Should pharmacists be allowed to dictate what medications people receive based on their own religious beliefs?
The court finally ruled against this guy:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080325/ap_on_re_us/contraceptive_complaint;_ylt=AjxRtnmNj92zczp1cQo6vhkDW7oF
Many women are on birth control to regulate their periods, control heavy bleeding, surpress cysts and fibroids, as treatment for various female cancers, or to treat severe acne.
Many pharmacists are now refusing to fill prescriptions for anti-depressants and other psychoreactive medications (lithium). Some pharmacists claim they don’t "believe" in "interfering" with the brain or they don’t believe in mental illness.
If a DOCTOR prescribes birth control pills, or any other medication, because a patient needs them, then a pharmacist shouldn’t have the right to deny a patient their meds because they feel that taking a certain medication might be "immoral".
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No, they should be fired.
No, that would be idiotic.
The court should force him to take 5 Viagra pills and be at the mercy of his 30 hour erection.
That’s between me and my doctor. It’s pretty much time for the position to go away. I’m sorry to those who think they’re being responsible pharmacists but the fact that medication passes through the hands of someone with extremist views says that there is a huge flaw in the system.
We’ve already seen the lengths some will go to in interfering with reproductive rights. Do we need to wait until someone is given a deadly prescription along with their BC pills?
I think if a pharmacist is against certain drugs, then there should be another pharmacist on duty who would be able to fill the script.
Sure.
Then a Jehovah’s Witness can rule against anyone recieving ANY medicine, because they believe doing so harms God’s Creation.
As a "soon" to be pharmacist, I would NEVER do such a thing as to block a medication that they were prescribed because of a religious basis. I find the whole idea of it wrong and preachy.
its complete madness, its the patients decision if they do not wish to take something because of religieon
No, they should have their license to practice revoked until they agree to fill prescriptions as written. There are plenty of professions out there that won’t challenge their superstitious beliefs. If they want to be moral guides, let them join the clergy.
That is wrong. The pharmacist’s job is to dispense medication and talk to the patient about the drug. The pharmacist should also be working with the doctors and nurses. I was a certified pharmacy technician for 5 years.
I’m glad that he was ruled against. Someone’s personal beliefs shouldn’t affect someone else’s. The pharmacist doesn’t need to take the drugs.
no defiantly not.
Religious nuts should not be allowed to practice medicine.
It depends. If the pharmacist is an employee of a pharmacy, he has to follow company policies. If the pharmacist owns the pharmacy, he or she should be allowed do dispense whatever medicine fits their beliefs. The customer can go somewhere else. I am unapologetically libertarian.
As a Pharmacy Technician, this is an interesting issue to me. I’ve never worked with a pharmacist who refused to fill a script for birth control. The company I work for is owned by the Catholic church and we do dispense them; however we do not and will not stock the so-called morning-after pill. That is a corporate decision. Personally I don’t think it’s the pharmacist’s business to determine what is morally right or wrong. If he/she "thinks" someone is a drug addict can they refuse to fill a legal prescription for narcotics? No. Why should this be any different? Many companies are now including in their contracts with pharmacists that they agree to dispense BC’s and if they refuse they can be fired.
No. They should find a different job. If they are concerned about a drug’s dangerous side effects or if it isn’t effective then they should get into the legal system or the FDA to get these drugs banned.
And the religious beliefs really have no place in deciding what drugs people should or shouldn’t be on. That is just pathetic!
Becoming a Pharmacist means having to sell things that you may not agree with, but if you can’t cope with it then you should change your job.
No.
If you’re beliefs keep you from doing your job, get another job. That would be like someone refusing to give a gay man with AIDS his medicine because they think god is punishing them for being gay. Crazy.
No, pharmacists should not be able to refuse to dispense legally-prescribed medications on the basis of the pharmacists’ own religious or moral beliefs.
That would be like a doctor denying a medically necessary treatment to a patient on the grounds of religious disagreement–say, a Jehovah’s Witness physician refusing to prescribe or administer a blood transfusion to a patient with internal hemorrhage. You just don’t do that.
if they are a pharmacist then they need to do their job, if it conflicts with their beliefs then they should find another occupation. if they don’t believe in anti depressants or mental illness, they are probably scientologist and in that case, they really really need another line of work.
While I personally wouldn’t have a problem filling such prescriptions, I think we as a society need to be careful telling people to keep their moral qualms to themselves in the workplace and just do as ordered. Many people have taken part in legal yet heinous activity and used the excuse "I was just doing my job."
