I cannot accept a pharmacist refusing to dispense a legally-prescribed medication on such a basis, because at that point the pharmacist is setting himself up as the arbiter in the doctor-patient relationship.
This may be a point on which we will mutually disagree, which is acceptible. However, I don't see the pharmecist as an arbiter in the doctor-patient relationship. Why? Because each profession brings it's strengths to the table of health care, and the same information overload found in Life In General is very much in evidence in health care. Physicians and Registered Nurses both rely on pharmacists and their specialty knowledge regarding pharmacopaea.
Furthermore, if a pharmacist tells you they don't want to issue a prescription because (in this instance) it is a contraceptive, it is within your rights to refer them to the physician to clarify the intent behind any prescription, and report them to their licensing body if they refuse to do so or to return your prescription. In that instance, I would be surprised if the physician did not re-issue the prescription itself, either in hard-copy or via telephone.
I still stand with my statement, all health care practitioners have the right to exercise their moral values; we also all have a professional obligation to refer someone elsewhere if morally we can not provide the particular sevice. The error commited in the actions cited is not the exercise of their moral values, it is the failure to meet professional obligations.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 09:58 pm (UTC)This may be a point on which we will mutually disagree, which is acceptible. However, I don't see the pharmecist as an arbiter in the doctor-patient relationship. Why? Because each profession brings it's strengths to the table of health care, and the same information overload found in Life In General is very much in evidence in health care. Physicians and Registered Nurses both rely on pharmacists and their specialty knowledge regarding pharmacopaea.
Furthermore, if a pharmacist tells you they don't want to issue a prescription because (in this instance) it is a contraceptive, it is within your rights to refer them to the physician to clarify the intent behind any prescription, and report them to their licensing body if they refuse to do so or to return your prescription. In that instance, I would be surprised if the physician did not re-issue the prescription itself, either in hard-copy or via telephone.
I still stand with my statement, all health care practitioners have the right to exercise their moral values; we also all have a professional obligation to refer someone elsewhere if morally we can not provide the particular sevice. The error commited in the actions cited is not the exercise of their moral values, it is the failure to meet professional obligations.