WP/AP: Pharmacists Sue Over Birth Control Policy

[DeepModem Mom]

Pharmacists Sue Over Birth Control Policy
The Associated Press
Saturday, January 28, 2006


EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- Four pharmacists who refused to sign a pledge promising to dispense the morning-after birth-control pill sued Walgreen drug stores Friday, alleging they were illegally fired.

The lawsuits accuse Walgreen Co. of violating the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act. The pharmacists were being represented by the American Center for Law and Justice, a public-interest group founded by evangelist Pat Robertson.

A new state rule requires pharmacies that sell federally approved contraceptives to fill prescriptions for emergency birth control "without delay" if they have the medication in stock. The rule is being challenged in federal court.

In response to the rule, Deerfield-based Walgreen asked pharmacists to pledge in writing that they would fill prescriptions for contraceptives such as the morning-after pill. The plaintiffs were suspended indefinitely without pay when they refused to sign the pledge in November.

"It couldn't be any clearer," said ACLJ senior counsel Francis J. Manion. "In punishing these pharmacists for asserting a right protected by the Conscience Act, Walgreens broke the law."...


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/28/AR2006012800281.html

[Tom Joad]

1. Will vegan workers at MickeyD's be forced to serve.... beef??

The gall of Walgreens to force these pharmacists to dispense prescribed drugs!
:sarcasm:

[TheWraith]

2. Does this mean I don't have to do my job either?

I mean hey, you can get a job, then not actually perform it because it's against your religious principles, and be protected against being fired? Cool. I bet there's a bunch of guys in Iraq wishing that they thought of this first.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. We teachers are jumping all over this argument too

That's kind of a dream - to refuse to teach certain kids. LOL

[HockeyMom]

13. Creationism

Daughter's (herself Education Major) boyfriend is a HS Science Teacher. He has said he will REFUSE to teach RELIGION (Intelligent Design) in his science class.

I want MY America BACK. I am so worried for my children what I am giving them for their country to inherit.

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. Lots of teachers in Kansas are refusing to teach creationism

And there is a slim to none chance any will get fired. There is a critical shortage of Science teachers all over the US.

The district I live in is not changing their curriculum to include creationism.

[AnneD]

44. Ok.....as a Nurse,

does this mean I can refuse to treat the 'cream of society' that I encounter (like child rapists, rapists, murderers). Or how about enemy combatants or terrorists? Or what about treating a patient that is/has physically assaulted you because the hospital is too worried about 'customer care' that they have inadequate security for care staff.
When you take a job in the health professions, you should be aware that there are somethings you have to do that you may disagree with. These pharmicists are offered a reasonable alternative....and that's more than Nurses get.

[judaspriestess]

52. does this mean strippers cant

show their tits anymore cause its against their beliefs?

[countingbluecars]

3. Gee, I wonder about

Judge Alito's position on this?

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. I am sure we will find out soon enough

[tsuki]

4. I have never had a pharmacist that did anything for me but

supervise his helpers count pills. Isn't this whole pharmacist thing overrated? They don't mix medications any longer; they just watch their assistants count pills and print out computer instructions.

[China_cat]

23. It's only overrated

if you consider a pharmacist substituting his/her own judgement for your doctor's as appropriate.

How about the pharmacist who refuses to fill a prescription for a newer antibiotic because it's against his/her religion to believe in evolution, therefore this medicine is not really needed? Or worse, substitutes penicillin for the same reason. (I can't even handle the animals meds that are based on anything close to penicillin because of severe allergies.)

[countingbluecars]

25. Or a pharmacist who

refuses to fill a prescription for AIDS medication.

[tsuki]

30. I have never had a pharmacist tell me, or explain anything to me.

Even when I was taking Chemo, they just threw the pills in front of me. I almost passed out at the pharmacy one time because I had to stand for 45 minutes while he fiddled behind the counter. Someone told the manager and he brought a chair back for me. He tried to get my pills, but the pharmacist was snarky to him. And my doctor had phoned the percription in two hours earlier.

