Part of what makes me so angry about the whole issue of pharmacists refusing to fill scripts (more specifically confiscating or tearing up scripts for BC, EC or Valtrex) is that their righteous indignation is often only directed at women. Do those same pharmacists refuse to fill scripts for Viagra? Or do they check and see if the man getting the little blue pills is married? What if he's cheating on his wife?

Standing in Cash's corner.

Just saw the coffee link. Good luck, Stephanie--I hope it's a raging success!

If a pharmacy does the same thing its an internal matter and none of my business.

I don't have a problem so much with a pharmacist who won't fill certain prescriptions personally but will pass them on to another pharmacist at the same location for filling. As long as the customer gets seamless service. I mean, it bothers me, but it doesn't seem as big a deal.

What really scares me is the stories about pharmacists who won't fill prescriptions, forcing patients to go elsewhere when there may not be a convenient elsewhere to go to. Even worse, the pharmacists who destroy prescriptions -- preventing patients from going anywhere else at all and effectively overruling doctors' professional judgment on non-scientific ideological grounds -- especially when accompanied by religious rants directed at patients. I mean, if that's your view, become a preacher and let others take care of health matters.

I googled pharmacist refuse fill and got a shitload of matches:

[link]

If a pharmacy does the same thing its an internal matter and none of my business.

I don't have a problem so much with a pharmacist who won't fill certain prescriptions personally but will pass them on to another pharmacist at the same location for filling. As long as the customer gets seamless service. I mean, it bothers me, but it doesn't seem as big a deal.

What really scares me is the stories about pharmacists who won't fill prescriptions, forcing patients to go elsewhere when there may not be a convenient elsewhere to go to. Even worse, the pharmacists who destroy prescriptions -- preventing patients from going anywhere else at all and effectively overruling doctors' professional judgment on non-scientific ideological grounds -- especially when accompanied by religious rants directed at patients.

And that's exactly it. If pharmacist A won't fill a prescription, but pharmacist B, who is working at the same time as pharmacist A, will fill it, then the customer isn't affected. The customer may not even know that pharmacist A had an objection.

But the cases that are getting publicity aren't those kinds of cases. The issue is pharmacies that don't have an alternate pharmacist on hand when pharmacist A says "Sorry; I won't dispense this legitimately prescribed legal drug to you EVEN THOUGH IT'S MY JOB TO DO SO, because I personally don't think it's right for people to use this legal drug."

That might be an internal matter, but if it's your prescription that's being torn up, I'd say it IS your business. That's interfering with a patient's medical care, and flies dangerously close to negligence, IMO. (And also theft, because the prescription belongs to the patient.)

Am I mistaken in thinking that the basic procedure for abortion - D&C - is the same whether or not a woman is having a voluntary abortion, or, for example, has had a partial miscarriage or death of the embryo and lack of spontaneous miscarriage? I can't imagine an Ob/Gyn that hasn't had to deal with those situations, and I can't see any moral objection to performing a D&C for those clear medical reasons. Therefore I can't imagine why anyone could in good conscience refuse to learn how to do a D&C.

Therefore I can't imagine why anyone could in good conscience refuse to learn how to do a D&C.

I'm with flea here. I would imagine a med student with an OB/GYN specialty would have to know how to do a D&C no matter what, even if s/he might be allowed to veto performing an abortion in med school, and later. There are definitely a few medical reasons to have a D&C.

I think patients should have some kind of recourse against pharamcists who publicly berate them for having certain prescriptions or tear up the prescriptions. I know there isn't a whole lot of privacy when you go get a prescription filled, but most places are very discreet about fililng things and there's no way anyone should know why I'm getting something filled.

I think patients should have some kind of recourse against pharamcists who publicly berate them for having certain prescriptions or tear up the prescriptions. I know there isn't a whole lot of privacy when you go get a prescription filled, but most places are very discreet about fililng things and there's no way anyone should know why I'm getting something filled.

I wonder if anyone has called the police, citing theft and/or destruction of personal property when a pharmacist has kept/destroyed a prescription.

Similarly, askye's comment just made me realize that a pharmacist berating a customer for Drug X in anything other than a private area is a HIPAA violation.

Hmmmm....

Do pharmacists have a professional organization of some sort to which they can be reported? I know they have to be licensed, but I don't know who handles that.