Running head: WEEK THREE ASSIGNMENT 1 WEEK THREE ASSIGNMENT 6 Week Three Assignment PHI445: Personal & Organizational Ethics Week Three Assignment The case that I chose was Pharmaceuticals (Merck). The pharmaceutical industry is a multi-billion dollar industry that has evolved over decades developing, producing, and marketing various medications to the masses. They deal with increasing criticism in this industry due to the multiple side effects and drug interactions that occur. “In fact, research has shown that more than 100,000 deaths are caused by drug reactions each year in the United States (Null, 2010)” (Fieser, 2015). An ethical and moral dilemma for the pharmaceutical industry is that many drug companies are caught deceiving the public. The pharmaceutical industry continues to face controversy due to their advertising techniques. Pharmaceutical companies began to bypass the healthcare professionals and advertise directly to the patients. This tactic is called direct-to-consumer advertising which began in 1982. In our text is says, “Such advertising, it argued, is problematic “because of the inability of patients to understand medical information and make a rational, informed choice of medication from an array of drugs making similar claims.” The DEA was further concerned about “the messages conveyed to our youth” through such advertising” (Fieser, 2015). The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which is the government agency that ensures the safety and effectiveness of medicines available to Americans. The FDA pushes guidance, compliance, and regulatory information onto the pharmaceutical industry. The FDA publishes regulations in the federal government’s official publication for notifying the public in accordance with the U.S. law, Executive Orders (EO) and memoranda issued by the President. The Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) has been tasked from the FDA with evaluating new drugs before they could be sold to consumers. They also oversee the type of advertising that the pharmaceutical companies use to market their products to consumers to ensure that false or misleading information is not presented. Utilitarianism is the theory that focuses on the cost-benefit analysis which believes that and action is morally right as long as the consequences of some do not out weight the benefits of the majority. They also emphasize goodness and badness in decision making by focusing on how our actions affect human happiness. “An action is morally right if the consequences of that action are more favorable than unfavorable to everyone” (Fieser, 2015). The pharmaceutical companies contend that the drugs they create save thousands of lives worldwide on a daily basis. They live and work under a Pharmacist Code. The Pharmacist Code of Ethics and Oath ...

1. Running head: WEEK THREE ASSIGNMENT
1
WEEK THREE ASSIGNMENT
6
Week Three Assignment
PHI445: Personal & Organizational Ethics
Week Three Assignment
The case that I chose was Pharmaceuticals (Merck). The
pharmaceutical industry is a multi-billion dollar industry that
has evolved over decades developing, producing, and marketing
various medications to the masses. They deal with increasing
criticism in this industry due to the multiple side effects and
drug interactions that occur. “In fact, research has shown that
more than 100,000 deaths are caused by drug reactions each
year in the United States (Null, 2010)” (Fieser, 2015). An
ethical and moral dilemma for the pharmaceutical industry is
that many drug companies are caught deceiving the public. The
pharmaceutical industry continues to face controversy due to
their advertising techniques. Pharmaceutical companies began
to bypass the healthcare professionals and advertise directly to
the patients. This tactic is called direct-to-consumer
advertising which began in 1982. In our text is says, “Such
advertising, it argued, is problematic “because of the inability
of patients to understand medical information and make a
rational, informed choice of medication from an array of drugs
making similar claims.” The DEA was further concerned about
“the messages conveyed to our youth” through such advertising”
(Fieser, 2015).
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which is the
government agency that ensures the safety and effectiveness of

