The doctor ordered the medication for the benefit of the patient. That doctor could have gone to the pharmacist directly and presented the prescription. However it's not a very efficient way to deliver medicine, unless the pharmacy is within the doctors office - very rare (unless it's a "hospital". So the patient goes to the pharmacy and essentially asks to collect and pay for what the doctor ordered (or other medication prescribing health care practitioner).

In this case, the pharmacist refused to comply with the doctor's order, putting the patient into a "piggy in the middle" situation.

However I usually find that unless you're getting run-of-the-mill medication, I get better satisfaction dealing with an independent pharmacist. I had one heck of a run around with CVS and trying to get a prescription filled. In the end, the pharmacist recommended we go to Gate City Pharmacy here in Greensboro, NC, and they are in my eyes the best pharmacy ever. If it wasn't for the fact that our group health care insurance gives us a heavy incentive to use CVS, I would do all of our prescriptions with Gate City.

I agree with you in that we both think the pharmacist "crossed the line".