Missouri Pharmacists Balk at Contraception

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BIRTH_CONTROL_PHARMACISTS?SITE=VARIT&SECTION=US

<snip>

Missouri Pharmacists Balk at Contraception

By JIM SUHR
AP Business Writer

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Walgreen Co. said it has put four Illinois pharmacists in the St. Louis area on unpaid leave for refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception in violation of a state rule.

The four cited religious or moral objections to filling prescriptions for the morning-after pill and "have said they would like to maintain their right to refuse to dispense, and in Illinois that is not an option," Walgreen spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce said.

A rule imposed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in April requires Illinois pharmacies that sell contraceptives approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to fill prescriptions for emergency birth control. Pharmacies that do not fill prescriptions for any type of contraception are not required to follow the rule.

Ed Martin, an attorney for the pharmacists, on Tuesday called the discipline "pretty disturbing" and said they would consider legal action if Walgreen doesn't reconsider.

<snip>

Amish Computer Technicians Refuse to Repair Computers

I have a multi dollar contract with those guys!...:)

Message delivered in big bold letters: if a MD. prescribes it, or it's a legal medication/substance, THEN YOU DISPENSE IT.

Or you go work someplace else.

to fire them. If I just refuse to do my job, my company can fire me, as long as what they asked me to do is legal.

on ANY subject. Other people besides the pharmacist (Doctors, clinical researchers) are to decide what's safe; other people (legislators and judges) decide what's legal. The pharmacist has no right to interpose his judgement between me and people with lawful authority to speak on the subjects of safety or legality.

If the pharmacist doesn't want to perform his job as a pharmacist, which is in essence to be a fucking vending machine that checks signatures, then he can go flip burgers instead.

Pharmacists do have a duty to watch what their customers bring them to be dispensed; they are partners with prescribers to make sure patients are getting what they need and getting it safely. They're also charged with keeping an eye out for drug fraud and abuse. So, some amount of "editorializing" can be a good thing, professionally speaking. Obviously, nobody has any business making judgments based on religion. In fact, doing so very much violates the intent of said partnership between physician and pharmacist because it blatantly thwarts the medical decision of the presciber.

... went in to get a prescription filled, and got a sanctimonious lecture and a big hassle instead.

As for the vending machine analogy, that's not far off. I posted below about automated dispensing systems, and I have to say I'm all for it. If the pill-counters no longer want to count pills, then replace them with robots. :grr:

I am a Registered Nurse. I have taken care of some of the worst scumbags you can imagine (wife beaters, sexual assault of child). I loathed every minute I had to do it but I did it....Why, because I am a professional. I gave them the same care I would my own family. And damn it, your professional license mean you are suppose to do your job, damn it. No matter what your feelings are, PERIOD!!!! I think they should be fired and their licenses revoked for abandonment or negligence of duty. Hell, they are real quick to blame a nurse and yank her license for the least little error (even if the doc wrote an illegible order and the pharmacist filled it wrong, and she was just following the order). Sorry lady you should have been able to divine that it was a mistake(that is a true case) so you are the only one that gets your license yanked.

can't get a job in a different state.

then you need to get out and find another line of work. I am in the mental health field. I have worked with a sexual predator of little boys. You have to put your personal feeling aside, or get another JOB.

The prescriptions are LEGAL, written by doctors. The pharmacist's job is to fill these prescriptions.

So, I'm assuming they refuse to fill scripts for Viagara, et al?

in not filling a prescription...


If they have reason to believe that the medication will cause a reaction that may result in serious health problems or death. But only after bringing it to the attention of the doctor and the doctor prescribes a substitute medication.

Pharmacists are not licensed to prescribe medication nor should they be allowed to refuse filling out a prescription just because of their belief. The welfare of the patient is more important than any other person.

...and if you want to practice medicine, go to med school.

clearly english myself....

How DARE Walgreens follow the law. :eyes:

they get a Doctors order, not a doctors suggestion, and fill it for the patient.

what if they are anti-gay, does that mean they don't dispense AZT?

"...does that mean they don't dispense AZT?"

I'd give it about a year or so before we hear about the first case of that. Just when you think these people couldn't POSSIBLY be any crazier...they go and outdo themselves.

companies that manufacture emergency contraception (or ANY contraception, for that matter...that's the ultimate target of the pro-criminalization forces) because they don't want to support those companies in ANY way as long as they continue to manufacture the contraceptives.
"Sorry, no high blood pressure meds for you; happy heart attack!"

Dispensing advice and kind words?

If you have that strong of an aversion to "some drugs", then you should NOT become a pharmacist..

What about a pharmacist who thinks it's not OK for 85 yr old men to take viagra?? Can he/she refuse to fill the scrip?

I always wondered why they didn't "hit" blood banks they way the anti's do abortion clinics.

As I was going through this, I was thinking along the same line. Your on the operating table, your doctor is a Jehovah Witness... you need a blood transfusion.... WHAT IF YOUR DOCTOR REFUSES?!?!!?

I also had a "Born Again" assistant. She would not fill out paperwork or checks for the Life Insurance company because she didn't believe in Life Insurance, Jesus was her Life Insurance!

A Pharmacist who doesnt' dispense prescriptions for "religious" reasons should not be a Pharmacist.

Dap

Policeman who don't want to investigate a homicide because the victim doesn't meet their moral criteria? How about lawyers who plead guilty for their client because God told them to? Maybe the electric company won't want to turn on your power because you use it to watch "objectionable" TV shows? Perhaps the postman won't deliver your mail becuase his church doesn't approve of your church.

People are paid to do a job, not make moral judgments about others.

:-)

I'd hate to go to a restaraunt, order a steak and have someone say "I'm sorry sir, I am a vegitarian and an Animal Rights Activist, I cannot place that order for you.... could I offer you a salad?"

