Posted on 05/11/2005 11:00:37 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
MILWAUKEE (AP) A mother of six claims a pharmacist refused to fill her prescription for an emergency contraceptive and berated her as a baby-killer, leaving her so traumatized she didn't seek out another pharmacist and ended up having an abortion.
``The pharmacist crossed the line,'' said Tricia Knight, the attorney for the woman. ``It's one thing to conscientiously object. But you cannot intend to inflict emotional harm on a woman when she is making a very important and often very emotional decision in her life.''
The state Department of Regulation and Licensing, which regulates pharmacists and other professionals, opened an investigation into the pharmacist's actions after learning of the incident through news reports last week, said agency spokesman Chris Klein.
Knight said the Milwaukee woman, who is being identified only as Jane Doe, obtained a prescription for the emergency contraceptive in January after a condom broke during sex and she was concerned she might become pregnant. The contraceptive interferes with conception rather than causing an abortion.
She took it to a Walgreen pharmacy, but the pharmacist refused to fill it and berated her within earshot of other customers, Knight said. The customer asked the manager to help her but was told pharmacists make the decisions on such things, she said.
Michael Polson, a spokesman for Walgreen, said the pharmacist's last day of employment was May 3, but he declined to say whether she resigned or was fired. He said the pharmacist had no memory of the incident as described by Knight.
Polson said company policy allows pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for moral reasons, but they may not discuss their reasons with the customer. They also must notify a manager, who arranges for the prescription to be filled elsewhere, he said.
Last month, the state Pharmacy Examining Board reprimanded a pharmacist who worked at a Kmart pharmacy in Menomonie for refusing to fill a college student's birth control prescription or refer her to another pharmacist, citing religious beliefs.
Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com
If the company you work for (say Walgreens) requires you to dispense medicine you object to, maybe you shouldn't work there.
Not that I agree with the abortionist....but the pharmacist has a job and is employed to perform that job. Would the pharmacist also fail to dispense birth control pills? Or Viagra to single men?
This issue seems to be occuring more and more, must be a moral conundrum to some pharmacists, who are essentially playing God.
Oh, please.
Didn't she find a finger or something?
I wouldn't have sex if I weren't prepared to create a child.
He's a Pharmacist and shouldn't refuse a prescription based on moral grounds. I am not at all for abortions and I do think they're wrong, but the woman was asking for a legal prescription and as a Pharmacist, he should provide, it's his job. If he has a problem with the kinds of drugs he might be required to dispense, then he shouldn't be in the business of dispensing drugs!
Any pharmacist that refuses to fill a valid prescription from a Dr should immediately lose their license to dispence medication.
The contraceptive interferes with conception rather than causing an abortion.
But it comforts the article's author to say mislead the public.
Pinging biblewonk to mere pretenders referenced in # 17. ;O)
Probably Catholic. Every Catholic Ive met who follows this line of reasoning has between 5-7 kids. Ugh..
It is absolutely horrible these Catholics just don't confirm to modern ways and kill their babies in the womb. - sarcasm
That is between the pharmacist and his/her employer.
The part about the Pharmacist not filling the prescription is probably true. The part about the Pharmacist ridiculing her is highly doubtful. Piling on the lame excuse she used a condom and it broke, puts the story in fairytale land.
Or simply listening to God. GASP! -sarcasm
Without having seen the rally on tv, I can still venture a guess that the "womyn" looked like a lumberjack convention. They usually do.
Absolutely.....if this was a police state.
Exactly.
All this hate, anger and venom... NOW I remember why I stopped going to Church.
So this woman goes into a drugstore and tells the pharmacist she wanted to buy some cyanide pills. The pharmacist . . . Oh, never mind. I forgot the punchline.
hate?
OK.
Walgreens and CVS have policies that give the Pharmacist discretion.
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