MedPol: Renegade Pharmacists

Pharmacists have made the news for years for refusing to give out the morning-after pill. And that seems to have emboldened them throughout the country, leading many pharmacists who object to birth control to refuse to fill prescriptions. What I didn't realize was that states are actually passing laws saying that this is okay.

Mississippi enacted a sweeping statute that went into effect in July that allows health care providers, including pharmacists, to not participate in procedures that go against their conscience. South Dakota and Arkansas already had laws that protect a pharmacist's right to refuse to dispense medicines. Ten other states considered similar bills this year.

The American Pharmacists Association, with 50,000 members, has a policy that says druggists can refuse to fill prescriptions if they object on moral grounds, but they must make arrangements so a patient can still get the pills. Yet some pharmacists have refused to hand the prescription to another druggist to fill.

Gee, and I thought it was a doctor's job to make a drug plan with a patient. I'm trying to think of some intelligent way to analyze this situation, but I can't. A pharmacist's job is to dispense pills and other meds and make sure there aren't any crazy interactions that could kill a patient that the doctors missed and to answer questions and educate the patients on the administration of their meds. If someone can't do their job because of their religious beliefs, then they can't do their job. And maybe I'm off here, but I thought when you couldn't do your job, you got fired. Or you at least weren't allowed to do the job that you couldn't actually do. But maybe that's just me. If pharmacists have a problem with drugs, they should take it up with the FDA through letter-writing campaigns. Pharmacists should not prevent patients from getting the medicines that they and their doctors have decided are to be part of a treatment plan.