Pharmacists are refusing to fill Rx's for vitamins and antibiotics

[LiviaOlivia]

Bitter Pill
Women's Health Clinic Files Complaint Against Swedish Medical Center Pharmacy

BY JOSH FEIT

Cedar River Clinics, a women's health and abortion provider with facilities in Renton, Tacoma, and Yakima, filed a complaint with the Washington State Department of Health this week alleging three instances where pharmacists raising moral objections refused to fill prescriptions for Cedar River clients. The complaint includes one incident at the Swedish Medical Center outpatient pharmacy in Seattle. According to the complaint, someone at the Swedish pharmacy said she was "morally unable" to fill a Cedar River patient's prescription for abortion-related antibiotics. Cedar River's complaint quotes its Renton clinic manager's May 17, 2005, e-mail account: "Today, one of our clients asked us to call in her prescription... to Swedish outpatient pharmacy. called the prescription in... and spoke with an efficient staff person who took down the prescription. A few minutes later, this pharmacy person called us back and told us she had found out who we were and she morally was unable to fill the prescription." (Cedar River thinks their client eventually got her prescription filled.)

Cedar River's complaint, dated April 10, summarizes: "In each of the situations, we believe the pharmacist displayed behavior that was biased, unprofessional, and unethical. We are concerned that this type of poor treatment may be becoming a trend."

The complaint also includes an incident from November 2005 in Yakima, in which a pharmacist at a Safeway reportedly refused to fill a Cedar River patient's prescription for pregnancy-related vitamins. The pharmacist reportedly asked the customer why she had gone to Cedar River Clinics and then told the patient she "didn't need them if she wasn't pregnant."

Next week, the Washington State Board of Pharmacy (WSBP) will begin deliberating on rules that will determine whether pharmacists can cite "conscientious, moral, or religious reasons" in refusing to fill prescriptions for drugs like Plan B, the well-known emergency contraception pill. The board hopes to have rules in place as early as this summer.

~snip~

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=31667

[TheDebbieDee]

1. If some pharmacists are feeling conflicted enough to

deny filling prescriptions for these meds, then these pharmacists should go back to school and find training in a different career field.

No one is forcing these pharmacists to be pharmacists!

[liberal43110]

3. Exactly!

[cboy4]

6. EXACTLY!! Very few professional get away with this kind of bigotry...

Just put the pills in the bottle and mind your own F'ing business, or yes, do something else.

[Kutjara]

2. We need to pay attention to this.

If the precedent is set for the denial of health services on "moral" grounds, we may as well roll this country up and give it to somebody who'll make a better job of it.

If a pharmacist refuses to fill a prescription that has been correctly prepared by a qualified doctor, that pharmacist should be fired, have their license revoked, and be forbidden from holding a license again. It is not their right to bring private beliefs into the workplace, if those beliefs interfere with the proper execution of their duties.

Imagine a combat soldier claiming that she won't fight because she's a pacifist, and then expecting to remain with her unit.

What's next? The Fire Department refusing to respond to illegal immigrants' homes? The police 'morally' objecting to enforce the law if the victim is gay?

These idiots here in WA need to be reminded that their principal obligation is to the patient.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

4. "... morally unable to fill a prescription........"

Don't these little assholes who weren't smart enough to get into medical or dental school have to take some kind of oath when they get their licenses to pop pills from one container to another?

I wonder what that oath says.

OK, check it out: http://www.uspharmd.com/rxcode.htm

These pricks need to have their licenses REVOKED.

[elehhhhna]

11. antibiotics are also used for pelvic infectons, acne, etc. Please.

The pharmacist's an asshat & should be fired forever.

[Doctor Venmkan]

24. EXCUSE me...?! What the F**K??!

EDIT: Just so ya know, all my venom is directed at OldLeftieLawyer, not the person directly above me! :o

"Don't these little assholes who weren't smart enough to get into medical or dental school have to take some kind of oath when they get their licenses to pop pills from one container to another?"

Aren't we supposed to be the group that is AGAINST sterotyping???

I'm a pharmacy tech, and I work under 3 pharmacists that DO THEIR JOBS, all the time. And hey, so do I.

And I GARAN-DAMN-TEE that there's a hell of a lot more to the job than 'putting pills from one container to the other!' In fact, when it comes to the actual medicines....PHARMACISTS know more about them than the DOCTORS do!