2. medicines available to Americans. The FDA pushes guidance,
compliance, and regulatory information onto the pharmaceutical
industry. The FDA publishes regulations in the federal
government’s official publication for notifying the public in
accordance with the U.S. law, Executive Orders (EO) and
memoranda issued by the President. The Center for Drug
Evaluation and Research (CDER) has been tasked from the FDA
with evaluating new drugs before they could be sold to
consumers. They also oversee the type of advertising that the
pharmaceutical companies use to market their products to
consumers to ensure that false or misleading information is not
presented.
Utilitarianism is the theory that focuses on the cost-benefit
analysis which believes that and action is morally right as long
as the consequences of some do not out weight the benefits of
the majority. They also emphasize goodness and badness in
decision making by focusing on how our actions affect human
happiness. “An action is morally right if the consequences of
that action are more favorable than unfavorable to everyone”
(Fieser, 2015). The pharmaceutical companies contend that the
drugs they create save thousands of lives worldwide on a daily
basis. They live and work under a Pharmacist Code. The
Pharmacist Code of Ethics and Oath is intended to make public
the principles that form the fundamental basis of the roles and
responsibilities of pharmacists. Merck Research Laboratories
worked to find a treatment for river blindness which is an
illness that plagued remote communities in Africa, Latin
America and Yemen for over centuries. “Through the efforts of
a variety of partners, more than 2 billion treatments have been
donated to more than 146,000 communities in 29 countries in
Africa, six countries in Latin America, and in Yemen” (Rea,
Zhang, Baras, 2010). The progress made from the
experimenting and research proved that the results were
accurate and not faked as some would believe.

3. The pharmaceutical industry is taking lives when it
should be saving lives. Duty theory supports my moral position
because it is a view that deals with the obvious and intuitive
nature of moral principles. “The idea behind duty theory is that
we are all born with basic moral principles or guidelines
embedded in us, and we use these to judge the morality of
people’s actions” (Fieser, 2015). This theory also talks to
treating people as though they have value in and of themselves
and it judges the morality of actions based on the action’s
adherence to a rule.
Prescription drug abuse is described as the nonmedical use and
excessive use of prescription drugs. “Although most people
take prescription medications responsibly, an estimated 52
million people (20 percent of those aged 12 and older) have
used prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons at least once in
their lifetimes” (Volkow, 2014). Prescription drug abuse is
rated the highest among teenagers and young adults. The
consequences of this constant rise in abuse is increasing the
emergency room visits and the amounts of overdose deaths
happening to younger individuals. The most commonly abused
medications are pain pills, central nervous system depressants
and stimulants because these are medicines that are usually
prescribed in large amounts and they cause chemical changes in
the body. Virtue ethics talk about our natural desires for
pleasure and we are wired to be drawn towards activities that
are more pleasurable to us. “A large part of our childhood
involves cultivating virtuous habits and avoiding vicious ones,
and during our formative years our parents bear much of the
responsibility to shape us in virtuous directions” (Fieser, 2015).
Prescription drug abuse among elders is a big issue. People
aged 65 years and older make up a small portion of the
population but they account for a third of the spending on
prescription medications. “Older patients are more likely to be
prescribed long-term and multiple prescriptions, and some
experience cognitive decline, which could lead to improper use
of medications” (Volkow, 2014). The older population tend to

4. share medications due to being on fixed incomes which can also
lead to improper use of prescription medications. It is said that
the high usage of OTC medications and dietary supplements by
the older population adds the potential for drug interactions
making these practices more dangerous than in the younger
population.
To solve the problems of people young and old abusing
prescription medications we must apply Virtue ethics. Virtue
ethics tell us that we should act in moderation and develop a
habit of acting virtuously. The young and older adults need to
be educated on preventing and recognizing prescription drug
abuse so that they will be equipped to identify the signs
amongst each other.
References
Fieser, J. (2015). Introduction to business ethics [Electronic
version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/
Friedman, M. (1970, September 13). The social responsibility of
business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine.
Retrieved from http://highered.mcgraw-
hill.com/sites/dl/free/0073524697/910345/Appendices.pdf
Rea, P., Zhang, V., & Baras, Y. (2010, July-August). Ivermectin
and river blindness. American Scientist, 98, 294-303. Retrieved
from
http://izt.ciens.ucv.ve/ecologia/Archivos/ECO_POB%202010/E
COPO6_2010/Rea%20et%20al%202010.pdf
Volkow, N. D. (2014). Prescription Drug Abuse. Retrieved from
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-
reports/prescription-drugs/director
Zúñiga y Postigo, G. (2015). The moral good in three traditional
ethical theories [PowerPoint Slides].

