Weekly Poll: Pharmacists Refusing to Dispense Medication
Sometimes medical professionals, like pharmacists, have religious objections to dispensing certain medications. One of the most common things refused is emergency contraception. Even if a doctor has written a prescription, and even if there are no legitimate medical or health problems with taking the emergency contraception, some pharmacists want to block access to it. Should they be allowed to refuse to do their job if they have a personal, religious objection to women using such products?
Pharmacists have a professional obligation to refuse to dispense that medication if, in their professional opinion, there are medical reasons to think that the patient may be harmed. An example this would be refusing to dispense medication that would have a deadly reaction with some other medicine that the doctor was unaware of the patient using.
Pharmacists do not have a personal right to refuse to dispense medication because they have a religious opinion against its use, though, because that's an ethical decision that lies outside their professional authority. Pharmacists simply don't have the right or authority to determine what is and is not ethically appropriate medication for other people to use. If they can't in good conscience fill prescriptions for drugs that are medically valid, standard treatments, then they don't belong in the profession anymore.
When you accept a job, you agree to fulfill the duties of that job; if it turns out you can’t, then you should step aside and let others try rather than making a mess of things by remaining. If your conscience doesn’t prevent you from doing this, then it can’t be very important, can it? There was a time when people who had ethical objections to a job would accept the sacrifice of moving on to something else; today, though, Christians are trying to demand the right to object without having to suffer any personal or professional consequences.
Comments
I don’t see why this is even an issue. Even with ADA accommidations the person with disabilities still has to be able to perform the job. A blind person is not going to be allowed to teach drivers ed or perform surgical operations.
The only reason I do hesitate is that there could be pharmacists who got their license before the invention of the pill or the morning after bill. So it could be said that when they took the job they didn’t know this was an issue.
But on further examination of that opinion… An accountant that took their job before the invention of the computer, is not going to be allowed to use paper spreadsheets.
Its when stupid opinions affect the rights of others that the problem occurs.
In Montana, our state Board of Pharmacy has just ruled that a pharmacist is not prevented from refusing to dispense contraceptives because of his religious beliefs. This ruling is on a case where women must go 60 or 70 miles to find another pharmacy. I think we need a new board.
Working in the medical field, I am a firm believer that religion should never be allowed to interfere with the the dispensing of medication or the performance of the job. Ever. I don’t care if someone has been in the job well before the Morning After pill was made available or not, if you have a religious obligation to filling out the prescription, then either find a new profession or step back and let someone else do it instead. No one should have to go miles out of their way to get a prescription filled because some theist has decided to refuse due to religious beliefs.
I’m really getting tired of the theists, whatever religion they follow, using the faith card out of doing their job. I felt this way when I was a theist myself two years ago and I feel even stronger about it now.
So a pharmacist who joins The Church of Christ, Scientist, can’t be required to fill any prescriptions at all, but must be kept on staff at full pay?