Playing Mr. God at the pharmacy counter

[struggle4progress]

<snip> Conscientious pharmacists do not jeopardize the health needs of patients. They do not refuse to do their job of dispensing legitimately prescribed drugs.

If there are pharmacists whose personal religious beliefs forbid providing medication to heal sickness and preserve health, they've made a very bad career choice.

It's not only bad for them. It's bad for those unfortunate patients who find themselves at the mercy of these self-appointed gods.

That's why an administrative law judge for the State Department of Regulation and Licensing properly recommended discipline for a pharmacist who refused to dispense birth control pills to a coed at the University of Wisconsin - Stout. <snip>

http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2005/03/11/opinion/iq_3421774.txt

[WindRavenX]

1. If any pharmacist refused to give me my pills...

...I would be at that unlucky pharmacist's throat.
Try it, buckos. Just try it.

[classof56]

2. Just a wild guess, but I doubt he'd have thought twice...

about dispensing a prescription for Viagra to a male student.

Tired Old Cynic

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. Execution would be better, but I'll take discipline

And an ackowledgment that many times, it's a good thing we have a Constitution (whatever of it is left), because if I were in charge, it wouldn't be so democratic. :-)

As far as I am concerned, if you are a pharmacist, your job is to hand out whatever the doctor tells you to hand out. If you can't do that, then go into some other profession more acclimated to ignorant religious fucks, like being in Phelps' army, or lobbying for women to be legally forced to wear clothing that covers everything, or setting up Creation "Science" schools for your inbred waterheaded children.

If you're that goddamn stupid that you think dispensing birth control is "evil", then you should have your license revoked, becuase you've obviously chosen an unholy profession.

[Skittles]

5. good post, Rabrrrrr

I tell you if I ever got this religious nonsense at a pharmancy I would go ape-shit.

[Nay]

8. Oh, god, me too, I would have a conniption right there if any

pharmacist ever DARED to refuse to fill my prescription because he had some asshole-fundie objection. I would take the whole drugstore chain through court, and I would not settle until a judge bashed the moron's head in.

[Skittles]

11. can you imagine one of them questioning your sexual intentions?

I think I would have to personally assault him

[Nay]

13. Honestly, about three times a day ALREADY I feel like flying

across the counter at somebody's throat. . .if this happened to me, I'd be taken away in handcuffs with spittle spraying everywhere.

[Warpy]

4. Good, it's about time somebody slapped these goons down.

If he is too pious to dispense birth control pills (which may or may not be intended for contraception), he is too pious to be in healthcare, and perhaps he needs to find a church and turn to preaching.

No pharmacist should be able to countermand a physician order for any reason, although they can and should question any order for more than the recommended dose or if the patient has an allergy to a related drug or if there is an interaction with one of the other medications a patient is on. The pharmy is a great resource for things like this, but he's not a diagnostician and he's not licensed to determine what to prescribe to any patient.

This whole thing is SO against the practice act in most states.

The fundies will probably try to get laws passed exempting these goons from having to dirty their well manicured hands with womens' health. Until then, they need to have their licenses pulled.

(bet they have no problem dispensing Viagra by the carload...)

[liberalitch]

7. My Pharmy just says....

everything good?
No headaches?
No blurred vision?

That's someone doing their job

[mcscajun]

10. They're already working to have "conscience clauses" put in force

in many states. Pharmacists' associations are wrestling with the issue as well.

See the "pro-life" site, Pharmacists for Life International http://www.pfli.org/

to get an idea of what they're up to.

You can write your state's pharmacy association on this issue.
http://www.ncpanet.org/pharmacy/state_pharmacy_associations.shtml

[dsc]

6. This person should have been disciplined by his or her employer

but if a pharmacist owns the store he or she should get to decide what to carry. It isn't like there is only one pharmacist, you have literally millions of options in that regard. There are many drugs which pharmacists don't keep in stock for a myriad of reasons ranging from lack of demand to expense of storage with nary a peep from anyone.

[murielm99]

9. The pharmacist in question refused to transfer the

prescription to another pharmacy where it could be filled.

Where I live, there is only one pharmacist. I could travel to another town if necessary, but that is an unnecessary imposition.

[dsc]

14. No it isn't

Sorry, but the right to have something doesn't equate to the right to have it in your town. If I want a gay newspaper or magazing I have to go 30 miles. I would imagine that as recently as a couple of decades ago it would have been more like 50 miles. You can use the net, you can use mail order, there are a host of options out there. I take it you live in a very small town. My town of 10k in which I grew up had three pharmacies. If you choose to live in a very small town, then some things won't be available. On edit the refusal to give it back or transfer the prescription is theft and should be treated accordingly.

[murielm99]

15. Yes it is.

The pharmacist had no right to refuse to even transfer the prescription.

And no one should have to travel thirty or fifty miles to have a prescription filled, if there is a pharmacy closer.

Prescriptions are a necessity. This guy has no right to pass judgment.

[dsc]

18. Then use mail order

I am sorry but the problem with health care isn't pharmacies refusing to fill lawful scrips.

[mariema]

16. The right to have something?

"The right to have something doesn't equate to the right to have it in your town"

That maybe true for something like a luxury, like your newspaper, but health care is not a luxury. I already have to travel over 30 miles to get my prescriptions. I am not going to travel another 20 or 30. If my pharmacist refused to fill a prescription, he wouldn't get any of my or my extended family's business, which adds up to thousands of dollars over the course of a year. And by the way, most people don't "choose" to live in a small town, this is where our livelihoods, families and communities are.

[dsc]

17. and that is the perfect way to handle the situation

If my pharmacist refused to fill a prescription, he wouldn't get any of my or my extended family's business, which adds up to thousands of dollars over the course of a year.

Why do you need to give government a power they just as easily could use to forbid the pharmacy from carrying bc to do what you can do yourself?

[mariema]

19. Not a perfect way to handle it

"Why do you need to give government a power they just as easily could use to forbid the pharmacy from carrying bc to do what you can do yourself?"

Because the pharmacy is licensed by the state to provide medications that are necessary to an individual's health care. I know how to confront a pharmacist with fiscal retaliation for lack of service but we need state oversight to ensure that the pharmacist is fulfilling the
services required by license.

If they cannot/will not meet requirements, their license should be revoked and another pharmacy may be willing to step in to serve the community better.

In re: using mail order. It is not always reliable, especially when medication is a necessity. We found this out when we had numerous problems with delivery of my mother in law's nebulizer medication, needed to keep her from having severe, life threatening asthma attacks.

[TygrBright]

12. Good lord... I'm trying to imagine...

...my pharmacist, who's been in business for thirty-some years and knows every customer by name, even thinking about such a thing.

He's such a sweet guy... and unbelievably conscientious and professional. He jealously guarded his customers' privacy long before HIPAA, too.

He'd just blow a gasket at the thought of someone with what he considers such grave "professional responsibilities" pulling a stunt like this.

amazedly,
Bright