Yet another reason not to shop at Walmart

[LiviaOlivia]

Yet another reason not to shop at Walmart
by Bill Rehm

Fri Apr 1st, 2005 at 10:27:05 PST

I signed this NARAL form that sends letters to several large pharmacies about the whole "pharmacist can refuse to fill birth control prescriptions" issue.

NARAL link: http://prochoiceaction.org/campaign/pharmacy_petition_web/step1.tcl

Here's their(Walmart's) response:


Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for contacting us at Walmart.com regarding women's prescriptions for birth control. Your comments and concerns are very important to us as we strive to meet your needs.

Wal-Mart does not carry emergency contraceptives. Our pharmacists may decline to fill a prescription based on personal convictions. However, they must find another pharmacist, either at Wal-Mart or another pharmacy, who can assist you by filling your prescription.

Again, we thank you for your comments regarding this issue.

Sincerely,

Customer Service at Walmart.com


This is the reply I got from Walmart. Now, given the fact that Walmart tends to put small competitors out of business, exactly what other pharmacy will they be referring people to?

~snip~

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/4/1/13276/50022

[Horse with no Name]

1. The only answer to this practice

is to contact our insurance companies and have the pharmacies that refuse to fill our prescriptions removed as providers.
When Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance carriers will not reimburse prescriptions for these retailers, I have a feeling that personal conviction will fall somewhere in the realm of "I don't give a shit how you feel" when it affects the bottom line.

[Warpy]

3. Write a letter to the state licensing board

with the name of the pharmacist, the pharmacy, the date and the time that you could not get a legal prescription filled.

These sanctimonious shitheads need their licenses pulled, and this is the way to do it.

I'm serious about this. Health care workers can't pick and choose their patients, and pharmacists are not qualified to practice medicine without a license and deny legally prescribed medications to their patients.

[renaissanceguy]

8. That's a good way to go about it.

They don't want to do their jobs...they can find another one, perhaps as a minister, instead.


http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues.16778998

[SnowGoose]

2. So could we infer...

that vegetarian cashiers can refuse to ring up people's meat, instead directing them to another checkout lane?

Really, it's only fair.

[SeanQuinn]

4. In my opinion, the customer comes first.

If I worked at a sports store, and the customer was a Yankee fan who wanted a Derek Jeter jersey, it's sold. Personal convictions don't apply to sales, as Walmart is shooting itself in the foot.

It doesn't matter what I think about the Yankees or Derek Jeter, I sell it to the customer. He or she comes first.

[Maat]

5. Actually, I got the same e-mail from Wal-Mart!

This 46-year-old had to go back on basic birth control pills for other-than-need-for-birth-control reasons ("medication" for cysts).

My ding-dongey hubby (I love him) dropped my prescription there about a year ago; it took me forever to get it moved to another pharmacy (long story).

Any way, a couple of months ago, I got it moved to another pharmacy. I walked in and asked the new pharmacy if they filled Plan B and birth control prescriptions regularly, and they stated they did. So, they were my new one.

Then I wrote Wal-Mart an e-mail stated that they had no business refusing to carry Plan B. Actually, they weren't going to get my business ever again (I had boycotted the regular store for a couple of years).

In response, I got that stupid e-mail back.

[rebecca_herman]

6. Ugh

This issue really irritates me. I am on the pill for completely non birth control reasons. I am not sexually active, nor will I be anytime soon. But I have an abnormally bad period, with severe bleeding and pain. My gynocologist and I have decided this is the best medical treatment for my condition. It's no business of a pharmacist to interfere with my treatment. I hope no one has the nerve to pull this around here. I live in Connecticut - there are Walmarts here but most people probably do not use them for prescriptions - there aren't THAT many Walmarts, there are way more CVS's, Walgreens, large supermarkets with phamaracies, etc.

[cap]

14. i cant pm you rebecca

I am in a similar position with abnormally bad periods... severe bleeding and pain...vomiting, fever, cramped up laying on the bathroom floor. I dont want to take birth control because of a family history of heart disease ... Finally a gyn told me something very simple -- take ibuproferen as directed -- ie every 4 hours -- as soon as your period starts, not as soon as you feel pain.

This may not work for you --- and maybe birth control is the right way to go for your particular circumstance. (I am pro-choice) But thought I would add in my 2 cents

[rebecca_herman]

24. Tried that...

I tried taking ibuprofen really often during my period. It killed my stomach and didn't help the pain.

[WildClarySage]

26. Also, Ibuprofen can thin blood and increase bleeding

definitely talk to your doc before starting ibuprofen during or before your period if you have severe bleeding then.

