Lou Dobbs poll on Pharmacists

[Beaverhausen]

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/

It's 92% on our side but a few more votes Couldn't hurt!

[BlueIris]

1. Holding steady at 90%. nt.

[efhmc]

2. What I wrote earlier on DU about this. Of course, one has the right to

one own beliefs but find another JOB!
"I have another idea about this. Ask these people before they
are employed whether or not they intend to do their job by filling all prescriptions. If the answer is yes, then that person gets the job. Otherwise, those pharmacists who do not agree with the idea of doing ones job either need to work for one another and form their own company or seek another profession."

(BTW, does this mean if you are a health care professional, you have the right to deny care to someone who has a hysterectomy, vasectomy, tubal ligation, D&C, etc.?)

[geniph]

3. See, what I keep wondering about this,

is, if it's okay for a pharmacist to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions because it's "against his religious beliefs," then what's to stop, say, a Christian Scientist from becoming a pharmacist and refusing to fill ALL prescriptions? Would a Scientologist pharmacist be allowed to refuse to fill prescriptions for psychoactive medications? Where does this absurdity end?

I don't get to pick and choose which parts of MY job I'll do based on my own personal beliefs. I check that stuff at the door. They pay me to do a job, not to proselytize.

If pharmacies are allowed to let some of their pharmacists exercise their bizarre anti-female prejudices in this manner, then I want those pharmacies required to post that prominently on the front door of their establishment. "NOTICE: SOME OF OUR PHARMACISTS DO NOT FILL CONTRACEPTIVE PRESCRIPTIONS." That way, I can exercise my right as a consumer to not patronize those establishments for ANYTHING.

[MountainLaurel]

4. I keep asking that question

Or, what's to keep a fundamentalist pharmacist from refusing to fill a scrip for anti-depressants, since "psychology is just a sign of secular humanity's selfish nature, and mental illness really doesn't exist but is simply a lack of faith and prayer."

Somewhat OT, but I had an interesting discussion with my therapist last night about this issue (she hadn't heard anything about these conscience clauses, or the fact that several states have made it perfectly legal -- she was appalled and thinks it's incredibly unethical of a healthcare provider), which is tied somewhat to a personal situation. (Dealing with the issue of finding a psychiatrist through my soon-to-be Jesuit employer, and the chance that I'll be told that of course I'm depressed since I'm not a Christian.)

[geniph]

5. The other thing that makes me gnash my teeth

is that birth control pills can be prescribed for many things completely unrelated to contraception. I had a tubal ligation 15 years ago, but I take them to stabilize my cycle now that I'm approaching perimenopause. I know women with endometriosis - which is horribly, horribly painful - who take them to prevent being crippled with agony. There are women for whom pregnancy is near-certain death. Not filling a birth control prescription for these women is inhumane and unquestionably a violation of medical and professional ethics.

(I think it's inhumane and unethical to require women to be held hostage to an unwanted pregnancy, too, but the medical issues make me even angrier.)