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Moving on....why the hell would a pharmacist deny a woman PNVs? Hell, we have a MAN on prenatal vitamins. It just happenst that the combo in a particular PNV 'clicks' for his needs. And the antibiotics? How did he KNOW it was for an abortion? Seems like a 'need-to-know' thing to me, and if the pharmacy DIDN'T...why tell them?

Denying pain and mood meds? Unless the patients, say, just had a month supply of it filled the day before, then there's no excuse for that...

[fishwax]

26. i know of pharmacists who have gone to medical school

and pharmacy school, from what I understand, can be as or more difficult to get into than medical school. Anyway, the pharmacists who have med school training as well have a definite advantage in their broader perspective. In the European model, if I'm not mistaken, pharmacists, doctors, and patients have a much more balanced relationship, and pharmacists are much more involved with developing strategies for treatment, etc. I don't know if that's true, but that's what I hear from my pharmacist-to-be friends.

BTW, welcome to DU :hi:

[iamjoy]

28. I Am Offended By Your Characterization

of pharmacists. My Dad is a pharmacist. He is very smart - barely missed getting into MENSA.

Pharmacists are not just clerks pushing pills. Modern pharmacy involves understanding a vast array of drugs and possible interactions. Doctors would often consult with my Dad about dosage of certain medication.

So, let's not insult pharmacists in general.

My Dad's belief?
If a pharmacist wants to decide what drugs to dispense on moral grounds, the pharmacist should open his/her own pharmacy. He really is more of a Moderate, not a Liberal.

[Xeric]

5. predictable

Once the religious right freaks had their foot in the door by getting some (unethical) pharmacists to not prescribe morning after pills, it was predictable that the next step would be that they are "morally unable" (love that phrase) to give out vitamins or contraceptives or whatever in order to discriminate against people. Sorry, can't give out prescriptions to gays, God says I can't.
These so-called Christians are pro-death.

[ninkasi]

7. These religious nuts

are getting worse. They wish to intrude in every aspect of our private lives, then have the gall to claim they're persecuted. I think this current crop of fundies need to be stopped. I don't mean that they can't practice their religion, but if it prevents them from performing their job duties, then they should get another job.

It would be like an Orthodox Jew working for a hog slaughtering company, then refusing to touch the pork. We all have ethical dilemmas, but then we need to tailor our jobs to suit our beliefs, not force our employers to turn away customers or clients based on our prejudices.

The don't want to limit themselves to being able to go to the church of their choice, and lead their personal lives according to their faith, but what makes them think they can inflict their beliefs on others? Oh, I know...if they CAN'T inflict their beliefs, then they are persecuted, right? They expect the world to accommodate them, and that's not realistic.

[ewoden]

8. Response to this is simple

Use the Market Force Luke!! Boycott the offending pharmacies. Picket them. let them know that this moral arguement means their customers will take their business elsewhere. No filling of pescriptions, fine, no sales of Easter candy, no sales of deodorant, no greeting card sales etc. His these paharmacies in the pocketbook and you'll see the management make adjustments right quick.

[azurnoir]

9. In the instance(s)

of the pharmacist refusing to fill scripts for antibiotics that refusal constituted willful patient endangerment and this pharmacist should be censured at the vary least. If this is allowed to go then will have pharmacists refusing to scripts for the treatment of STD's not to mention AZT.

[ChristianLibrul]

10. What are we "morally unable" to do now?

Report a robbery in progress at that pharmacy?

[Xeric]

12. I'm sure......

I'm morally unable to vote for a Republican

[hlthe2b]

13. I'd love to ask these assholes how they would feel...

If they were wheeled into the emergency room after a massive car wreck, only to find a physician who refused to treat ultra right-wing fundie "Xians"--who knows, maybe the husband of a patient whose prescription they refused to fill!

[LiberalPartisan]

17. I think you make a valid case to witholding care....n/t

[Warpy]

14. This requires a formal complaint to the state pharmacy board

that oversees the licensing of pharmacists and pharmacies. The pharmacist should have his/her license revoked and the pharmacy should be closed if it hasn't fired the pharmacist in question.

This is insane.

Next they'll say we can't have pain pills because pain is how gawd tests us. We can't have blood pressure meds and heart pills because we're going against gawd's will.

These guys need to get away from harming patients and into some church.

[HockeyMom]

15. They are targeting pain and mood stabilizers too

according to the AMA. As someone who has had surgery twice, I would be ready to strangle a pharmacist who said I didn't need pain meds after surgery.

