 the study of the rightness or wrongness of human conduct.  In any situation involving two or more individuals, values may come into conflict and ethical issues may develop.  This is especially true in the case of health care where pain and suffering are involved, and limited resources exist.  Patient care involves applied ethics in that it consists of the practical application of moral standards to specific ends

 Pharmaceutical care is dependent upon human interactions.  These interactions include patients, family members, pharmaceutical care practitioners, other clinicians, support personnel, managers, and administrators.  These individuals are likely to have different values, beliefs, and preferences.

 Whenever two people with different value systems interact, there is the potential for an ethical problem to develop.  Because ethical problems are common in practice it is important that practitioners know how to identify and resolve them when they arise  Identifying and addressing ethical problems would be easier if they were not so often confused with clinical and legal issues.

 These three issues—clinical, legal, and ethical— can be so closely associated that they appear to be the same problem.  It will be helpful if the three issues can be separated, when possible, because a successful resolution to each issue is arrived at slightly differently . Each situation requires different knowledge for its recognition and a somewhat different process for its resolution

 Although each patient situation is unique, as a general rule, clinical problems should be identified and resolved first, followed by legal issues, and if an ethical problem remains, it can then be resolved effectively.  Thinking in this order will make the identification and resolution of the ethical problem more manageable.

 Pharmacy law consists of rules, regulations, and actions that are promulgated by governments and are binding on its constituents.  Law and ethics, while in most cases clearly demarcated, often overlap and sometimes appear contradictory

 Example Should a pharmacist, based on her clinical judgment at the time of an emergency, provide a patient with a life-saving drug not authorized by a physician's prescription, when technically she is breaking the law, but is arguably acting ethically?

 Legal issues often have explicit statutes that provide a solution.  In pharmacy, there are many laws that govern what practitioners may and may not do with prescription drug products.  professional standards require practitioners to both know and follow the law.  In those relatively few situations where the law is not clear regarding what can and cannot be done, practitioners should always follow the professional and ethical mandate to do no harm and when it is possible, to do good for the patient

 Example Is it ethical to knowingly dose a patient with an amount of drug that is so small it has little or no chance of successfully treating the medical problem? If the pharmacist's clinical judgment is that the patient's drug therapy problem is that the dosage is too low, then it is legally necessary to obtain the consent of the prescriber in order to increase the dose.

 Being an active moral agent can conflict with the law and often does.  It should go without saying that practitioners have a duty to know the law and act accordingly.  The law prescribes codes of conduct that are usually reasonable, clear, and direct.

 Thus, we divide actions into two classes: legal and illegal.  Ethical analysis requires critical examination of actions and their consequences and are not so easily differentiated as appropriate and inappropriate.

 The standards for professional behavior and the code of ethics provide even more guidance for the practitioner.  no code of ethics can contain all the necessary detail to address all issues that arise on a daily basis.

Code of ethics  A public pledge to meet certain responsibilities and perform duties for those who do not share the knowledge, expertise, or professional mandate.  a public pledge to adhere to the standards and ideals of conduct and to enforce them through mechanisms that will punish those who violate the essentials of the pledge

 Pharmacists are health professionals who assist individuals in making the best use of medications.  prepared and supported by pharmacists, is intended to state publicly the principles that form the fundamental basis of the roles and responsibilities of pharmacists.  These principles, based on moral obligations and virtues, are established to guide pharmacists in relationships with patients, health professionals, and society

 Conduct that contravenes the content of the code can have consequences that are equal to, or greater than, some legally binding expectations of performance.  it is important to study the standards for professional behavior and the standards of care with the intent to apply them in the case of each patient and prevent as many ethical problems from occurring as possible.

 The most common situations that involved ethical issues  those which consist of privacy and confidentiality, conflict of interest, respect for patient autonomy, duty to warn, and value conflicts and which occur daily during the patient/practitioner interaction  those which involve the allocation of resources, rationing, justice, and competency, are more episodic and patient-specific, and occur in the institutional context.

 It would be considered unethical to discuss or disclose personal health-related information about your patient with one of your friends or family members who is not a health care provider and who is not involved in the care of that patient.