Ethical Challenges of Medicine and Health on the Internet, Research Paper Example

There are a number of B2B & B2C legal, marketing ethics, and client ethics in advertising specifically when conducting business over the internet via web sites.

Business to consumer [B2C] was predicted to be a $70 billion industry in 2003.  Whereas business-to-business [B2B] was simply predicted to earn around $170 billion.  Within B. to C. to help parameter that was expected to grow into a $70 billion industry.  Over 50% of polled physicians plan to have a website for the practice.  This has resulted in a new class of business ethics requirements for these types of sites. ” there is a realistic concern that if medical and health practitioners, insurance companies, and hospitals do not provide the services demanded by their patients, then the online healthcare consumers may turn to seek online services from unlicensed, unqualified, or unprofessional providers – or disreputable sources”  (Kirsti A Dyer, 2001).

One of the important considerations for the medical profession will be examining the boundaries of medical internet ethics for a B2C site.  The medical code of ethics is considered by many to be more stringent than the law.  The AMA[1] having established  its own code of ethics since 1840.  The primary purpose of the medical profession being service of humanity as opposed to economic and financial gain.  The Internet has the potential to redefine the doctor patient relationship; with the public relying on the medical profession to self regulate this.

The B2B sites in the medical profession may keep more problems as they may become sources of unreliable and erroneous information with visitors potentially may receive incorrect diagnosis and treatment options.  This is equally true of other types of businesses e.g. pharmacy websites, legal advice, financial investment advice etc. When examining these situations it is important to differentiate between ethics and the law as there is a fine line between the two.

Websters dictionary defines ethics as ‘ the discipline dealing with what is good and bad, and with moral duty and obligation.’  whereas the definition for law is: ‘ a binding custom or practice of a community: a rule of conduct or action prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority’.  As you can observe there is a fine distinction between the two and the law usually uses ethics as a concept for its’ ruling. ” Legal principles emphasize the practical regulation of morality, or behaviours and activities, whereas ethical principles deal with moral decisions. Many legal principles deal with the inadequacies and imperfections in human nature, compared with ethics, which looks to establish the ideal behaviours of individuals or groups”  (Kirsti A Dyer, 2001).

With B2C ethical considerations one has to consider the internet as a global institution with no boundaries.  The network spans many countries and as such regulations need to become a global affair.  The concept of the World Health Authority; although one doubts its’ capacity to take on a task of this magnitude.  Nevertheless ethical standards will vary between countries ” since the definition of medical ethics can vary from country to country. Therefore, the emerging field of Medical/ Healthcare Internet Ethics will require careful thought and insights from an international collection of ethicists in many contributing areas.”  (Kirsti A Dyer, Ethical Challenges of Medicine and Health on the Internet: A Review, 2001).

One of the big advantages with B2B and B2C is that it has narrowed the gap between the big corporate players and the small to medium sized business.  The smaller companies can now compete in their arena and particularly so in the emerging economies, consider  Latin America for example ” This potential is particularly true for companies in Latin America  that see the Internet as the means to expand business opportunities across borders in both the business-to-business (“B2B”) and business-to-consumer (“B2C”) sectors”.  (Nagle, 2001).  Whilst businesses have been quick to try and exploit it shady block with 435 million people, he did not realize the tremendous differences between the countries in terms of legal and regulated free issues.  Many of the countries have our cake laws, corruption and crumbling governmental control.

The main difference between B2B and B2C sites is that B2B are Companies for customers whereas B2C are for individual customers.  B2B transactions are often more complex than B2C. B2B often requires integration with Companies systems, whereas B2c requires no formal integration. Both require completely different marketing strategies. The most important issue being that B2C websites are directly involved with sales. Under these circumstances they require ” far more control over their e-commerce trading rules and practices”.  (WebBizIdeas.com, 2010).  ” One major difference between B2B and B2C websites is that most B2C websites do not have as shopping cart. This is because product and services sold on a B2B website require more presale discussion, price negotiation and customisation of the product before a sale is executed.”  (WebBizIdeas.com, 2010).

Works Cited

Kirsti A Dyer, M. M. (2001). Ethical Challenges of Medicine and Health on the Internet: A Review. Journal of Medical Internet Research .

Nagle, L. E. (2001). E-commerce in latin america: legal and business challenges for developing enterprise. American University Law Review .

WebBizIdeas.com. (2010). B2B vs. B2C Web Design & Development. Retrieved 4 28, 2010, from WebBizIdeas.com: http://www.webbizideas.com/learn-things/articles/b2b-vs-b2c-web-design-development.html

[1] American Medical Association