ethics

The right to die issue – or death with dignity – as it has been named in the press and by advocacy groups, is a controversial topic. On one side of the argument some people are concerned that passing ‘death with dignity’ statutes and legalizing suicide might expose the most vulnerable groups of people in society. On the other side, some people suffering terminal illness are concerned with exercising their right to bodily autonomy, and deciding when and where that ends.

The names of the top pharmacies in the world will come as no surprise to most:  CVS, Walgreens, Amazon. Wait, what?  Amazon? CNBC recently reported that Amazon may be considering the sale of prescription drugs online, a lucrative market of approximately $560 billion annually. Breaking into the U.S. prescription drug market could be the start of huge financial gains for Amazon, but many people are wondering how they would manage the transition from sales of primarily unregulated items, into selling products from one of the most highly regulated industries. Analysts at Leerink Partners, an investment bank specializing in healthcare, predict Amazon will be involved in prescription drug sales by the year 2019. This idea is not new for Amazon, with a previous attempt at an online site named drugstore.com, which is no longer open.