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Mother is denied pill by Muslim pharmacist
Telegraph.co.uk ^ | 03 Oct 2008 | Paul Stokes

Posted on 10/05/2008 12:12:12 PM PDT by forkinsocket

A woman was refused the "morning-after pill" by a supermarket's duty pharmacist because it was against his religious beliefs.

Ruth Johnson, 33, who has two children, including a month-old baby, had not been using her usual method of contraception with her fiancée.

She went to the Tesco dispensary in Hewitts Circus, Cleethorpes, Lincs, and asked an as assistant for the pill Levanelle.

Miss Johnson was told it could only be dispensed by the locum pharmacist who was called to speak with her.

She said: "He came out from behind a screen and told me that he would not be allowing me to buy the pill from him because he had a right to refuse to sell it on the basis of his personal beliefs.

"The pharmacist was of Asian origin so I asked him if it was because of his religion and he replied 'Yes'."

Miss Johnson, from Cleethorpes, was left feeling ashamed and worried and complained to the store manager who told her they couldn't force the pharmacist to sell the product.

She said: "I asked him if a Jewish or Muslim checkout operator could refuse to sell pork or alcohol or if a Jehovah's Witness could refuse to sell birthday and Christmas cards."

Her concern is that the policy could deter teenage girls from seeking the morning-after pill.

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: conscienceclause; pharmacist; pharmacy; pill
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To: muawiyah
The doctor's scrip was in error ~ it didn't pass muster with the pharmacist. End of story.

Because of religion, not pharmacology.

And the old whore? Certainly you jest! And you are the one who said the old whore should be able to make a decision that the pharmacist should be bound to obey.

No. The patient (not whore - who she sleeps with is none of your damned business) and the physician chose a course of treatment. The pharmacist has no say in that course of business.

61 posted on 10/05/2008 1:03:47 PM PDT by jude24
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To: jude24
Hey, who she sleeps with IS public business when she trudges into the court of public opinion and tries to elicit sympathy. It's even more the public's business when she takes something like this to court.

BTW, pharmacists make decisions all the time (for a variety of reasons) about whether or not you are going to get a drug.

They aren't just window clerks ~ they are professionals who have knowledge of pharmacology ~ and it's usually vastly superior to that of any mere sawbones eh!

62 posted on 10/05/2008 1:07:14 PM PDT by muawiyah
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Comment #63 Removed by Moderator

To: jude24
No one has suggested that the script was written by the doctor in error. No one has suggested that there was a medical error. As such, his knowledge of pharmacology is irrelevant.

The possession of a Script is also irrelevant. A script makes it legal to buy certain medications.

It in no way translates to any requirement that any particular pharmacy carry, stock, or sell the medication in question.

If you have Identification showing that you are 21, it is legal for you to buy alcohol in the US - this translates to having the Script. If you go into a small corner grocer, you may find that the owner has chosen not to carry beer. You can rant and curse and throw as big a fit as you want over that, but the fact that you can legally buy beer does not produce an onus on the grocer to carry said product.

This situation is not in anyway different, and the tantrum you are throwing on this forum highlighting your sense of indignation is equally ridiculous. And no it doesn't matter if all the other stores are closed and it is your 21st birthday.

64 posted on 10/05/2008 1:15:37 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: jude24
Unless he's the owner, he is

Surgeons don't own the hospital, either - and still nobody forces them to perform abortions against their will. It is perfectly reasonable that a pharmacist also not be forced to perform an abortion against his will.
65 posted on 10/05/2008 1:19:27 PM PDT by beezdotcom
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To: MrEdd
the owner has chosen not to carry beer.

That's not the scenario here. The owner did not decide to not stock the contraceptive; instead, an employee chose not to dispense it because he found it offensive to do so. There is no evidence that the pharmacist was the owner of the store in question.

66 posted on 10/05/2008 1:21:15 PM PDT by jude24
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To: Morgana

FCOL...you have proven to be one of the most hyperbolic abortion supporters to spew nonsense on the forum in a long time.


67 posted on 10/05/2008 1:24:41 PM PDT by grellis (SISTERHOOD OF SARAH God. Guns. Hockey.)
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To: Salamander

Heck there are posters here who are against the pill.


68 posted on 10/05/2008 1:26:08 PM PDT by marajade (Yes, I'm a SW freak!)
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To: jude24

Where is your evidence that the owner chose to stock contraceptives? Or that he requires employees with a pharmacology degree no leeway in what prescriptions they do or do not fill?