If he had been such a shit-hot pharmacist, he would have known that my white count was probably so low that hanging around a store could have given me an infection that could have killed me.

My Mother is elderly, they treat her the same way.

I don't see what the bid deal is.

[demigoddess]

31. i've had lots of pharmacists argue with the way the drs. had written

presciptions for my daughter(being severely retarded) she cannot swallow pills so the drs. would write for a chewable and the pharmacist would argue with me about it. Shouldn't the dr. decide these things?

[tsuki]

33. And now that the insurance companies are pushing for mail order,

where will all this TLC we are supposed to be getting come from. Time to revisit.

[Retrograde]

46. I have problems getting them to stop

I get my prescriptions filled at the Kaiser Permanente pharmacy (an old, old, old HMO for you non-Californians) and they always try to explain the drugs (which my doctor has just explained to me), along with the lengthy info sheet - especially when they're written by an outside party. ("Yes, I know what Vicodin is. I just had a wisdom tooth out and if I don't take some soon I may start biting people").

I suppose it's better to err on the side of caution.

[lakemonster11]

24. They do have to know how medications interact.

It's the pharmacist who is supposed to catch the mistake if multiple doctors prescribe a patient medications that will interact badly.

[MiniMe]

29. The computers catch that these days nt

[fasttense]

41. On several occasions my attentive pharmacists has given me someone else's

prescription. Luckily I noticed a different address and look to the pills (I have a common name). When I returned them, my pharmacists simply said sorry. It's ok for them to give out the wrong prescription but not the morning after pill?

[sandnsea]

36. I have

I've had them recommend alternative medications when I couldn't afford what the doctor prescribed, or let me know medications were available for certain illnesses or skin disorders, etc. You have to talk to the pharmacist for them to be useful to you. Which I suppose people without health insurance do, because we've got nowhere else to go!

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. The Libertarian/Conservative argument would be

that they are free to seek employment wherever they choose. And their employer is free to establish these rules. If they refuse to abide by them, they are fired. And it is completely fair since they were told ahead of time just what the rules are.

[bee]

16. Here in NH, thats the law. You can be fired without reason at all.

Nevermind for refusing to do your job.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. Same law in Kansas

[Thickasabrick]

7. Isn't the problem the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act?

I like the McDonald's analogy but I'm unaware of a right of conscience act that could be applied to that case. That act bothers me in that it seems it would allow health care professionals a free rein to discriminate in matters of health care.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. Why wouldn't the McDonald's analogy apply?

I think it is a perfect example.

[Thickasabrick]

10. Because it applies to health care workers and not fast food workers...at

least that's my take.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Oh I get it

I still think it is a good example. If they let pharmacists refuse to do their job, then that is like opening the floodgates. Who's next?

[Thickasabrick]

15. I totally agree. Pharmacy's should be able to ask an employee

before they hire them if they have any type of belief that would prohibit them from dispensing all legal medications. If the employee later says they have a problem - fire their ass!

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. I don't think they should even ask them before they hire them

Their job is to fill prescriptions. Surely they realize that before they are hired.

[SemperEadem]

47. usually, in the job description

it says that the employee does what they are hired to do, plus whatever else the pharmacy requires. Would not filling the prescription-even though it's their job--because of these beliefs, be grounds for firing for insubordination? Seems to me the pharmacists really don't have a leg to stand on.

Health care is right in the middle of the morals maelstrom when no other occupation enjoys such a luxury of lattitude in legal interpretation. Do these 'pharmacists' get their pay docked for not doing their job? I have never heard of getting paid for not doing your job.

[PatsFan2004]

35. That is a good point. However, suppose the pharmacist was

hired decades ago or suppose the pharmacist just got "born-again". In the first case, the morning after pills were not even available.

