Re: Contraceptive access
From: Charlie Chambers (cchamber@gorge.net)
Thu Apr 21 10:47:56 2005
I find the whole situation ridiculous. Do you think that any of those
pharmacies sell cigarettes or alcohol? We know that both agents
increase miscarriage rates and adversely affect pregnancies.
I'm a catholic and think the church has much bigger problems and moral
issues than contraceptive use.
************************************************************************
*
Charlie Chambers
--
Hood River, OR
cchamber@alumni.rice.edu
"No matter where you go...
there you are."
Dr. Buckaroo Banzai
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On Apr 21, 2005, at 5:43 AM, Anna Meenan, MD wrote:
> Even in a one-pharmacy community (which is currently where I practice),
> there is always http://www.drugstore.com, and pretty much everyone has
> internet
> access now, either at home or through their local library. So, if the
> single pharmacy in town is owned by one Catholic pharmacist, who
> because
> of the shortage of pharmacists, can only find a Catholic pharmacist to
> assist him/her, is there a restriction on how far away the pharmacist
> can send the patient to another pharmacy, or can s/he refer them to the
> internet?
>
> Anna Meenan, MD
>
> At Wed, 20 Apr 2005, Joanne Bulley, MD wrote:
>>
>> Like you I have no problem with a pharmacist not dispensing or
>> stocking
>> whatever med in such situations -- unless -- that is THE ONLY place in
>> town -- then there is some sort of obligation to the community to
>> dispense what the doc and patient have decided upon (well yes I can
>> think of exceptions to even that) ...
>>
>> The bill includes just that -- if you don't / won't stock or do it --
>> send someone elswhere. The probelm being that there have been
>> pharmacists who have KEPT the prescription and harrassed the woman
>> with
>> the prescription about having the script in the first place.
>>
>>> The rule also forces pharmacies that do not stock the requested
>>> pills,
>>> including emergency contraception, to order them or refer the
>>> patient to
>>> a nearby pharmacy. Gov. Blagojevich enacted the rule April 1 after
>>> two
>>> Chicago pharmacists refused to fill prescriptions for emergency
>>> contraceptives.
>>
>> Joanne
>>
>> At Tue, 19 Apr 2005, Anna Meenan, MD wrote:
>>>
>>> I have no problem with a pharmacist who is not comfortable dispensing
>>> OCP's, as long as s/he gives the prescription back to the patient and
>>> refers her to another pharmacy if s/he is not comfortable filling it.
>>> Our nearest pharmacy stopped stocking Accutane, probably because of
>>> paperwork and liability concerns, and I had to drive across town to
>>> get
>>> it for my son. I wouldn't dream of trying to force a store to stock
>>> a
>>> specific product. We live in a free enterprise society. Can the
>>> Federal government compel a pharmacist to commit what his religion
>>> classifies as a sin? I would hope not. The State of Illinois (in the
>>> guise of the U of I) sends me a list every year of every religious
>>> holiday celebrated by every religion on the planet, and directs me
>>> not
>>> to schedule any major exams on those days, or to compel students to
>>> come
>>> to class on those days (I think the list leaves me 2 or 3 days to
>>> schedule that stuff). So the State of Illinois cannot compel a
>>> Catholic
>>> student to show up in class on, oh let's say the Feast of the
>>> Assumption, but can compel a Catholic pharmacist to dispense OCP's.
>>> Where exactly are we separating Church and State?
>>>
>>> --
>>> Anna Meenan, MD
>>>
>> --
>> Joanne Bulley, MD
>> Keene, NH, USA
>>
>
