Do Pharmacists have the right to deny??

[slugshooter]

The following is the oath that pharmacists must take upon entering their profession.



At this time, I vow to devote my professional life to the service of all humankind through the profession of pharmacy.



I will consider the welfare of humanity and relief of human suffering my primary concerns.

I will apply my knowledge, experience, and skills to the best of my ability to assure optimal drug therapy outcomes for the patients I serve.

I will keep abreast of developments and maintain professional competency in my profession of pharmacy.

I will embrace and advocate change in the professional of pharmacy that improves patient care.

I take these vows voluntarily with the full realization of responsiblity with which I am entrusted by the public.



Now, considering the above, should pharmacists have the right to deny filling a legally obtained prescription on the basis of a moral objection. Much debate is centering on pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions for Viagra, birth control, and morning after pills, apparently, these same pharmacists have no problem doling out Percoset, Codeine and Oxycontin which is highly addictive and is more troublesome than the aforementioned.

I believe that as a pharmacist, you have a duty and obligation to fulfill the duties of your profession regardless of whether you agree with the drugs being prescribed. If you don't like having to fill birth control or viagra, get out of the profession, because you are causing more harm than good. It is rather hypocritical to me anyways to oppose birth control but have no problem filling addictive drugs by the hundreds.

[Andrea]

Good question. Why would you refuse to fill a prescription for Viagra???? I can understand not wanting to give it to a sexual predator---but how would you know the person was one ( without doing an extensive on-line search)? And birth control....unless the person is very young then I don't know why you wouldn't want to give that either.
Morning after pill....not sure how I feel about that one. Hope I never have to have it prescribed. I can understand a rape victim's need for it though.

As far as Oxycontin is concerned...I believe that drug should be banned. My father was given a prescription for that after his neck surgery. He took it and said it made him a totally different person and did NOT like it at all. He never took another one. There are people I know in my hometown that are heavily addicted to it and cannot live without it.

It would be nice to hear a pharmacist's opinion on this though. The only thing I can come up with is that like physicians...they can pick and choose procedures to perform. ( An ob/gyn does NOT have to perform abortions if he or she doesn't want to)

[fisherguy]

I say no. There are some jobs where you are taking an oath to help everyone wheather you agree with their decisions or not(as long as they are legal). IF a police officer is assigned crowd control outside an abortion clinic where there are protests that is their job. Even if they think abortion is wrong, it is still their job to provide that protection. Personally jobs such as police officers, doctors, pharmacists etc. come with an oath that will likely require you to do something you would disagree with off duty. If you can't do that, then you better find a career where you can choose who you help and how.

[stevebeilgard]

i say yes! if a doctor is ordered to perform an abortion by his superious, must he? i think he has the right, no duty, to follow his conscience and faith, and deny the duty. fisherguys cop doing crowd controll is really a secondary duty. the officers duty is crowd controll, not doing the abortion. even though he may not like abortions he still has to do his job, which is simple crowd controll

[slugshooter]

We're not talking abortion here Steve. We're talking about pharmacists refusing to fill a legally obtained prescription because they don't agree with the use. Right now it's Viagra and birth control. What happens when someone decides that they don't agree with giving children Ritalin so they start refusing to fill those, or someone who believes that painkillers are painfully addictive so instead of filling the 'script to relieve someones pain they tell them to deal with the pain. How about if you are a smoker and you get a 'script for Zyban to help you quit, maybe he thinks people shouldn't smoke and you should quit on your own.

It's the pharmacists job to fill the 'script, I feel sorry for those in small towns with 1 pharmacist, they're kinda stuck aren't they. When you take an oath, you are supposed to follow that oath. When you join the military, you swear an oath to preserve,protect and defend the US, whether you agree with the war that might be going on at the time or not.

A pharmacist does not nor should not have the right to decide what pills I put in my body, thats for the doctor and me to decide, thats why the doctor went to 8+ years of school and has a PhD vs the 6 years for pharmacy.

