Abuse of power, compromising morals, misrepresentations, and other experiences are forms of ethical issues that are felt in the world today. An analysis of these ethical issues is very critical in finding possible solutions to counter them. Organizations and policymakers have set ethical standards to guide employees within institutions and to recognize a violation (Keefe, 2017). Compromising the ethical standards within an organization has detrimental effects on individuals and the institutions themselves.
Purdue and its sales department had persuaded healthcare professions of the safety of OxyContin when it was not safe. For many years, several doctors were careful not to prescribe opioids based on their addictive nature, and they were not supposed to be utilized for chronic pain. However, one of the vague statements regarding OxyContin was that one dose lasted for half a day, when it was supposed to last for 7 hours or less so that it could be consumed less regularly (Keefe, 2017). Purdue defended themselves that they had brought down the unsafe side effects and addictive aspects of the product. Purdue maintained that OxyContin could be safely taken when it was dangerous in the real sense.
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One of the ethical issues that were violated was that Purdue Company and three executives misled regulators, doctors and patients concerning the risks of OxyContin and its addictive effects. Purdue was fined above $600 million plus other payments. The three executives were asked to pay $34.5 million as fines (Keefe, 2017). They had the responsibility of giving prescribed information concerning the OxyContin product and indicate the detailed warnings it had as far as the risks of taking this medicine was concerned. Their violation was making specific statements concerning OxyContin to certain healthcare practitioners that were opposed to what the FDA had recommended. Purdue also failed to inform the public or hold programs together with health institutions about the addictive nature of OxyContin. The company misrepresented the risks of the product and created a costly public health crisis that the government has to deal with until to date. As much as the company is not responsible if patients take the drugs in overdose, they have an obligation to give warning and programs to educate the public on the negative side effects.
In other scenario displaying an ethical issue, Trump ordered one of his top advisers Gary Cohn (the director of the National Economic Council at that time) to block the AT&T-time warner merger between the two companies last year was not ethical. Trump had been compelling Cohn to file the lawsuit. Trump wanted to stamp his interests based on his authority as the president. Just like Cohn felt, it is evidently very improper for a president to push the Justice Department to undermine two very powerful organizations in the nation to be punished for unfavorable news coverage, and to the advantage of the rival news company that supported him (Atkinson & Clark, 2019). It was unethical for Trump to attempt blocking the deal to punish CNN and to profit Murdoch. It is not precisely understood why AT&T not possessing CNN would favor Murdoch and Fox News.
Trump should not have threatened to block the merger because doing so would qualify to be a form of misuse of power. Trump had the right to express his feelings concerning the merger. However, the compulsion of the president to the Justice Department was unwarranted. The judgment that a federal judge passed in June 2018 that claimed that the merger exposed the consumers to much danger was biased and is what Trump would have desired would be compromised to support his opinions (Atkinson & Clark, 2019). That would be an absolute abuse of power. Trump as the president of the United States should only support the interests of the people, not his personal ambitions.
In conclusion, the ethical analysis of the two cases has revealed misrepresentation of information and abuse of power. The best way that Trump could have solved the ethical problems within his administration should be to make decisions through committees. Through this, his interests cannot go beyond the expectation of the people, as the committees will represent the public well. Pharmaceutical companies should disclose all the information to the public and should not mobilize practitioners to misrepresent their products. They are supposed to disclose all the details such as the side effect of a drug to the consumers who can make informed decisions. Violating the ethical standards at the expense of transparency and integrity should be punishable.
References
Atkinson, C., & Clark, D. (2019). Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn listens during a Roosevelt Room event on Oct. 31, 2017 at the White House.
Keefe, P. R. (2017). The family that built an empire of pain. The New Yorker , 30 .