[Orangepeel]

32. Jehovah's Witness doctors who refuse to give blood?

Scientologist pharmacists who won't dispense anti-depressants? Christian Science nurses who won't do anything at all?

The McD's analogy is the most vivid, though.

[fasttense]

42. Or doctors from different cultures refusing to perform circumcisions.

I had my son in Puerto Rico and the Doctor refused to do circumcisions on boys because he believed it hurt them.

[murielm99]

22. Governor Blagojevich of Illinois signed an emergency order

that required all pharmacies to fill birth control prescriptions. It is now law. If a pharmacist has a problem of conscience, another pharmacist must be on hand to fill the prescriptions. If they can't do that, or agree to do that, they don't have the right to be a pharmacist in Illinois.

Some pharmacists in Illinois are challenging this. They want the right to discriminate. I think their right of conscience is fully covered under Illinois law. Screw them.

I applaud Blagojevich for stepping in when this controversy was just gaining momentum.

[depakid]

12. Well, they shouldn't worry too much

If Alito is confirmed, the far right will make it legal for states to outlaw birth control outright. And I have no doubt that some states- (probably not Illinois) will do just that.

Then they can move their ignorant and selfish asses over there.

[CTyankee]

17. Yep. Overturn Griswold

The fundies have to do it. Lawrence was the last straw, since Griswold was used to defeat gay sodomy laws in that case. If the fundies don't go after Griswold they will be stopped in their zeal to turn this country into a fundamentalist theocracy.

[depakid]

26. They'll do that alright

but unfortunatly, Griswold wasn't the basis for Lawrence.

Lawrence was a very strange case, based on a state statute that didn't have a what's called a rational basis and a reasonable connection to a legitimate state interest. Statutes almost never fail the rational basis test, so Lawrence was a surprise.

However, it didn't really establish or affirm any right to privacy or sexual relations.

[NYC Liberal]

14. So a Christan Scientist could become a doctor, then refuse to do his job..

AND demand to be paid? According to these people, they could.

[complain jane]

21. Do your job, or get fired. It's called Personal Responsibility.

:)

[ismnotwasm]

27. There was recently an article in a nursing magazine

About nurses refusing care on "moral issues" such as birth control, abortion etc. Some nurse sued over not getting a job over something similar.
The ethical consensus was that particular attitude constituted patient abandonment. Basically said we are not here to inflict our particular brand of opinions on patients, but to provide patient care.

I left the magazine at work, and I can't remember all the details, but it was very unbiased, and I agreed with the conclusion completely.

[BattyDem]

28. This is such bullshit!

How can they refuse to do the job they were hired to do? They KNEW what the job requirements were! If a person knows that ceertain aspects of a job will conflict with their religious beliefs, then they have no business taking the job in the first place. ANY person can claim that ANY job conflicts with their beliefs! Cashiers can claim that they don't want to handle money. Waiters can claim that they don't want to serve meat. Christians in general can simply say that they do not wish to administer any kind of help or services to any non-Christian! Where does it end?!?

Freedom of religion does NOT mean that you have the right to IMPOSE your religion on me and it certainly does not mean that you have the right to disrupt my life or my health! :grr: :grr: :grr:

If fundies are allowed to discriminate and refuse to do their jobs based on their religious beliefs, then how long will it be before bigots will be allowed to discriminate and refuse to do their jobs based on their beliefs? If the government is going to accomodate the small minds of one group, shouldn't they accomodate the small minds of all groups? The argument will be this: "Why should someone have a right to refuse to do their job solely because of their religious biases? Why can't everyone have the right to to refuse to do their job because of their personal biases? The governemnt is discriminating against people who don't practice a religion!" :eyes:

[SemperEadem]

48. Of course they knew what they were doing

they are doing this because they seeking media attention.

If they had the courage of their convictions, they would take their being fired quietly. These people knew what they were walking into--they love being in the lion's den and complaining about it.