5. JOURNAL OF DOCUMENTS
Overview: The Journal of Documents, which is the second
longer-format assignment of this course, gives us opportunities
to work with the building blocks that form history. By
definition, primary sources are written documents and non-
written objects created by persons living awhile ago, which can
be used in order to reconstruct the past. Such items allow
today’s readers and viewers to connect with the ideas, points of
view, lifestyles and material conditions of earlier generations.
Carefully utilized, primary sources ultimately give users clearer
insights into human nature, the practices we do and the objects
we use today. By noting differences and similarities, primary
sources can help us to build an appreciation of diversity and to
understand ourselves and our world better in the present time.
Assignment goals: will look carefully at the primary document,
a source written by a person of an earlier generation and
originally intended (usually) for use by a contemporary.
This paper has the following objectives in mind:
· To unearth lifestyles and worldviews of people from the past,
as seen in primary sources.
· To gain skills that can help us to explore documents for
history courses.
· To see how a study of the past can help us to better understand
ourselves today.
The term journal,in this case, is not to a day-to-day recollecting
of one’s life, but a somewhat more casual approach to historical
content associated with this course. You will summarize a few
aspects that you believe to be important from select documents.
Furthermore, your analysis will involve comparing and
contrasting selected aspects of these sources, as well as stating
your overall personal opinion about these sources.

6. Instructions: Except for chapters 10 and 11 (which cover
content relevant to Hist. 110A), select any ONE other chapter
(12-21) from Pollard, Concise Edition, Vol. 2, then prepare to
cover some of the documents SOLELY from that chapter.
(Because content in each chapter is grouped thematically, you
will NOT be allowed to select documents from more than one
chapter. Furthermore, extra credit is not available for this
assignment.) After selecting a chapter, pick ANY THREE
written primary sources from that chapter. All of the source
material will be located at the end of your selected chapter.
Written sources will be grouped under the heading, “Competing
Perspectives.”
There are a few things you should do before examining the
written sources. You will need to know what to look/read for in
order to best tackle the written sources. First, read the
introduction to each of the documents you selected. Written by
Pollard and her co-authors, the document introduction will
furnish much information: authorship, purpose of the document,
societal conditions during the time the document was created,
and more. Next, take a look at the criteria in “Handling primary
documents,” at the end of this prompt.
Once you’ve prepped, plunge into the documents. In examining
the sources the first time, keep your eyes open to anything that
fascinates you. As this is different for each person, I will not
give you a hard and fast rule about what is “fascinating.” What
you SHOULD do is to jot down anything that YOU find to be
important. The goal here is to select at least three items from
each of your chosen written documents, nine points total that
catch your eye and you believe to be important. (This is the
same process as for the Kaffir Boy paper.) You may select up to
five items you find to be noteworthy from each of the
documents, but definitely no more than that. Please note: Since
you are reading in order to discuss what interests you, NOT
Pollard, you may ignore the “Questions for analysis” in the
written sources section.
You may need to examine each piece about three times. The

7. first time, read it quickly for general impressions. Don’t be
alarmed or frustrated by passages that you might find to be
challenging to understand or by unfamiliar terminology. After
the first run through, jot down any questions you may have
about the piece. During the second reading, look for content
that is clearer and more familiar. This could include a person’s
livelihood, material possessions, religious or philosophical
beliefs, ways of handling the natural environment, forms of
conflict resolution, or anything else to which you can relate in
some way. Be sure, as well, to look for terminology that is
spelled similarly to words in present-day use. The third reading
will involve digging deeper, trying to make sense of what’s not
so clear and not as familiar. Use the third reading to answer any
questions you raised at first about the piece.
Paper organization: Following an introduction of a few
paragraphs, which will preview for the reader the content that
you will cover, the completed assignment will consist of the
following two sections: (1.) Summation of key aspects of your
written sources, and (2.) Analysis of the written sources,
followed by your personal views of this assignment. By
analysis, I mean that you should compare and contrast the
documents with one another. After this more traditional
analysis, finish your paper with your overall thoughts on your
experiences with the sources that you selected. For stylistic
reasons and due to the nature of this assignment, you are
encouraged to write with self-references (“I,” “we,” or “us”)
throughout. Be sure to experiment to find the balance of
summation and analysis that works best for you.
Here are the technical requirements for this assignment. Your
paper should be (on average) about five pages long of text
(notations lengthen the paper by one or two pages.), double-
spaced, with twelve-point font and one-inch margins. Be sure to
paginate (number each page), and write both the class
designation and the section number on the front page (History
110B, and your section number). An optional title page will not
be included in the total number of pages. (A five page paper is

