This thesis is an identification and analysis of ethical issues associated with patent monopolies on life-saving drugs in the U.S. under certain conditions. Patent monopolies lead to high prices which, when combined with poor economic conditions, reduce access through reductions in employer-provided health care insurance, reductions in the ability of drug assistance programs to subsidize access, and reductions in the ability of private individuals to pay out-of-pocket. What might otherwise be an ethical patent monopoly is, under these conditions, unethical. Because the right to life of those who need the drugs to survive overrides the right to property of the patent owners, the drugs should be made available to those who need them without regard to the patent monopolies. The common law and ethical defense of necessity provides strong support against any legal or ethical obligation to compensate the patent owners, and thereby makes unilateral action to improve access practical.