You don’t have any.

All you have is a temper tantrum, and convoluted diatribes.


69 posted on 10/05/2008 1:26:18 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: ari-freedom
nothing more important than life.

Proper writing skills rank highly however.

Did you know about that capitalization thing?

70 posted on 10/05/2008 1:27:35 PM PDT by humblegunner (If you're gonna die, die with your boots on.)
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To: kcvl

“It is when his/her religious beliefs comes into question.”

If its a prescribed medication how can a pharmacist refuse to fill it?


71 posted on 10/05/2008 1:28:42 PM PDT by marajade (Yes, I'm a SW freak!)
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To: MrEdd
Where is your evidence that the owner chose to stock contraceptives?

From the article: the store manager who told her they couldn't force the pharmacist to sell the product.

Note:
1. There was a supervisor.

2. They said sell. Not stock. It was apparently in stock.

All you have is a temper tantrum, and convoluted diatribes.

Damn right I get pissed when Hajis start telling me how to live.

72 posted on 10/05/2008 1:29:33 PM PDT by jude24
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To: ari-freedom
Question: What about not dispensing prescribed birth control pills? There are numerous medical reasons/uses they are prescribed besides preventing conception. Is a personal explanation due the pharmacy?

My father has a bad heart and a stomach prone to excessive bleeding. There have been times his doctor has prescribed aspirin for his heart even though there is the possibility his stomach could start bleeding and cause his death. Should the pharmacy deny the aspirin because it ‘could’ cause a death?

Pharmacists should dispense as written (by the doctor) or get another job in line with his/her personal beliefs.

73 posted on 10/05/2008 1:29:36 PM PDT by quantar (There is no rehab for stupid.)
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To: humblegunner

NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN LIFE



Don't Cut and Run, vote pro-life every time. It's the way you always win.

‘We cannot diminish the value of one category of human life — the unborn — without diminishing the value of all human life.’ —Ronald Reagan
74 posted on 10/05/2008 1:30:55 PM PDT by ari-freedom (Betcha they're good. Why shouldn't they be? Their one mistake was giving up me!)
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To: Sir_Ed
Sir_Ed said:

The morning after pill is an abortifacient and the law allows doctors to refuse to murder unborn babies and pharmacists the right to not give a pill that kills an implanted fetus.

The morning after pill is nothing more or less than a high dosage of standard contraceptive pills. Anyone who opposes it necessarily also opposes the sale of regular contraceptive. Is that your position?
75 posted on 10/05/2008 1:31:12 PM PDT by cacoethes_resipisco
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To: quantar

aspirin was not designed to kill people, unlike this morning after pill.


76 posted on 10/05/2008 1:34:57 PM PDT by ari-freedom (Betcha they're good. Why shouldn't they be? Their one mistake was giving up me!)
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To: marajade
f its a prescribed medication how can a pharmacist refuse to fill it?

Where are you coming up with your notion that a script making it legal to buy something translates into a requirement to other parties to sell it to you? All the doctor can give you is permission to buy something. That does not now and never has translate into some sort of Requirement that binds a pharmacist.

Otherwise they could just dispense with all that education they are required to have and replace them with vending machines

77 posted on 10/05/2008 1:36:33 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: marajade
If its a prescribed medication how can a pharmacist refuse to fill it?

They do it all the time for various reasons including someone being a drug addict, not paying a bill, bad interaction with other medication, already taking the medication & the doctor doesn't know it.

Just because a doctor prescribed it doesn't make it the law a pharmacist has to fill it. SOME doctors write prescriptions who don't know the history of the patient. A pharmacist who doesn't question a doctor when they think he/she is wrong isn't much of a pharmacist and vice versa.

78 posted on 10/05/2008 1:36:55 PM PDT by kcvl
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To: kcvl

Which is probably why my employer contracts with Walgreens to dispense medication.

It isn’t a pharmacist’s place to tell me whether or not I can or cannot take a medication which my family practice MD prescribed.


79 posted on 10/05/2008 1:39:08 PM PDT by marajade (Yes, I'm a SW freak!)
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To: goodwithagun

Congratulations!


80 posted on 10/05/2008 1:43:46 PM PDT by Tax-chick ("I always expect the worst from the RATS and they always deliver." ~ rrrod)
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