establish the patient’s disease. Thirdly, prescriptive decision-making models may also be used by incorporating the patient’s family and prior health conditions (Mitchell & Oliphant, 2016). Medical professionals are expected to follow a code of conduct in their interactions with patients. Implementing a rule like “performing well under all situations” would need a report and fast-tracking the kid to guarantee the danger is dealt with (Khazzaka, 2019). Prescribers and pharmacists are thus morally and legally culpable of providing the incorrect medication.

Before prescribing medications, the doctor or pharmacist should take the results of the patient’s blood tests and demographic information into account. The amount and kind of drugs prescribed to a patient are based on the results of these studies. Also, the prescription has to be re-evaluated to make sure it matches the patient’s requirements. If a doctor does not have the knowledge or expertise to write a good prescription, they should admit their mistakes. Ego-driven drug mistakes would be reduced as a consequence.

References

Khazzaka, M. (2019). Pharmaceutical marketing strategies’ influence on physicians’ prescribing pattern in Lebanon: ethics, gifts, and samples. BMC health services research, 19(1), 1-11.

Mitchell, A., & Oliphant, C. M. (2016). Responsibility for Ethical Prescribing. Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 12, 3.

Parimbelli, E., Bottalico, B., Losiouk, E., Tomasi, M., Santosuosso, A., Lanzola, G., ... & Bellazzi, R. (2018). Trusting telemedicine: a discussion on risks, safety, legal implications and liability of involved stakeholders. International journal of medical informatics, 112, 90-98.

Price, H. R., Collier, A. C., & Wright, T. E. (2018). Screening pregnant women and their neonates for illicit drug use: consideration of the integrated technical, medical, ethical, legal, and social issues. Frontiers in pharmacolo