Ethical Conflict and Moral Compromise in Pharmacy
Professor Martin Benjamin Ph.D.pages: 137 - 152
- DOI: 10.1300/J060v05n01_08
- Version of record first published: 25Oct1995
Abstract:
Although ethical reasoning and analysis may occasionally resolve or reduce ethical conflict, it cannot eliminate it. Some degree of rationally irreconcilable conflict among conscientious, reasonable individuals is unavoidable in free democratic societies. Under what circumstances, then, and for what reasons may individuals accept a compromise solution to an ethical conflict without compromising (or betraying) their moral integrity? After examining the concept of compromise, I show how and why compromise in ethics may, in some circumstances, be integrity-preserving. I conclude by indicating three ways in which this notion of integrity-preserving compromise may be applicable to the ethics of pharmaceutical care.