I would not tell someone to go against their moral code to keep a job. But I would ask them why they don’t find another job where that moral dilemma wouldn’t arise.
No, a pharmacist should just do his/her job.
If they own the business then they HAVE THE RIGHT to sell what ever "legal" merchandise they wish… or to NOT sell what they wish… for whatever reason they wish…. if it is an employee… then they must follow the rules of their employer.
ONLY if they refuse to sell to certain individuals, who otherwise may legaly use the drug, but are selling it to others… THAT would be against the discrimination laws…
It’s really not very many in the grand school of pharmacy–and in each and every case they no longer work for the pharmacy chain. If it’s a self owned pharamcy–a christian pharamcy i suppose they have the right to not carry and fill those things–find another pharmacy–they will most likely go out of business. For a pharacist to try this in most pharmacy chains out there–it’s rather like joining the army–getting trained–and then not wanting to go to war cause it’s against your religion. Doesn’t fly.
If you accept a job as a pharmacist, your job is to fill prescriptions as prescribed by a physician. If this is going to be a problem for you, then don’t go into that field. Or if you think you know better, go back to school and become a doctor. Like anyone else, if you refuse to do your job, you should be fired.
I am going to give my standard answer to this question that has been asked many times on YA. But first I want to address the specific article that was cited. The issue was not that the pharmacist refused to dispense the prescription, the issue was that he refused to transfer the prescription and impeded the woman from getting it. If he had just refused and stepped aside and let another pharmacist (at his store or another) fill the script then he would not have violated his beliefs by actually dispensing the pills and she would have gotten them in a timely matter.
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This country was founded on the premise that we can all abide by our own religious beliefs and not be forced to do things that violate those beliefs. Pharmacists have the same rights as every other citizen. Well, until there’s a law forcing all doctors to perform abortions (since they ARE legal) I don’t think there should be a law forcing pharmacists to fill every prescription handed to them. In fact there are now several states that have laws specifically stating that a pharmacist may refuse to fill a prescription based on religious, moral, or ethical beliefs. But since almost every pharmacist has chosen that profession to help people and increase their health and well being, not to punish them or judge them, there are very few that turn away prescriptions for those reasons.
There are also economic reasons to consider. There is a policy where I work that allows me to refuse to fill an Rx on moral grounds as long as l find another pharmacist at my store or know that there is one nearby that the patient can get to without undue hardship. If I do not follow this policy I will lose my job. If I owned my own pharmacy and continually refused to fill prescriptions based on moral grounds like the ones above, or a myriad of similar ones I can think of, then I would soon go out of business!
The number of pharmacists who refuse to fill these prescriptions are a very tiny minority. It is a shame they are getting so much attention (notoriety) and I wish more information was given to people for what they can do if they are in this situation or live in a rural community. Some people may be able to order maintenance medication like birth control from a mailorder pharmacy or get a 3 month supply from an out of the way pharmacy if they have no other local options.
And guess what, there are doctors out there, too, that won’t prescibe birth control pills or treat certain patients. But as long as they are not denying emergency care they can refuse to treat anyone they don’t want to.
Absolutely not!
Just because a medication has one use, doesn’t mean it can’t be used for another. I’m one of those women who use birth control to control certain, well, female things. I’m not using it to avoid pregnancy. I have a legitimate medical need for it and if some pharmacist started ramming their religious views down my throat, I wouldn’t come back to that particular pharmacy.
But not before inviting that person to come by my house and see how psychotic my hormones make me get without my medication. I had days that could probably make Lizzie Borden look a saint.
While I personally have my reservations about anti-depressants and other such drugs, I know that they DO work for some people and I would NEVER let my reservations get in the way of their well-being. I would be supportive and let them make THEIR choice, regardless of what I thought.
If a pharmacist finds it "immoral" to dispense birth control, anti-depressants, or other medications, then they should either move to another part of the pharmacy that will accommodate them, or they shouldn’t be in the business at all. Health care is the business of caring for another person’s needs, not forcing your beliefs on them.
Reread the article carefully. He didn’t get in trouble for refusing to fill the prescription. But when he refused to transfer the prescription to another pharmacy that would.
Look, in 22 years of doing pharmacy I’ve worked in upwards of 50 pharmacies. I’ve worked with hundreds of pharmacists. The last time I encountered a pharmacist that refused to fill birth control was NEVER. Sure it’s happened, but it is very, very rare.
As for pharmacists that don’t "believe in interfering" with the brain or don’t believe in mental illness. This is a pure, unmitigated fantasy. Where on earth did you come up with that?