Posts Tagged ‘ethics’
From ethicist Dr. Chris MacDonald, a column on Rexall’s recent advertisements promoting homeopathy: The problem, of course, is there’s no reliable evidence that homeopathy works, nor any plausible reason to think that it even could work. In commercial contexts, that’s pretty bad. And it’s worse still when the company selling the stuff is a company […]
Filed under: articles | 2 Comments
Tags: ethics, health fraud, homeopathy, pharmacy practice, rexall
The other day a parent asked me if she could give her 2-year-old Tylenol liquid along with some cough syrup she had purchased at the pharmacy. I was a bit surprised, as cough and cold products for young children have been pulled from pharmacy shelves for a few years given their lack of efficacy and […]
Filed under: articles | 12 Comments
Tags: ethics, homeopathy, pharmacy practice
Every time I think I can take a break from homeopathy, something pulls me back to the topic. Today it’s an unbelievably poorly reasoned defense of homeopathy, in, of all places, the British Medical Journal. Glasgow-based general practitioner Des Spence writes, It was an intentional overdose. To prove a point I poured about 30 tiny […]
Filed under: articles | 16 Comments
Tags: des spence, ethics, homeopathy, nhs
Homeopathy is a popular topic here at Science-Based Pharmacy. I’ve blogged before on the ethics of the provision of these products, and argued pharmacists have an ethical responsibility not to sell, promote, or encourage the sale or use of homeopathy. It’s a question that has been put to pharmacists before. So I was I was […]
Filed under: articles | 8 Comments
Tags: ethics, homeopathy, pharmacy practice
Is it ever ethical to provide a placebo treatment? What about when that placebo is homeopathy? Last month at Science-Based Medicine I blogged about the frequency of placebo prescribing by physicians. I admitted my personal discomfort, stating I’d refuse to dispense any prescription that would require me to deceive the patient. The discussion continued in […]
Filed under: articles | 17 Comments
Tags: cam, ethics, homeopathy, pharmacist ethics, placebo effects, placebo medicine, placebos, standards of practice
I can across a strange full-page ad in yesterday’s Globe and Mail. The headline was huge: Reclaim your inner peace. Homeopathic Preparations. Scientifically proven effective. Proven effective? Large comprehensive reviews have concluded that homeopathy is not efficacious (that is, it does not work beyond the placebo effect) and that explanations for why homeopathy would work […]
Filed under: commentary | 6 Comments
Tags: cbc marketplace, ethics, Heel, homeopathy, Nervoheel N, Neurexan, placebo, sugar pills
Is it ethical for a pharmacist to knowingly sell a mislabeled product – one that contains no active ingredient, and has been demonstrated to be no more effective than a placebo? That’s the question being asked by Dr. Chris MacDonald over at the Business Ethics blog today: If someone selling something believes that it doesn’t […]
Filed under: updates | 8 Comments
Tags: bioron, cbc marketplace, ethics, homeocan, homeopathy
Editor’s Note: It’s World Homeopathy Awareness Week. Today’s guest post is from Dr. Chris MacDonald, PhD. Dr. MacDonald is Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Saint Mary’s University, and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at Duke University’s Kenan Institute for Ethics. Dr. MacDonald blogs at the Business Ethics Blog. What should we think about homeopathy, from the […]
Filed under: articles, commentary | 11 Comments
Tags: cbc, cbc marketplace, druggist, ethics, evidence check, homeopathy, pharmacist, pharmacy practice
Alternative….Literature?
Check out today’s xkcd. Follow the image link to the main site, and move your cursor over the comic to see Randall’s commentary on pharmacies selling homeopathy.
Filed under: commentary | 1 Comment
Tags: ethics, homeopathy, pharmacy practice, professional practice