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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 19515
[Legal]
Date Posted:
3/25/2008
5:11:19 pm EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 6,315
RSS: 14,128
Comments: 36
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Penalty For Pharmacist's Refusal Upheld
Author: Robert Imrie, AP Source: Google
Title: PENALTY FOR PHARMACIST'S REFUSAL UPHELD
A state appeals court upheld sanctions Tuesday against a pharmacist who refused to dispense birth control pills to a woman and wouldn't transfer her prescription elsewhere.
The 3rd District Court of Appeals ruled that the punishment the state Pharmacy Examining Board handed down against pharmacist Neil Noesen did not violate his state constitutional rights, specifically his "right of conscience" to religiously oppose birth control.
"Noesen abandoned even the steps necessary to perform in a minimally competent manner under any standard of care," the three-judge panel said. The decision upheld a ruling by Barron County Circuit Judge James Babler.
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Community Thoughts: There are 36 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| No Longer Licensed | Mar 27th. at 1:51:45 pm EDT
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Deirdre Hebert (Dover, New Hampshire) - Email Me - Web
Reading the court decision, it's fortunate this man no longer has a license. (You can go to the state licensing board to review the order)
Aparently, he did not pursue a new license, or he is licensed in another state.
He had told his employer that he wouldn't dispense birth control pills, and that he would refer patients to someone else, but when it came to it, he had lied. There were multiple women who were unable to get their prescriptions filled on that particular day and he was officially reprimanded, his license limited, and, it seems, not renewed.
Find More info -- HERE
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| ... | Mar 27th. at 12:52:05 pm EDT
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GoldenFox (Madisonville, Louisiana) - Email Me
I wonder if this guy engages in abstinence during the years he doesn't want to have children...
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| Free Will | Mar 26th. at 5:33:01 pm EDT
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Heather (Spokane, Washington) - Email Me
... the Christian God grants it to his followers in the Bible.
Unfortunately this person is taking a guideline in his Bible as a rule - but forgetting that his God has granted him free will to do, say, believe, think as he likes. Therefore he also should offer others the same consideration, and not interfere in their free will.
Sigh ... the only religious issue is that this man is pushing his religious beliefs on someone else, affecting her right to free will.
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| If The Guy Doesn't Like Birth Control | Mar 26th. at 1:53:52 pm EDT
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Moonlight Wolf (Bradford, England) - Email Me
Then why on earth is he a pharmacist? After all he's there to do a job not preach the Bible at patients.
In my opinion the Church would be better off to leave the woman to decide whether she wants to have a baby or not. After all considering Catholic priests and preachers are men their not the ones carrying a baby around for eight or nine months, dealing with morning sickness and the pain of childbirth.
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| Forgot To Add... | Mar 26th. at 1:30:52 pm EDT
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Mysteries Child (Garfield, Arkansas) - Email Me
For our lurking family...
Folks, look. If you find abortion unacceptable...
If you find contraception unacceptable...
Stop trying to control other people by leaving them no option but to comply with your worldview. Put down your sign, climb down from your soapbox, and busy your hands making this a world where fewer people will feel the *need* to terminate or prevent a pregnancy. Get involved in community programs. Stop writing those checks to the Falwell Foundation, and start writing them to the food pantry or to local low-income daycare and afterschool programs. Chances are very probable that you can find one-- or more-- through the United Way in your community.
Too broke for that?? Support a struggling young parent in your community-- I guarantee you that you can find *at least* one with *very* minimal effort-- so that s/he can complete an education and find employment that will actually garner enough funds for food, clothing, and shelter. Giving someone a safe, reliable babysitter (and maybe a supportive friend to talk to) costs hardly a thing more than time, guys-- the little darlings really don't eat that much.
Of course, effectively doing so would require you to rein in any self-righteous, condemnatory attitudes you might hold. That's a very difficult thing to do; it may even seem counter-intuitive. But take it from the girl who had to turn to Paganism to "find Jesus": Actions really do speak louder than words, and it will do your personal ministry a world of good.
Just a few opinionated words of advice from one youngish mother who would happily have all the children [God] would give her...
...if she were surrounded by a society that did not seem barely tolerant of, if not outrightly hostile toward, large families and the responsibilities and sacrifices they entail.
