Lee Chang Pepe
Department of Philosophy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, USA.
J Med Philos. 2006 Oct;31(5):465-82. doi: 10.1080/03605310600912667.
There are individuals, including children, dying needlessly in poverty-stricken third world countries. Many of these deaths could be prevented if pharmaceutical companies provided the drugs needed to save their lives. Some believe that because pharmaceutical companies have the power to save lives, and because they can do so with little effort, they have a special obligation. I argue that there is no distinction, with respect to obligations and responsibilities, between pharmaceutical companies and other types of companies. As a result, to hold pharmaceutical companies especially responsible for saving lives in third world countries is unjustified.
在贫困的第三世界国家，包括儿童在内的一些人正在无谓地死去。如果制药公司提供拯救他们生命所需的药物，许多此类死亡是可以避免的。一些人认为，制药公司有拯救生命的能力，而且几乎不费吹灰之力就能做到，因此它们负有特殊的义务。我认为，在义务和责任方面，制药公司与其他类型的公司并无区别。因此，让制药公司为拯救第三世界国家的生命承担特别责任是不合理的。
