The medical industry has been the guiding authority on many health related decisions for citizens in America for more than a century. However, this industry has also been the source of contradictory information regarding the health impact of various commodities used by people on a daily basis. One of the main areas where health officials have provided contradictory information is on the issue of cigarette smoking. When smoking became popular in the 1930’s doctors were used to push their sales through claiming that cigarettes were medically approved. The reason why such advertisement was possible is based on the idea that doctors were yet to find a clear health adversity brought on by smoking. Moreover, many doctors smoked and were, therefore, enthusiastic about the widespread sale of cigarettes.
Such a situation, however, is different from the medical industry’s currently strained association with opioids. While there were no positive medical reasons associated with smoking, doctors have supported the administration of opioids due to the positive medical aspects associated with its use. The issue with doctors and their association with opioids, however, is the fact that doctors are responsible for the administration of these opioids to patients. Recent studies conducted by the John’s Hopkins School of Public Health, which examined prescriptions given by more than 20,000 doctors between the years 2011 and 2016 show that doctors are severely overprescribing opioids to patients even in the wake of surging addictions to opioids (Keller, 2012).
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These two situations are not morally equivalent because, while in the case of cigarettes, doctors did not yet have any reliable scientific evidence showing the adverse effects of smoking, modern doctors are well aware of the health effects that can be brought on by excessive use of opioids. Moreover, doctors also understand the addictive nature of opioids, while in the early 1940’s, they had little information on whether cigarette smoking could lead to addiction (Facione, 2012). Therefore, the moral obligation to ensure the health safety of the public falls more heavily on modern doctors and their association with opioids.
References
Facione, P. A., & Gittens, C. A. (2012). Think Critically . Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
Keller, C. E., Ashrafioun, L., Neumann, A. M., Van Klein, J., Fox, C. H., & Blondell, R. D. (2012). Practices, perceptions, and concerns of primary care physicians about opioid dependence associated with the treatment of chronic pain. Substance Abuse , 33 (2), 103-113. doi:10.1080/08897077.2011.630944