Just one more thing-- Are you really sure that all of us need to have small armies of small ones?? This planet isn't getting any bigger. And I hope I am correct in my serious doubt that you care to return to the days when 25 percentish of all live-born children died of disease before the age of five.
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| The Court Did The Right Thing | Mar 26th. at 1:14:12 pm EDT
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Shadowbear (Hillsboro, Oregon) - Email Me
In this case - a pharmacist needs to use big red letters on his application to state what medications he will not dispense - and, like this guy, will have many fewer offers of work since he will never work alone.
Before roe v wade I remember being on a date in a car listening to the news as a woman in an catholic emergency room was being allowed to bleed to death from a botched abortion because none of the doctors would help her - she died, of course, and there was no punishment for the doctors because they never started treating her, just left her there to bleed out - all in the name of religion. Birth control was just becoming legal then and a few years later we had legal abortions. This trend of the religious to enforce their beliefs on others has not gotten worse but the cold-heartedness of the religious fanatic has to be seen to be believed.
Even in the military you must declare your status as a conscientious objector (and prove it) to get out of the (previous) draft or to avoid combat situations as a medic or clerk - if you hide your status until you are in a battle and then refuse to fight - you can be shot as a deserter and will possibly be shot as a coward by those whose lives you endanger.
Same thing here you must be up front and clear about what you will not do so you are not put in a position to harm others by your actions.
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| Agree With The Board | Mar 26th. at 1:10:22 pm EDT
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Mysteries Child (Garfield, Arkansas) - Email Me
Look-- If you've got a moral objection to filling the script, fine. Have a moral objection.
Don't fill it, or, being Catholic, take it to Confession.
If, of course, you're lucky enough to attend a church that hasn't forgotten that the entire purpose of the incarnation of "Christ" was to provide a vehicle for the ready forgiveness of "sin."
Don't fill it...
...but don't prevent the individual in question from seeking out someone else who will.
After all, sir, if the God of your understanding wanted us all to be forced into compliance with His Will (again, of your understanding, and for the record I consider you very presumptious indeed to determine what His Will might be for some total stranger) , we would have been created as automatons instead of being created autonomous.
Maybe the distinctions between those two terms is a bit fine for these folks to grasp??
I too tend to object to pharmacists "playing doctor" (we won't even get into "playing God") , especially in a situation where so many people have been harmed by toxic drug interactions due, at least in part, to the fact that quite a few of them to fail to correctly "play pharmacist."
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| At The Risk Of TMI... | Mar 26th. at 12:47:44 pm EDT
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DodiaFae (Rhode Island, Rhode Island) - Email Me
For all this guy knows, this girl could have been on birth control to regulate her period. In many cases, irregularity can make it more difficult to *become* pregnant (due to low hormone levels) . Going on birth control for a few years can correct some of these irregularities, and once the woman has stopped taking them, it can be easier for her to conceive. (This was explained to me by my doctor when I was in high school and was having issues.)
Also, certain kinds of birth control are sometimes prescribed to women who have a tendency to get ovarian cysts. (Again, this I know from personal experience.)
When I was in high school, I had to take them because I had seriously painful periods. If some pharmacist had refused to fill my prescription for them, he would have been responsible for me missing a week of school because I couldn't stand up (and often, do anything but lye in a fetal position) . The thought of having to go through that would have been enough to make me throttle the guy.
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| Good | Mar 26th. at 11:29:26 am EDT
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Mirian (Urbana, Illinois) - Email Me
In a country that seems determined to overturn Roe vs. Wade, it's refreshing indeed to see a case where the woman's reproductive rights are actually upheld for a change :-)
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| To The Judge Involved In This Case: | Mar 26th. at 8:14:27 am EDT
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Sea Raven (New Haven, Connecticut) - Email Me
Thank you for using your common sense!
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| Good Argument, Though Not As Intended | Mar 26th. at 6:55:42 am EDT
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Dan Holzman-Tweed (New York CIty, New York) - Email Me
The practice of letting pacifists avoid military service is actually an excellent illustration of why the pharmacy board and court are right and the "pharmacist" wrong.
