Ethical Dilemma

1) What would you say or do to the pharmacist? Explain.

I would immediately approach the pharmacist and explain to them that what they’re doing is morally and ethically wrong, possibly even legally wrong. I would respectfully explain to him/her that I am obligated to report what happened to the pharmacy supervisor since this was a pretty big discrepancy.

2) Should you notify anyone else about the incident? Explain.

Yes, I would notify the pharmacy supervisor. I would state all the facts of what happened to ensure that the facts were documented in the event if the patient were to pursue legal action for receiving the wrong medication and being lied to.

3) What do you do or say to the patient? Explain.

I would be completely honest with the patient. Honesty would be the best course of action with this type of situation. The patient has the right to know what happened, especially if there is some sort of complication they could have developed by taking medication they were not prescribed.

4) What are the ethical issues here and how would you deal with them?

I think the biggest ethical issue here is to choose whether to lie or not. I could choose to lie to the customer and go along with the pharmacist about the new prescription or I could lie to myself and believe that there’s no harm with what the pharmacist did. I would hands down choose to come clean about the situation to the customer. Their health and well-being is involved and it is neither morally or ethically right to lie to them or the company. It would be best to just be honest with the customer and the pharmacy supervisor and let superiors above myself handle the situation appropriately.