Ethics and pharmacy

In his book Practical Ethics (1979), Peter Singer observes: ‘an ethical judgment that is no good in practice must suffer from a theoretical defect as well, for the whole point of ethical judgments is to guide practice’. This has implications for pharmacists, who may be expected to make ethical judgments that not only guide their practice but are also consistent with professional obligations. Ethics in the pharmacy profession has assumed increasing importance given its evolution from a prescription dispensing service to its current standing where pharmacists' duties include being both patient-centred providers of medical and public health advice, and independent prescribers – and managers – of medicines.

For example, Bolt et al (2015) consider ethical aspects in the case of a 21-year-old woman who presented to a pharmacist a dermatologist's prescription for isotretinoin, which has teratogenic potential and is contraindicated in pregnancy, to treat her severe cystic acne. The options available to the pharmacist include dispensing isotretinoin with no further discussion, not dispensing if the patient does not use contraception, and dispensing following consultation with the patient and her dermatologist. When Risvoll et al (2019) investigated pharmacy employees involved in the sale of dietary supplements (DS) to patients with dementia, they concluded: ‘pharmacy employees do not see themselves as primarily responsible for the safe use of DS by persons with dementia. Moreover, they have limited experience with the unsafe use of DS by these persons'.