What is this world coming to?

Dap

A guy getting some condoms easily and a woman trying to get contraceptive pills and the pharmacist elling her she's a whore?

then they need to find another profession.... Like maybe become preachers.

If a woman takes a job as a stripper, she can't keep her job if she uses the excuse that it is immoral for her to take her clothes off.

Maybe it is immoral but she took the job.

Maybe stripper is a bad choice but it demonstrates the fact that you took the damn job, so you don't have the right to decide when and how you are going to practice the job.

The pharmacist should have no business whatsoever in deciding which medication is o'key to take, and which is not, if it's legally prescribed by the Dr.

... use robotic dispensing systems now, and they have a very good accuracy record, comparable to or better than human-counted systems.

There are even some vending machine-style systems in development for in-store use as well, where the prescription info is input and the pills are counted, bottled and placed in the traditional little white bag... then delivered directly to the customer like a soda dropping down in a soda machine.

If pharmacy professionals and their representative groups aren't willing to agree that all prescriptions must be dispensed, with no discussion of the pharmacists' personal hang-ups, then I fully favor replacing them with robots.

Then some people might get a hold of vicodin or Oxycontin and go. . .uh, sleep in a corner?

And Adderall, some kids might illegally get that, and then they could get all hopped up on uppers and uh. . .clean their room and do their homework?

A mail-order pharmacy isn't a wise choice for filling a prescription for the morning-after pill.

If the store stocks a particular medicine, the machine dispenses it. No god-nonsense required.

If the store itself chooses not to sell a particular drug... well, that's a business decision it will make whether humans or robots are counting the pills.

I worked for one. Yes, we had a big, fancy, multi-million dollar dispensing machine. But at the end of the line, the pharmacist STILL had to verify the prescription. You can't dispense any drug without a pharmacist's approval in the US.

... instead of several doing the sorting and counting. It's far less likely that a business is going to allow that one person to decide what gets sold and what doesn't.

I think the day will come when there is a pharmacist in a sort of control center remotely overseeing dispensing machines in multiple stores. True, that person may suddenly decide not to approve certain meds. But I doubt he or she would get away with it long, when the impact would be so widespread.

Last I heard, they were allowing their pharmacists to get away with this shit. Glad to see they've come to their senses.

That's how I perceive it from the article.

If one state does something stupid, you can always try the other one.

even living in the 4 corners area wouldn't be to helpful...LOL

The four cited religious or moral objections to filling prescriptions for the morning-after pill and "have said they would like to maintain their right to refuse to dispense, and in Illinois that is not an option," Walgreen spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce said.


I don't get how they could have passed all their exams and classes to be pharmacists with such moral or religious objections. There are a lot of things that Pharmacists are required to dispense that would offend them.

I remember during my first physiology nursing class the lecturer talking about evolution and cell life only to have a student admonish him for not saying "God created everything. You speak Blasphemy!" The lecturer replied "Well you are going to fail THIS class then."

The Auditorium laughed and we never saw her again.

If you were "exposed" on a weekend, and can't get a prescription from your doctor until Monday morning, this can really create a burden if you don't have other pharmacies you can get to easily. These people should not be allowed to dispense medicine of any kind.

Just curious.

in his ear. then bang his forehead against the counter like charlie murphy did to rick james, bitch.

what balls they have. they hold a state (or fed, i'm not sure) license and then pick and choose what part of their job they want to do.

i have a state drivers license, but from now on, i will pick and choose what traffic laws i find objectionable and not obey them.

do these pharmacist pricks have any objection to the way pharmaceuticals are marketed in this country? i've never heard of a pharmacist refusing to fill a prescription because its overpriced or unneccesary or because a prescribing doc got some perk from the drug reps.....

If the Dr. prescribed something-why is it their business to decide what medication is o'key to take, and what is not?
What's next? Regular birth control? Anti-AIDS drugs?

instance of them refusing to dispense pain meds and mood stablizers. I guess for the last two they just think you should PRAY.

This always amazes me, it's as if these fscktards go through all that training & just now realize they have "moral objections". Sorry, sweetie, you knew what would happen when you went through pharmacy school; it's time for you to go to another profession.

Fundy christians would love such a position of power from which to enforce their moral objections. They wank over things like this.

They absolutely would go into this profession, for exactly that reason: to be able to "stop abortions" before they happen.

These assholes knew what they were getting into when they decided to become a pharmacist, theyre just using this as an excuse to force thier brand of fundamentalist religion on people.

Whenever I hear about "activists" splashing paint on someone wearing a Fur Coat... my mind wanders, I forsee the person pulling a shotgun from under their fur coat and ...

Really, I'm not a bad person :-)

Dap

Walgreens places 4 pharmacists on leave
Contraceptive wasn't dispensed

By Jim Suhr, Associated Press | December 1, 2005

ST. LOUIS -- Walgreen Co. said it has put four Illinois pharmacists in the St. Louis area on unpaid leave for refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception in violation of a state rule.
Article Tools

The four cited religious or moral objections to filling prescriptions for the morning-after pill and ''have said they would like to maintain their right to refuse to dispense, and in Illinois that is not an option," Walgreen spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce said.

A rule imposed by Governor Rod Blagojevich in April requires Illinois pharmacies that sell contraceptives approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to fill prescriptions for emergency birth control.

<snip>

Walgreen, based in Deerfield, Ill., put the four on leave Monday, Bruce said. She would not identify them. They will remain on unpaid leave ''until they either decide to abide by Illinois law or relocate to another state" without such a rule or law.

More: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/12/01/walgreens_places_4_pharmacists_on_leave/

TYY

Oh, they mean contraception for other people. That's just not right.

somehow

Would that be okay? Why are people so damn scared of the fundies in this country?