8. not a title page and four pages of content, for instance.) To
indicate a new section, the title of a section should appear
above the beginning of that section. Avoid large amounts of
blank space between sections, as this is bad formatting! As with
the Kaffir Boy term paper, endnotes are REQUIRED. (A
bibliography is optional.) I am somewhat flexible as to the exact
page count. But avoid extremes. It’s unlikely you will be able to
do your best work if the prose in the final paper is under 4.5
pages in length. A paper that is less than four long pages will be
too brief, but one of thirteen or more will need to be trimmed.
Please contact me before the very last minute if you face any
problems regarding this assignment.
Regarding endnotes: You will notice that Pollard has
reproduced primary documents that were included in the books
of other scholars. In order to streamline your endnotes for the
Journal assignment, you will take a simpler, but style-book
correct, way. At the beginning of the summation section of your
paper, you will identify each of the primary sources that you
used. You could write something like this: “In this section, I
will be summarizing a few key points from Okuna, Fifty Years
of New Japan and Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species.”
By doing this, you are furnishing very clear identification of the
sources you’re using, ones that were reproduced in Pollard, vol.
2. Identifying each source at the very beginning of the
summation section, you will not be compelled to write
complicated endnotes. (Important: this identification at the
beginning of the summation section does NOT replace
endnotes!)
Once you do this, you are now ready to include the endnotes in
your paper. For the purposes of this assignment, your endnotes
will take the form of one author and one book (the same format
as for the Kaffir Boy paper). The first note must be written in
the long-format citation and second and subsequent ones done
in short-format citation.
Long-format: Elizabeth Pollard and others, Worlds Together

9. Worlds Apart, Concise Edition, Vol. 2 (New York and London:
W.W. Norton, 2015), __. [Underscored is where the page
number goes.
Short-format: Pollard, Worlds Together, Vol. 2, __. [The
volume number is essential. Vol. 1 is for 110A courses.]
For more information, please refer to “Endnote formatting 110A
and 110B F15 revised,” found in the Course Guides folder.
HANDLING PRIMARY SOURCES:
There are several things to keep in mind (but not to write about)
when examining and assessing a primary source. Pay the closest
attention to the ones explained here in depth.
Identify the type of source:
· A law, constitution, pamphlet, treaty, city council proceedings
(all for political history).
· Court transcript, judicial ruling, police report, parole officer
report (all for legal history).
· Map, soldier diary, strategic and tactical plans, training
manual, weaponry, uniform (all for military history).
· Business ledger, contract, tax filing, will, foreclosure records,
patent applications, placards (all for economic history).
· Lyrics [especially from protest songs], laws, college
catalogues [for curriculum and types of students], biographies,
letters, contemporary new reports [from television, radio or
newspapers], pamphlets, posters (all for social history).
· Novel, dance, music, visual art, costume, religious tract, oral
traditions, key religious work, training manual for new converts
(all for cultural history).
· Human/animal remains; building ruins; slag; tools/weapons;
pottery (archaeology)

10. · Any of the above (for environmental history)
Determine the category of history to which the source is
relevant. Political (constitutional, legal, diplomatic, electoral,
criminal-judicial); military; economic (agricultural, trade,
fiscal, transportation, labor, manufacturing); technological;
social (migration, gender, ethnicity, LGBT); cultural (artistic,
religious); environmental. Much of the time, a source will have
relevance to at least two types of history.
Other factors: authorship of source; bias/perspective; purpose
for which the source was created; credibility of the source.
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