Great Falls Tribune: Pharmacy draws fire for stopping the sale of birth control pills.
OK…Â? the problem at hand is that the new owners of the pharmacy feel that stocking oral contraceptives is detrimental to their consciences and plan to stop stocking them… AFTER THEIR CURRENT SUPPLY RUNS OUT!!!
Yeah… I can understand making the decision not to stock them and it’s their right.Â? However… after putting an ad in the newspaper on Mother’s Day announcing this and claiming that it’s because such meds are sinful, isn’t it a bit hypocritical of them to keep dispensing the meds regardless of their supply?
I read a story about a pharmacist who just felt it was wrong that he was selling these expensive cancer meds while his pharmacy also sold cigarettes.Â? So… he took all the tobacco out to the parking lot and ran over it until it was all smushed.Â? He lost at least a few thousand dollars in stock but he made his point and stood up for his beliefs.
So should the Andersons and Depners take their supplies of Ortho-Cyclen and Levlen and grind the pills into powder?Â? Not necessarily but they should just take the loss and stop selling it immediately if their consciences are so burdened by the sale of these meds rather than putting a self-righteous ad in the Trib and acting like capitalist morons.
(Thank you to Jack, my wonderful independent pharmacist who chats with me about my cats and researches drug interactions for me in addition to answering my many questions.Â? You rock my world.)
I see your point. But at the same time, I find myself wondering if the issue might be that disposing of the current stock outright might be more painful than is worth the effort.
After all, birth control pills are prescription medication. And there are plenty of regulations when it comes to pharmacies and how they handle said medications. Granted, the rules probably aren’t as stringent for contraceptives as they are for narcotics, but still…
I agree that continuing to dispense the meds is horribly hypocritical, but I take greater issue with the fact that they are withholding prescriptions from their customers in the first place. I don’t know if you read it or not, but there was a story today on MSNBC.com about doctors who refuse to render services or write prescriptions because of their personal religious beliefs.
I feel that if someone’s faith forbids them from fulfilling their duties, especially when it involves standard medical care, they should choose a different profession. You don’t see animal rights activists applying to work in steak houses, refusing to serve fillet mignon because they believe eating meat is wrong. Why would someone who is opposed to birth control become a gynecologist, considering that ordering such prescriptions is a standard service?
We are all free to believe whatever we like, and I would never dream of interfering with someone’s right to choose their faith. But when we decide to follow a religion, we do so knowing that we can’t always have our cake and eat it too. Faith requires sacrifice, and that means that if your beliefs forbid you from filling a simple prescription, then you should accept the fact that you can’t be a pharmacist or a doctor, because that’s what is required of people in those professions. By refusing to do your job on religious grounds, you’re forcing your religion onto your patients. And nobody (Christian fundamentalists included) wants to be on the receiving end of that.
No matter what the doctor’s religious background, there will always be things that go against his conscience. If they all went into other professions because they will eventually get called upon by a patient to perform those procedures, there would be no doctors left. And I’m not sure I’m for the idea of expecting any person to set aside their consciences in the course of their work, no matter what their profession.
I think a far better solution would be to simply require doctors who don’t want to perform certain procedures and pharmacists who don’t wish to cell cantraceptives to refer those patients to members of their profession who feel differently.
I’m with you on this one Jen. It’s hypocritical. There’s probably some rule about destroying the meds or some such, but if they feel THAT strongly about it, they should take the hit.
I also think Drina’s spot on about the conflict of interest between religion and a profession. It’s not ethical to deny service to a patient because of your religious beliefs — especially if that patient doesn’t share your religious beliefs. And that’s without even bringing up the professional code of conduct/ethics that pharmacists and medics are supposed to follow.