[rebecca_herman]

28. Yeah I don't use it anymore

I have a prescription for something else, I don't always need it now, but whether or not I take it it's still heavy. I guess I am just unlucky that way. At least I only get it every 3 months this way.

[moocho1]

7. Reply to Wal-Mart

I received the same message and emailed them that their reply was unacceptable. Also, I called NARAL and suggested that they put another email out to tell people to reply to these messages. They should know that sending someone to another pharmacy is unacceptable.Some people don't drive or they have to ask someone else for a ride. It's outrageous. The pharmacy should ALWAYS have someone on staff who will fill prescriptions.

[renaissanceguy]

9. Pretty soon they'll lift the requirement of

finding the customer another pharmacist. I mean, think about it...if someone opposes birth control to the point where they won't give it to you, why would they help you find it elsewhere?

We have to stop them in their tracks NOW.

It's the way it works in business. Do your job or quit.


http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues.16778996

[cap]

15. pro-choice Catholic...

how do we start to mobilize other Catholics around this?

[Nobody]

16. My Catholic sister is pissed as hell right now and I pissed her off

by telling her about this and showing her two articles in two different newspapers. She's going to be boycotting Walmart, Eckerds, CVS, Walgreens and she's angry enough that she's going to mention this to all her friends.

She had no idea this was happening until I brought it up.

[beam me up scottie]

18. CVS and Eckerds

both got a thumbs up from PPFA on their scorecard.

This is from another thread in this forum.
Link :
http://www.saveroe.com/fillmypillsnow/content.php?pid=302

[Nobody]

19. Last I heard they were refusing to fill birth control

And I'm damn glad they do now. I'll send my sister the link you sent me. Thanks.

[beam me up scottie]

20. You're welcome.

I'm very glad I already use CVS.
It's great you're spreading the word, these corporate whores only care about profit, so let's hit them where it hurts.

[funflower]

10. No-choice Walmart

I sent the NARAL letter and got the same response.

So I'm boycotting Walmart. But, then, I live in a close-in area far from a Walmart store, so I never go there anyway. Guess they know that and figure they'll gain more biz in their rural locations by not carrying EC than by carrying it.

So sad for rural gals whose only choice is Walmart (since it put the small, local pharmacy out of business years ago).

[NMMNG]

11. Interesting

how they won't sell the 'morning after' pill, and pharmacists can refuse to fill prescriptions for the birth control pill,

but they have no qualms selling guns and bullets.

[PA Mamma]

12. Exactly what I told them ...

Here's my post: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=217&topic_id=1631&mesg_id=1631

Too bad it falls on deaf ears, huh?

[NMMNG]

13. I love that letter!

So typical that they just sent the same old form letter....couldn't even come up with a genuine reply.

Dipshits!

[Nobody]

17. I got that letter and sent them a reply and got the same letter back

I bet no one reads them.

So let's just fill up their inboxes. My second email to them was to ask them where the moral issue was in treating ovarian cysts, excessive period-related bleeding and excruciating cramps.

[Yalita]

21. Our freedoms

In a country where we promote freedoms. Why are you all so upset by this?
I am against abortion. I personally think it is wrong. But I get reminded everyday it is a personal choice the mother makes.
Why cant we treat this with the same.
IMO it takes alot for someone to stand for what they believe. They aren't telling you you are doing a bad thing or trying to talk you out of getting your prescriptions. They are just not doing something they think is wrong. I support and respect that.

[Lars39]

22. There are many reasons that BC pills may be prescribed.

Not filling a legally written prescription because of a 'belief' is practicing medicine.

A pharmacist who refuses to fill a BC prescription, under the erroneous impression that BC pills cause abortion, is incompetent.

Some of these pharmacists who have refused to fill BC prescriptions have lectured the woman about 'killing the baby', or have even kept the prescription.

[beam me up scottie]

23. You are missing the point.

Pharmacists are there to FILL prescriptions, not make moral judgments.

It is none of their damn business what the drug is being prescribed for, why the physician prescribed it or why the woman is having it filled.

If they are unable or unwilling to fulfill their professional obligation to the patient then perhaps they should find another profession where they are allowed to use their personal beliefs to dictate policy.

[Megahurtz]

41. Strongly agree. n/t

[Nobody]

25. Our freedoms end where another's freedom begins

Before I respond, I notice you have two posts and thus I want to welcome you to DU and respectfully disagree.