As far as mood stabilizers, I have a daughter who is bipolar and a fully functioning, productive member of society while on her "mood stabilizers". Ditto for her cousin, who is also the mother of 3 young daughters. Take their meds away, society will suffer the repercussions. All in the name of somebody else's "religion".

Nope, it ain't just birth control and abortion anymore. Who needs doctors? FAITH is the solution to EVERYTHING.
:sarcasm:

[LiberalPartisan]

16. Those pharmacists should be fired...n/t

[NMMNG]

18. Where are we going to draw the line with these jerks?

Vegetarian grocery store clerks can't refuse to sell meat to people based on their personal beliefs and expect to keep their jobs.

Atheist booksellers can't refuse to sell the Bible based on their lack of belief and expect to keep their jobs.

Racist cops can't refuse to "serve and protect" minority citizens and expect to keep their jobs.


Why are bigoted pharmacists allowed to refuse to fill prescriptions and still keep their jobs?

[emal2me]

19. I wonder?

I wonder if a woman that becomes pregnant due to a pharmacist refusing to fill a morning after pill prescription be made to pay child support?

If it can be proven that the pharmacist refused, I think they would be held accountable for their actions and ordered to pay. But like any republican, they would fight paying because they really don’t care about the child. Reproductive rights is just a control issue with them.

[Nobody]

Better yet

Make them pay for the cost of pre-natal care and delivery as well. They DO care about the fetus, so they should pay these costs. If they'd done their jobs, the woman wouldn't have gotten pregnant to start with.

I also wonder if they'd be guilty of homicide if the woman ends up with a condition that leads to her death in childbirth.

(Welcome to DU)

[emal2me]

21. Good Point

Thanks for the welcome!

[Nobody]

20. Better yet

Make them pay for the cost of pre-natal care and delivery as well. They DO care about the fetus, so they should pay these costs. If they'd done their jobs, the woman wouldn't have gotten pregnant to start with.

I also wonder if they'd be guilty of homicide if the woman ends up with a condition that leads to her death in childbirth.

(Welcome to DU)

[newyawker99]

22. Hi emal2me!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[emal2me]

23. Hi

Hello and thanks for the welcome.

[mwooldri]

31. Hello and welcome here.

Sorry please excuse the misspellings... late nights and drugs (presribed ones that is) do that to me. Like an earlier post I said "we have to draw a sand in the line."

As I am saying frequently "when life gives you lemonade, make lemons".

adn again welcome here. Chill out in the lounge too. That's one crazy place!

Mark.

[mwooldri]

30. Hear Hear!

You don't fill the presription, you bear the consequences. If it was a prescription for say a cancer drug .... you should bear the consequences.

Maybe more pharmacists need to hire Christian Scientists. Maybe then we'd lower our drug bills in one fell swoop and pharmacies can then rely on non prescription sales and have areas for prayer sessions.

Mark.

[musical_soul]

25. How pro-life of them.

[Quantess]

27. They are lucky I wasn't their customer.

Although I'm usually delightful, in this instance I would have ripped them a new one verbally and in writing. I'd cause an embarrasing scene. :grr:

[mwooldri]

29. Since when do pharmacists have the right under moral grounds?

AFAIK, it's the pharmacists's job of filling a prescription. They may understand what it does in the body and they are required to state that... but it is the doctor at the end of the day who orders the prescription. Are the pharmacists questioning the doctor's judgement?

Oh, and for vitamin pills being refused for being dispensed? Are these the same things that could be done OTC instead? I can understand why vitamins might be prescribed under certain circumstances but couldn't the person got it as an OTC dispensation? Maybe they were on medicaid and could get them real cheap that way - cheaper than OTC.

So what the prescribing institution happens to be a family planning clinic.

Perhaps I should have a moral right to take some of the food out of the pharmacy and give it directly to Second Harvest Food Bank because it's immoral to have food on sale?

Mark.

[gollygee]

32. Prenatal vitamins are Rx

I don't know why - maybe there's something in particular in them that isn't in other vitamins? I have no idea really. But I remember from when I was pregnant paying the damn co-pay.

[prole_for_peace]

33. and the ones that won't fill the rx and also won't give it back so

it can be filled elsewhere.

if i was told that something i had an rx for wouldn't be filled some bad stuff would happen. and if some asshat wouldn't give my scrip back so i could go to another pharmacy...:nuke: i would be climbing right over that counter.