These people listen to Robertson and his ilk and get it in their heads that they are going to save "precious little unborn babies"(/:sarcasm: ) by refusing to fill a prescription for birth control pills. Mind you, these are the very same "precious little unborn babies"(/:sarcasm:) that these "good christian people" vote against because their tax dollars aren't going to support them.

The Pill, in its popular form, was ready for market in 1960. Anyone born then would be 45-46 today. It has been widely known since then what the pill's function was. Ever since it went to market, the primary place where a woman could get the pill was through a precscription written by her doctor. After receiving the prescription, she would have taken it to the pharmacy to be filled.

It has been that way for more than 45 years, and now these idiots pop up today and act all incensed because, what? they were shocked that they would actually be presented with a prescription to fill for a drug, part of whose purpose they wouldn't agree with FOR THEMSELVES, as part of their job? Pharmacists have been doing it for decades and no one had a problem---and life was way more socially restricted then than it is today.

They believe that they are "Warriors for Jesus" and they will make sure their views are felt by any means necessary. They have tunnel vision when it comes to this and will never take responsibility for their complicity in interfering in someone else's life or practicing medicine without a license or invading someone's privacy--their pride won't let them. Their pride lulls them into this stupor where they believe that they can't do any wrong: because they're forgiven. (/:sarcasm:)

[HuffleClaw]

34. i thought this old news?

unless this is a new group of fundy pharmacists?

[MountainLaurel]

37. Unfortunately not

This is a repeat of earlier news, with a new twist in that the pharmacists are suing the company that fired them because they refused to do their jobs.

[Gloria]

38. If these "professionals" went to state schools on scholarships

from the schools, then they should be required to serve ALL the public...

Anybody licensed should be asked why they are in a profession in the first place if they don't want to do the job in all its areas...

This is such unbelievable crap.

[MountainLaurel]

43. That's a great point, G

And one that I hadn't considered before. But it's especially relevant to me, in that I work at a med school where very few people could attend without getting federal financial aid. Yet, it's a religious institution filled with pro-forced-birth students. Very interesting conundrum there.

[Hardrada]

39. It's like a conscientious objector who joins the Marines

and then won't fire a shot, just collects the pay. How would that work out?

[xchrom]

40. if they can be allowed to refuse to fill one prescription

what else will they be allowed to refuse to fill?

[MountainLaurel]

50. To see the end results

Take a look into what Catholic-owned hospitals have been up to for the past decades or so as they take over secular facilities.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2073553&mesg_id=2074965

[donkeyotay]

45. The fundies are getting these laws passed not to protect conscience

but to give certain people the right to exercise other people's conscience for them. If I choose to take birth control, that is my life choice, my freedom to - within the rule of law - and between me and my conscience and my Creator as I understand. This is not the pharmacist's ethical arena. He is not being asked to help put people into gas ovens. He is only being asked to do his job equally for all. If he finds birth control objectionable then other pharmacists might find Viagra ethically objectionable or not want to prescribe painkillers or Ritalin or whatever.

In Oregon where there is an assisted suicide law. A doctor does not have to participate in helping a patient who wants that choice, and the patient may have to go to another doctor. But you do not have hospitals turning away patients because the doctors or administrators have made "acts of conscience" choices about who to serve.

If we all have the right to exercise our ethical sense by making decisions for others, then I'd hate to be the heart surgeon asked to perform the next heart operation on Cheney. I hope the doctor and the hospital don't want to participate in Cheney's lack of good ethical choices.

[phylny]

49. This burns my ass.

I know someone who takes birth control pills and is a VIRGIN. Shocking, but true. She needs to take it to control otherwise uncontrollable monthly bleeding and another medical disorder.

F*** any person who would try to deny her what she and her doctor have discussed and agreed upon.

If your religious beliefs don't allow you to do your job, go work at a Catholic hospital, where you won't have to worry about such things as birth control pills, abortion, or sterilization.

[zann725]

51. Sounds like a good "case" for Alito to "work on."

Wanna bet it ends up in Supreme Court?