I ask you what you would think if you desperately needed a blood transfusion and a Jehovah's Witness was the doctor in the emergency room. Suppose that doctor refused to give you that blood transfusion based on religious beliefs? I would hope your next of kin would scream loudly and sue the doctor.

If a pharmacist wants to refuse to fill certain prescriptions, they should refuse in such a way that the patient can get that prescription filled without having to call around to several pharmacies to find one that will fill it, no one should EVER have to listen to the indignity of a lecture.

Were you aware that birth control pills can be used for several things that have nothing to do with contraception?

Ovarian cysts
Excessive menstrual pain (I have two relatives, a sister and a niece and we're not talking cramps, we're talking debilitating pain)
A possible treatment for severe anemia
Extreme menstruation-related mood swings

By the way, birth control pills are one of the things that reduces the risk of ovarian cancer. The reason is that pregnancy reduces the risk, and the risk reduces even more for each pregnancy. Birth control pills fool your body into thinking it's already pregnant and this is why birth control pills are a risk-reducing factor.

[WildClarySage]

27. I've taken birth control pills trying to GET pregnant.

The fertility doc prescribed them to suppress hormone production so that when I stopped taking them, there would be a sort of 'rebound' effect causing ovulation to occur. If I'd been faced with a 'lecture' from some moran trying to practice medicine without a license behind the counter, I would have explained to them where they could stick their unearned 'medical degree'. To assume that a woman using BCPs is trying to avoid pregnancy is irresponsibly assuming that you know more about the patient's needs than their physician.

In my case, the pills didn't work, though my doc has had many successes with them. It took a different prescription, which some right wingers may claim was immoral for me to take, for success- I'm now 6 weeks along!!!

[rebecca_herman]

29. Congratulations

They might tell you it's God's will but BS... although I suppose protesting fertility drugs wouldn't look great for them. Good luck with your pregnancy!

[Nobody]

33. Make that a double

Congratulations and may your pregnancy be without problems, and the baby be born healthy.

Pharmacists are chemists, not doctors. Some may be aware of all the various uses for medications but not all. And the right wingers have no interest in getting all the information before denying a prescription.

Did you know that there were at least two instances of women having their birth control prescriptions taken and not returned by the self-righteous ignoramus.

[WildClarySage]

36. Thank you!

[benevolent dictator]

30. If they think it's so wrong they should get a new job. You wouldn't hire a

vegan and say "oh by the way, you don't have to ring up or stock meat or dairy products since it's against your beliefs."

You wouldn't hire a Jew and then allow them to not ring up kosher food.

If they're so opposed to handing out birth control to women with prescriptions then they should go into a different line of work.

[noamnety]

31. Welcome to DU, Yalita

I'm with you all the way, people need to respect each others' freedoms and stop discriminating against religious people. There's no reason a Mormon shouldn't be hired at Victoria's Secret, if they are qualified. And there's no reason they should be forced to sell lingerie that doesn't fully cover people, once they are hired, if it's against their beliefs.

And I'm all for the Amish working at the local Ford Assembly Plant. It's a good union job, and they should have as much access to work in their chosen career as the next person. Their line supervisor just needs to understand they won't be working with any automated equipment. That's a reasonable allowance to make.

Right?

[beam me up scottie]

32. You had me going there

for a minute...

[Yalita]

34. Thanks for the welcoming

But in reply to as many as i can remember atm :)
I don't think them not wanting to sell BC pills is them making a moral judgment on you. If i choose to do or not do something that is not a reference to you.
Secondly i take BC pills die to hormonal imbalances. If were told to come back later I would not be upset. I wouldn't particular like the second run to the store but other things have ticked me off more.
And comparing BC pills to a blood transfusion is silly don't ya think :) They cant even come close.

Many people who hold regard over our lives do what they wish everyday.Doctors make life and death decisions based on there own personal beliefs. Why is there more people in here upset about BC pills than over that?

I do however believe that it can be done in a better fashion. They should just get another pharmacist to fill and not say anything. And if none available they should just tell you they are out and you have to come back later.

[WildClarySage]

35. So lying is morally ok?

Good doctors make decisions based on education and experience, not on their personal moral feelings. Sure some doctors do, but good doctors use professional judgement. I wouldn't go to one who placed his/her morals above professionalism.

A pharmacist is not the one I hired to provide medical care for me. I did not hire them to determine what is morally in my best interests. I'm a big girl, and frankly, if a pharmacy is open, if the medication is on the shelf, then there's no reason in bloody hell for me to have to come back later. It's my RIGHT to be served by the pharmacist there as long as I'm not being unreasonable. If they don't want to provide me with the prescriptions that the physician ordered, then they don't belong behind the counter. There are enormous lists of kids (and adults) wanting to get accepted into pharmacy schools, and those spots should go to those who are willing to do their jobs, not to those who want to pass moral judgement on someone else's prescription.

