The Constant Gardener
The Constant Gardener research paper due and don't know how to start it? How about like this?
In the movie of the "The Constant Gardener", each answer should be well developed and specifically address the question posed. Answers must be substantiated by the 'facts' presented in the film and the information you gather from independent research which may be necessary to fashion complete and informed answers (particularly because this is a fictitious Hollywood production that leaves much of the 'meat' of the issue unsaid).
1. This film explores the unethical practices of multinational pharmaceutical firms, the exploitation of impoverished populations, and the corruption of Kenyan health officials. How might these issues, both at home and abroad, impact your nursing practice, your community, and the delivery of health care services to your clients/patients? (Suggestion: answer this question last, keeping it in mind as you work through the other questions.)
2. What are the commercial and diplomatic interests in the pharmaceutical trade of the various parties?
3. How does Tessa, an activist, intend to right the wrongs she perceives? Can she be successful given her knowledge and resources? What possible harm can her agenda cause the Kenyans?
4. Why does the British government ignore the potential lethality of Dypraxa?
5. What crimes against humanity are multinational corporations, such as KDH, committing through their political alliances?
6. Is it fair to assume that drug companies are truly this irresponsible and only concerned with 'the bottom line'? What are a corporations legal and ethical obligations, if any, to its shareholders, and to society?
7. Consider the Hippocratic Oath taken by physicians. Do the healthcare providers in this film violate this code of ethics? Is it justifiable in this instance? Is it ever justifiable? Should healthcare providers be charged with weighing the overall benefits to society v the good or harm to the individual when determining whether adherence to the code is just?
8. According to a May 16 2005 report in USA Today, giant drug companies are outsourcing increasing numbers of drug trials outside the US and Europe. Merck is now conducting 50% of its trial outside of the US. 70% of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals trials occurred offshore in 2006. Across Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa, the sick are abundant, desperate and doctor-trusting, and so recruitment into clinical trials is rapid as patients are more willing to be guinea pigs. Given this 'consent' and dire need for some/any care should corporations be excused from their 'indiscretions'? Are they merely giving the people what they want? Is the cost/risk 'fair' - need it be? Would your opinion change if you knew that the people who serve as the experimental subjects rarely enjoy the benefits of the research they participate in (often the new drugs are unavailable, too expensive, or worse yet - irrelevant to their regional needs)? Keep in mind that 90% of the global medical research budget takes aim at illness that causes just 10% of the world's disease burden. In other words i.e. in regions of the world where malaria runs rampant experiment subjects often 'test for' reactions to the latest arthritis, heart disease, or obesity drugs.
9. Desperate for high tech western medical intervention subjects often expose themselves to experimentation in exchange for an opportunity to perhaps be otherwise medically attended to. How much information must be revealed before consent to such experimentation can reasonably be considered 'informed'?
10. It is believed by many that bad drugs and unethical research practices often continue to impact innocents unhindered despite mountains of data and reports detailing their defects. Why?