3 ms·

Yes. While programmers being asked to do unethical things is a salient topic, the posted article feels pretty weak on all fronts. He admits that the site as des

Yes. While programmers being asked to do unethical things is a salient topic, the posted article feels pretty weak on all fronts. He admits that the site as designed was compliant with medical advertising law. Its goal was to get people thinking about a medication that still required a doctor's approval to obtain. His "infraction" was writing code that would indicate this prescription is a good solution to the various problems that, presumably, the medication addressed. I personally don't see any ethical problem with that. The author should probably speak to a professional therapist who can help him process this event and understand that he shares no responsibility for the complication that caused a user of the drug, who may have benefited substantially before the complication occurred, to commit suicide.

exolymph 10y ago
> His "infraction" was writing code that would indicate this prescription is a good solution to the various problems that, presumably, the medication addressed. I personally don't see any ethical problem with that. The problem with the quiz was that no matter how you answered, unless you said you were already taking the drug or explicitly allergic to it, the recommended solution was the drug. In other words, this was presented as a way to suss out which of various treatments would be appropriate, but it actually only recommended one.
- cookiecaper 10y ago
  I don't think that's deceptive. Do you really need a label that says "an online quiz is not a diagnosis"? Obviously marketers are going to create such content with the intention of demonstrating how their product can be useful to people. I doubt anyone was under the false impression that they weren't on a marketing site or that the online quiz was a definitive medical device capable of providing diagnostic data. If this was OTC I may see more cause for concern, but as an Rx drug, any such suppositions would still require a doctor's signoff. We'd all prefer not to be involved in the mass manipulation of marketing/advertising at all, but that's not real life. As far as this goes, from the details in the article, it doesn't sound like an egregiously wrong thing. It also sounds like the author was at peace with it until he learned that someone who took the medication had committed suicide. That's certainly some misdirected angst. This was almost definitely an antidepressant medication, and those require careful balancing and coordination by medical professionals. The guy who helped put together a marketing site for a drug that helps hundreds of millions of people is not responsible for the cases where incompetent medical practitioners prescribed it incorrectly.

exolymph 10y ago

> His "infraction" was writing code that would indicate this prescription is a good solution to the various problems that, presumably, the medication addressed. I personally don't see any ethical problem with that. The problem with the quiz was that no matter how you answered, unless you said you were already taking the drug or explicitly allergic to it, the recommended solution was the drug. In other words, this was presented as a way to suss out which of various treatments would be appropriate, but it actually only recommended one.

cookiecaper 10y ago
I don't think that's deceptive. Do you really need a label that says "an online quiz is not a diagnosis"? Obviously marketers are going to create such content with the intention of demonstrating how their product can be useful to people. I doubt anyone was under the false impression that they weren't on a marketing site or that the online quiz was a definitive medical device capable of providing diagnostic data. If this was OTC I may see more cause for concern, but as an Rx drug, any such suppositions would still require a doctor's signoff. We'd all prefer not to be involved in the mass manipulation of marketing/advertising at all, but that's not real life. As far as this goes, from the details in the article, it doesn't sound like an egregiously wrong thing. It also sounds like the author was at peace with it until he learned that someone who took the medication had committed suicide. That's certainly some misdirected angst. This was almost definitely an antidepressant medication, and those require careful balancing and coordination by medical professionals. The guy who helped put together a marketing site for a drug that helps hundreds of millions of people is not responsible for the cases where incompetent medical practitioners prescribed it incorrectly.