Someone who objects to war on grounds of conscience has the option of fighting in wars. They do not have the option of picking and choosing which wars to object to. Someone who says they'd have fought in WW2 is denied CO status.
Likewise, the recourse of someone who objects to dispensing medications is to avoid a career in which they dispense medications. They do not get to pick and choose which medications they will dispense.
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| GOOD! | Mar 26th. at 3:53:47 am EDT
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Whitewolf (Schenectady, New York) - Email Me
I think they should pull his pharmacist's license too.... let him go flip burgers at McDonalds!
Love to all
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| Not Their Job | Mar 26th. at 12:37:35 am EDT
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Earc (Nampa, Idaho) - Email Me - Web
The job of a pharmacist is to dispense medication that is prescribed for a patient by a qualified doctor. That is the ONLY job of the pharmacist. They are not to pass personal, moral or ethical judgements about the patient or the medication. They are simply to make sure that the medication prescribed is given to the patient it is prescribed to, and that the medication does not interact with other medications the patient may be taking.
Recently, my wife was prescribed Actiq (a fentanyl lollipop) as a "rescue medication" for severe, debilitating migraine pain. The prescription was written by a doctor who specializes in the treatment of chronic pain - i.e., someone who knows what the medication is and what it does, not just some run-of-the-mill Family Practice doc (no offense to any Family Practice docs that may be reading this - you do a wonderful job, and I'm very appreciative of mine) .
But, when my wife tried to fill her prescription, pharmacist after pharmacist REFUSED to do so, on the grounds that the medication was normally prescribed for cancer patients, and as my wife didn't have cancer, she didn't need the medication. They also refused to suggest another pharmacy that might fill the prescription. One pharmacist went so far as to attempt to suggest medications that my wife should ask the doctor for instead of the one prescribed, after learning why she was being prescribed it. Hello? NOT YOUR JOB! Don't you think that a doctor who specializes in pain management would have tried those other medications before pulling out the big guns? (He had, and they hadn't worked, hence the heavy-duty prescription.) Said pharmacist also didn't want to return the prescription (for reasons unclear to us) , and had to be convinced by a threatening phone call from the prescribing doctor to do so.
Pharmacists have lost sight of just what their job entails - the accurate dispensing of medication according to physician prescription, with an eye towards drug-interaction safety. Personal, moral and/or ethical beliefs do not enter into the equation. If a doctor wants to prescribe heavy-duty narcotics, can justify a reason to do so, and feels comfortable doing so, then your only obligation is to ensure that the drug is dispensed and that it won't interact with other medications. Likewise with birth-control pills, morning-after pills, and anything else that comes in on a bona-fide prescription.
If you don't want to dispense drugs under those conditions, get out of the pharmacist business.
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| Good. | Mar 25th. at 10:49:16 pm EDT
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Medea (Somewhere, Massachusetts) - Email Me
Ethics classes? Maybe. Here's another class that should be offered:
Male people do not tell Female people how to conduct their reproductive business. Male AND Female people stop seeing Female people's primary reason to be alive as a life support system for reproductive organs. Males mention they don't want children, people don't say much. Females say the same thing, anathema. What a bunch of total crap. It takes two to reproduce.
Woman doesn't want to be fertile right now? HER decision. Wants to be fertile later? Again, HER decision. Does not ever want to be fertile at all? HER DECISION. We're obviously needing a remedial education programme on this one.
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| If One Wants To Stop Abortions... | Mar 25th. at 10:44:00 pm EDT
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Jenna (Cary, North Carolina) - Email Me
Allow unlimited access to safe, low cost effective birth control. It's that simple. That's why the "other side" is anti-choice, not pro life. They simply wish to control the lives of women. It has nothing to do with "saving babies", as they claim. This jerk (which is the mildest word I can use and get away with on this site) needs to be fired and have his license revoked as it is clear that he cannot properly perform his job. As for our dear "friend" on this post who loves to be the voice of "unreason", yes, people should be able to get out of military service if it is deeply against their beliefs to murder people. Hopefully someday everyone in this country and the world will feel this way and we will not need armies. As for doctors and other medical personnel, in their studies they know that they will be called upon to help women with their reproductive issues. If they object to that, they need to drop out of med. school and join the seminary. Enough said.
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