On the latest issue of Pharmacists with a Conscience

[weaktwos]

What's all this bull I'm hearing about a growing number of "pro-life" pharmacists not dispensing birth control due to their beliefs?

Yet another indication that religion is spinning out of control in this country.

If you want to become a public defense lawyer, and yet you despise the notion of defending someone who might be guilty, you best not become a defense attorney.

If you want to become a plumber, but you hate being knee deep in disgusting refuse, you best not become a plumber.

If you are a fast food employee, but you hate making fast food, you shouldn't be in that job.

Plain and simple. The job you do will invariably come into conflict with your personal beliefs in some fashion. And if you find that objectionable, you need to find employment elsewhere.

A pharmacist's job is not to place judgment on the drugs being dispensed. The doctor takes care of that. You fill the order, and you dispense it.

I don't understand why this has to be so complicated, except you've got people who went into the wrong job.

Comments

[mydivineshadow.livejournal.com]

If you want to become a public defense lawyer, and yet you despise the notion of defending someone who might be guilty, you best not become a defense attorney.

If you want to become a plumber, but you hate being knee deep in disgusting refuse, you best not become a plumber.

If you are a fast food employee, but you hate making fast food, you shouldn't be in that job.

Horrible analogy. In the examples you listed, the task that the person doesn't want to perform is so general that it encompasses the whole job. It's like comparing someone who wants to be an elementary school teacher but hates little kids to a video game programmer who won't do sports games. You can't be an elementrary school teacher and not work with little kids because it's inherent in the definition of the job. Being a video game programmer doesn't mean you have to program every type of game there is. Similarly, being a pharmacist doesn't mean one has to sell every type of drug there is. What if they want to specialize and run a company that only serves the diabetic community, for example?

If they're in private practice, pharmacists should be allowed to refuse to dispence medication for any reason, just as physicians should be allowed to refuse performing certain procedures on anyone for any reason.

My general practitioner needs no justification for telling me to cease being a patient of his.

[weaktwos.livejournal.com]

No, in all cases, it does not encompass the whole job. There's more to the fast food industry than cooking it. There's more to plumbing than always being knee-deep in sludge. And sure, if all a certain Pharmacy does is dole out diabetes meds, that's fine. But for someone like a Pharmacist, whose job it is to dispense medication no matter what is, it is wrong. The process is: you go to your doctor. Your doctor approves a prescription, the Pharmacy fills it out. In some cases, a person may be given birth control for hormonal regulation. It's none of that Pharmacist's business, however, why a person has a prescription they do, they just fill it.

[dangermouse74.livejournal.com]

not to mention (which i apologize if you infered it below) that if the pharmacist refuses, that is nto the same as if the drug store refused. it woudl be different as well if say he owned the store. thoguh that would still suck IMO.