These pharmacists know damn well what their job will entail when they go to school for it. Insubordination. Plain and simple.
The complaint against the West Peoria Walgreens, located in Peoria at the time of the March 8 incident, alleges two counts of failure to provide pharmaceutical care and two counts of unprofessional conduct. A pharmacist refused to fill an emergency contraceptive prescription for a patient whose doctor then changed the prescription to another contraceptive. The pharmacist on duty then refused to fill that prescription because "it was being used as emergency contraception," the complaint said.
Don't push your "morals" on me, Mr. Druggist. Can't you see that simply by performing the act of refusing to fill these prescriptions, you're the one being "immoral" towards your fellow man?
14 comments:
According to the paper, Walgreens has a policy allowing pharmacists not to dispense drugs on moral grounds. This being capitalist AMERICA and all, why not just go to the Walgreens across the street? It isn't like The Pill is hard to get...
Who decides these "morals", Polly? This is a gray area if I've ever seen one.
Actually, I think the policy, as lame as it is, says that they can refuse AS LONG AS THERE IS ANOTHER PHARMICIST ON DUTY IN THAT STORE WHO WILL NOT REFUSE.
But be that as it may, it's part of the job. So if you don't do part of the job, you would think you shouldn't have that job. As in:
"I'm going to be a fireman, but I'm NOT running into any burning buildings of people who have different beliefs than I do."
or
"I'm going to be a policeman, but I'm NOT answering ANY calls to houses of people I don't like."
Make sense?
BJ: the Peoria Police Department has a monopoly in police protection in Peoria. Walgreens does not have a monopoly on pills.
What I find troubling about this is how easy some people find it to tell other people that they MUST violate the basic tenets of their religion.
I don't agree with these pharmacists, but I recognize their right to practice their religion. It seems the least restrictive solution is to let individuals decide what they will do.
This reminds me of the Fugitive Slave Act, in which people who opposed slavery on religious grounds could be forced to aid in the capturing of runaway slaves.
...then lets rethink the 'just following orders' defense from the nuremburg trials.
Yes, anonymous is right;
Pharmacist who refuse to distribute contraceptives by using the Nuremberg Defense ("I was only following orders) and using god as their reason, shouldn't be allowed to do it. Particularly when there is no concrete proof that there IS a higher power to follow orders from.
So, good on ya, anonymous, I agree.
Remember the discussion we had about the Dixie Chicks over on Bills site? yeah, I've got 94.9 on right now and pretty sure I'll keep it there from now on...except for that horrible lunch hour..then 97.3 will have to do
Sorry to hear that, Ryan.
But tell me why. Is it because I personally believe that people have the right to get a prescription filled, or is it because my co-worker (who doesn't work for WXCL) has questioned the existence of god?
Bill, no, it is the same thing. If one officer refuses, there are plenty more who probably won't. But the delay could be costly. Same with the pharmacy situation. One guy refuses, she goes to another one, they refuse, she goes to another one...the delay could be costly.
Also, does Walgreens have any religious affiliations? I don't know, I'm asking a serious question. Bottom line, I just don't think there is ANY defense to denying someone their legal right to fill a legal prescription legally given to them by a doctor.
BTW, Ryan, this blog is my own personal space. It is not affiliated with WXCL radio. It is not necessarily the opinion of the owners of WXCL radio.
So is it really fair to penalize my radio station for something that I only talk about on my private blog, which is not linked from WXCL.com?
Just wondering.
Unlike the cops, Walgreens is a PRIVATE for profit company, and should be allowed to sell or not to sell what is legally allowed. You have every right not to go there to have your prescription filled. The market place will punish Walgreens if appropriate. There have also been pharmacists who refused to fill anti depressants for religious reasons (Church of Scientology/Freaks). Personally, I think Prozac is wonderful stuff and should be injected into our water supply along side floride. However, if someone doesn't want to sell me Prozac, God bless 'em and God bless America, I'll go some where else with my prescription and my cash.
Alright, I'll add another example:
Say you've got $100. That is all. You've got a FOID card, and $100. Hank's Sporting Goods has a $99 gun, but no one else does. You go to Hank's to buy a gun, and the employee on duty won't sell it to you because of "moral convictions". Ohmygod, what to do? You can't buy a gun because some dude doesn't think it's right?
Can you hear the uproar now?
The gun dealer is a PRIVATE business. Are the 2nd Amendment folks going to cut him the same slack that they are willing to apparently cut these pharmacists?
Is the employee of Hank's Sporting Goods going to be told, "it's okay, that's your right" by the NRA?
I think not.
BJ: That doesn't even make sense. If a guy has a moral compunction aginst sellign guns, he wouldn't be workign at a sporting goods store that sells gun. And there isn't a second amendment (well very few) advocate who would argue they have the right to buy a gun from a private individual who doesnt' want to sell.
Thank you, Bill. You made my point for me.
"If a guy has a moral compunction aginst sellign guns, he wouldn't be workign at a sporting goods store that sells gun."
Insert "prescriptions" for gun, and "pharmacy" for sporting good store, and you've got the same thing. Period. No doubt about it. Case closed.
Case closed my enormous, fat ass!
All drugs are not created equal. What if a pharmacist believes a drug will cause a patients death due to a drug interaction even though the patient is in possession of a legal scipt? Should s/he just bottle up the liquid morphine anyway?
And yes, even though I'm the only gun seller in town, I have the right to refuse service to anyone, as long as my decision to neglect you isn't based on your being part of a protected class.
In reality, remember, we are talking WALGREENS here. This chick probably only needed to walk less than a mile to the next Walgreens over to get her perscription filled. Clearly this person is incredibly stupid and shouldn't being having sex in the first place.
You're pushing YOUR morals or lack thereof (depending on your point of view) on the pharmacist.
Personally, I'm a fan of emergency birth control but I don't think anyone has the right to tell a private business they have to sell the morning after pill anymore than they have the right to require them to sell diet Coke or belly button lint.
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