| When residents of a disadvantaged community experience chronic pain and cannot secure treatment in the form of adequate pain medication from local pharmacies, while residents of a different ethnic community can, it reflects a form of social injustice. The views of the philosopher, John Rawls are used here to apply the concept of distributive justice to address this social injustice in African American communities. This analysis includes review of a case study comparing the availability of pain medications in African American community pharmacies to Caucasian community pharmacies in New York. Crime, drug abuse and other potential barriers to obtaining adequate supply of pain medications are addressed. Although further dialogue on this issue is encouraged beyond this philosophical analysis, patient education, physician pharmacy referrals for pain medication and the use of an inventory management system are recommended as possible solutions to counter this ethical problem. |