[Yalita]

37. What if..

So if you're doing a job and they want you to do something that you feel morally wrong would you do it?

Doctors make calls based on there personal morals. Happens all the time.
Nurses make calls based on there personal morals. Happens all the time.
Teachers make calls based on there personal morals. Happens all the time.
Lawyers, well OK they don't :)
Social workers, daycare workers, police officers, The list goes on and on.

Why aren't we stomping mad about all of this? Because maybe atm if don't affect us?
I am not making presumptions I am just asking a question.

[WildClarySage]

38. Because in this case, what is immoral, is thinking that you know

enough about a patient's medical condition that you can decide for them whether or not a medication is appropriate, in the absence of a license to practice medicine. A pharmacist who refuses to dispense ordered medication is putting a doctor's patient in danger by countermanding their orders.

Let's say that Mary X has been told by her physician that another pregnancy will kill her. Her utereus is stretched beyond what she can handle by her previous 7 pregnancies. She and her husband are waiting for his sinus infection to clear up before he gets his nads snipped. For some reason, one evening the condom breaks. Mary goes to get her emergency contraceptive- and the pharmacist won't do her job. Since Mary lives very far out in BFE, Ohio, the next closest pharmacist is a good forty-five minutes away. Mary's 8 children are very demanding of her time and she doesn't get a chance to run out again til the following day, when lo and behold, the next closest pharmacist ALSO won't dispense them. Soon, Mary's worst fears are confirmed. She's now pregnant, and must have an abortion, or her 8 children may well be motherless. Since these two pharmacists were unfamiliar with Mary's condition, their 'morals' put her life in danger. Her doctor, on the other hand, is well acquainted with her medical history, and treated her appropriately.

If, as a social services employee, which I am, I were asked to do something improper, there are ethical guidelines to address the situation properly. There is no guesswork or second guessing someone else- trainings on ethics are held so often in the social services field that depending on your particular expertise, you are probably so familiar with them that you could teach them in your sleep. The number one rule of ethics is that the clients welfare comes first. Not your personal values. If my client's therapist tells me that my client needs to believe that there are purple butterflies flying around her head, and my personal belief is that lying about the butterflies is immoral, then that's tough. I have to do what is best for the client. (a silly hypothetical, but it makes the point)

Doctors and Nurses make calls based on professional ethical guidelines, education and experience, not on their own moral feelings, at least, as I said before, GOOD doctors (and nurses do.) Nurses do not decide they will withhold medical treatment from a patient because it goes against their values. They do what they are ordered to do. If they can't handle it, they move to a different specialization or area of service. Withholding professionally recommended treatment without damn good reason (you have reason to believe the medication prescribed is contraindicated for a patient because of allergy, for instance- not because you get the heebie jeebies filling the prescription) is nearly always ethically wrong, in any field. If you don't want to do what your job requires you to do, get another job. Don't refuse and put someone's life in danger.

[noamnety]

39. I wouldn't take the job in the first place

You have to be some kind of idiot to get all the way through pharmacy school without realizing you'd be responsible for dispensing birth control.

If I took a job where the rules suddenly changed AFTER I accepted the position in a way that compromised my morals, I'd either leave or become a whistle blower, depending on the circumstances. I've reported ethics violations to my boss's boss before; I've quit jobs before.

What I haven't done before is become a prima donna who puts my personal whims above the health care of my customers, or who just assumes that it's no problem for them to make an indefinite number of trips to an indefinite number of pharmacies, just because it wouldn't be a problem for me. That's the Paris Hilton approach to life - if they don't have time to make another trip to the drug store, they can just send their limo driver to pick it up.

[beam me up scottie]

40. Pharmacists take an oath too.

Just like other medical professionals.
Their duty is to the patient, not the church.
If it's the other way around, they can find another job.
I have yet to hear of one refusing to dispense Viagra...

[Megahurtz]

42. Yeah, they want to thwart "God's will" by

reviving a dying organ that God wants dead.

That's going against "God's will" to me.

Hypocritic fucks!:grr:

[Raiden]

43. Why the fuck are they hiring pharmacists

who don't even have to fill a prescription?! That's a pharmacist's job, to fuckin' hand over the prescribed pills. Spare me the self-righteous bullshit. If a pharmacist can't hand over the necessary prescription then they should find another job...