[fisherguy]

[ QUOTE ]
i say yes! if a doctor is ordered to perform an abortion by his superious, must he? i think he has the right, no duty, to follow his conscience and faith, and deny the duty. fisherguys cop doing crowd controll is really a secondary duty. the officers duty is crowd controll, not doing the abortion. even though he may not like abortions he still has to do his job, which is simple crowd controll

[/ QUOTE ]
My example is the same, the doctor did it by writing the perscription, the Pahrmacists role is simply to put pills in a bottle and explaing the drug to the customer. These are not drugs that are killing anyone, or harming anyone else. IF you are morally opposed to birth control you should have thought about that before taking the oath.

[buckee]

The problem isn't with the pharmacists, it's with the person/persons responsible for giving the prescriptions.
Feds Try to Deny Viagara to Sex Offenders

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...fenders_viagra

Audit finds that sex offenders get Viagra

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7956459/

Viagra For Sex Offenders

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/...in697125.shtml

[fisherguy]

That is a scary one buckee, i was reading about that whole fiasco yesterday. I think the issue slugshooter meant was about the general public, not sex offenders. I think we all have similar ideas as to what should be happening to sex offenders.

[buckee]

sex offenders are in our general public though...that's the point

[Strut_Buster]

I plan to become a pharmacist and if the perscription is legal I would fill it eevn if i feel my morals are being violated. Pharmacists can consult with a phasician if they feel there is a over use or misuse of a drug. Then again I would have no problem filling a morning afterpill unless its the same person getting it on a regular basis. If this was the case I'd direct the lady to the pill on top of the morning after perscription.

[wtnhunt]

[ QUOTE ]
Much debate is centering on pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions for Viagra, birth control, and morning after pills, apparently, these same pharmacists have no problem doling out Percoset, Codeine and Oxycontin which is highly addictive and is more troublesome than the aforementioned.


[/ QUOTE ]

How do you know this is true? Did the media say so? If it is true, I would say pharmacists should have some discretion at giving out meds, but they should not be able to refuse anyone a physician prescribed med based on their opinions. In other words they should have to take any concerns up with a physician if they question a prescription rather than denying to give it out.

[Mathews XT Man]

First....show me your footnote on where you got this urban legan....??? They will have to give an account to God at judgement day, I have no problem with them making a call on abortion drugs. I do not believe your info is correct on viagra, if it just came from the media, I have not heard this one before. However,....this is off topic...but how can that even begin to compare to the liberal judges who are legislating from the bench, rather than actually following the constitution, which they do take an oath to uphold???? OR better yet the doctors that perform abortion and kill babies....are they not sworn to protect life??????

[slugshooter]

[ QUOTE ]
First....show me your footnote on where you got this urban legan....??? They will have to give an account to God at judgement day, I have no problem with them making a call on abortion drugs. I do not believe your info is correct on viagra, if it just came from the media, I have not heard this one before. However,....this is off topic...but how can that even begin to compare to the liberal judges who are legislating from the bench, rather than actually following the constitution, which they do take an oath to uphold???? OR better yet the doctors that perform abortion and kill babies....are they not sworn to protect life??????

[/ QUOTE ]

No urban legend here Oneida. Don't change the subject.

[slugshooter]

[ QUOTE ]
The problem isn't with the pharmacists, it's with the person/persons responsible for giving the prescriptions.
Feds Try to Deny Viagara to Sex Offenders

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...fenders_viagra

Audit finds that sex offenders get Viagra

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7956459/

Viagra For Sex Offenders

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/...in697125.shtml




[/ QUOTE ]

That's a separate issue than what I was getting at Steve, but important nonetheless, convicted sex offenders were/are getting free viagra in New York I think, I guess they can't have sex with their wives anymore either, but, I understand the problems that could arise.

[wtnhunt]

I saw the other night on the news that viagara was being paid for with tax dollars for sex offenders still in prison and heard something about them trying to stop that. Is this story related sluggo?

I guess in that respect, absolutely pharmacists should not be filling those scripts, nor should physicians be writing them. Think there should be some investigation into how they were getting these scripts.