Pharmacist Refused to Fill (OR Transfer) Contraceptive

[Khephra]

MADISON, Wis. -- A former pharmacist said Monday he refused to fill a college student's prescription for birth control pills or transfer it to another pharmacy because he did not want to commit a sin.

Neil Noesen, 30, testifying before a judge at a disciplinary hearing, could face a reprimand or loss of his pharmacist's license for refusing to help Amanda Phiede obtain her pills.

"I could have trouble sleeping at night. I could be suffering the worst kind of pain. Spiritual pain," Noesen told an administrative law judge.

The state Department of Regulation and Licensing accuses Noesen of unprofessional conduct for not transferring Phiede's prescription.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-contraceptive-complaint,0,244262.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

[MSgt213]

1. Hope the license is pulled. Not his job to make decisions like that

[Princess Turandot]

43. It sounds like it already was..

since usually an administrative 'judge' hearing is part of a state-government related appeal process.

I would be very surprised if they failed to uphold the suspension or revocation of his license, since that would give pharmacists in their state the latitude to make such decisions in all sorts of situations.I'm sure this is in direct violation of the state's code of conduct for pharmacists.Hopefully his license was revoked, not just suspended for some period of time.

[Scairp]

50. It's about time

No state has been holding these holier-than-thou assholes to answer for this bullshit. If they have a problem with filling certain prescriptions then they have no business being in that profession.

[phylla]

93. As a pharmacist, I completely agree

We have many purposes as health care providers. In addition to dispensing the prescribed medicines, we serve as a safety net for both the doctor and the patient.
I believe that the pharmacist mentioned here has forgotten that the patient/doctor relationship overrides his personal opinion. It is hard to believe that he refused to transfer the RX.
Just because the patient handed the Rxist a little piece of paper with writing on it, does not give the pharmacist to right to keep that written RX.
Such behavior is reprehensible. The Rxcist should find another way to use his degree.
There is very little call for BC in nursing homes or hospitals. The pharmacist should consider practicing in those places.

[The Zanti Regent]

2. Would he fill a prescription for her boyfriend's VIAGRA?

YOU BET HE WOULD!

[saigon68]

62. That's why he's called "THE WOODMAN"

The modern woodman.

[Ruby Romaine]

3. he should change professions- If you are against killing animals you

don't work in a slaughterhouse-
he isn't capable of doing his job.

[VegasWolf]

4. A sin? Is he afraid of dying and going to hell for transferring a

prescription. Does he even believe in dinosaurs? or the world
is round, or the sun is the center of the solar system? What a dope.

[Gardeaux08]

5. Then perhaps,

and I'm going out on a limb here, maybe he shouldn't have bothered to become a pharmacist?

[Bill McBlueState]

11. Well, he wanted the money.

Why should ethical dilemmas stand in the way of this guy and his big bucks pharmacy job?

[susanna]

38. Good call. n/t

[iamjoy]

39. You Got It

My Dad's a (retired) pharmacist and he says these pharmacists who have these ethical issues need to just open their own drug store and not leave their employer vulnerable. If it is their own pharmacy, they can just refuse to carry the drug. But anyway, a pharmacist is not a doctor and doesn't get to decide for a customer/patient what drugs are necessary or immoral.

What if the pharmacist is an animal rights activist and refuses to fill any medicines that use animal by-products or were tested on animals (that would be almost everything)?

What if a Jewish pharmacist refused to fill a prescription that used pig by-products.

What if a Jehovah's Witness becomes a pharmacist and refuses to fill prescriptions for blood based products or medicines commonly taken by transplant patients. I think this is why they don't go into the medical field. Much as I think their religion is extreme, I respect that aspect of it.

If your job gives you regular ethical dilemmas, quit.

[Gardeaux08]

96. I just thought of this!

I went to Catholic school all my life and I was on the pill as a teenager. My prescription was filled at a locally owned pharmacy...the one owed by the family of one of my classmates! Her brother never had an issue with selling me birth control despite the fact that he was Catholic.

However, up until a few years ago, the only hospital with maternity ward in my hometown was a Catholic one and they wouldn't allow any kind of birth control to be dispensed post childbirth. Thankfully, the public hospital has since opened a maternity ward.

[havocmom]

6. The pill has not just recently come into existence. These people became

pharmacists knowing they would be expected to fill prescriptions for BC pills. This is looking like a scripted effort to force court decisions on religious convictions vs job requirements. Getting pretty slippery for folks who are trying to cram their beliefs down everyone's throat or play the role of victim of religious persecution.

Hope every one who refuses to do the job they were hired to do loses their license to do that job. Looking more and more like they took the job just to infringe on other people's freedoms and rights.

Wonder how they would feel if members of the fire department would decide NOT to put out a house fire at their address because to do so would interfere with God's plan. Wonder how they would feel if paramedics declined to administer lifesaving care because they decided God wanted the patient to die.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

8. what SHE said!

[RainDog]

14. men playing god

you said it, havocmom.

and, yes, sometimes doctors prescribe what are known as birth control pills for women who have problems with endometriosis and other such issues.

this pharmacist is free to look for a job with a pharmacy that refuses to help women, but he is not free to impose his beliefs on anyone else.

if he can't find a job, well then he can get another job. that's what anyone else is supposed to do when they are not fit to fill a job.

[havocmom]

19. My daughter suffers with endometriosis and sometimes the pain will

make her pass our. She relies on BC pill treatment to keep it from becoming that bad again. Every couple of years, she has to go on a 6 month course of them or the pain gets bad enough to make her lose consciousness.

If some bible thumping SOB refused to fill her script, he would fully understand the nuances of my screen name. If his refusal to fill or transfer her script caused her to suffer so that she passed out, say, while trying to get back to her doctor, well, I'd call you, NSMA and a few other evilDUers to come and help me 'splain the facts of life to him!

And in America, I thought we had freedom. Do these bozos claim that we are liberating the women of Afghanistan and Iraq with our invasions? How come liberation is good for women in veils and bad for the American girl next door.

ARRRRRGGGGG. Can you tell this is a real sore spot with me? NSMA, pass me some milk or something to calm me down before I pop a bleeder in my brain!

[Lorien]

25. I had a severe hormonal imbalance as a teen

I was prescribed birth control pills years before I was sexually active. My parents would have felt as you do had any pharmacist refused to fill the script.

The American Taliban wants to FORCE women to have children or be chaste? What are we "fighting for", again?

[susanna]

40. I hear you, Jen6...

I took the pill once in my life - once - for other problems. It did alleviate them, but nature and age took care of them so I was eventually weaned from the pill. I took it, total, about one year. Haven't used it for anything, including BC, since. How the hell would this jerk know what I was using it for?!

BTW, I took it as a relatively young woman (i.e., in pathetic fundies' minds, the time when I was obviously screwing everything that walked and not wanting to get pregnant). I was actually celibate when I took it. Too weird for words, these pharmacists falling out the woodwork about BC and morning-after pills...?

edited for clarity

[Scairp]

80. What about girls and women on Accutane?

This acne medication is known to cause very serious birth defects should a woman become pregnant while using it. They MUST be on hormonal birth control or they cannot take it. If one of these jerks refuses to fill the prescription then they are potentially causing an abortion to occur. I guess they never thought of that, given the tunnel vision they suffer from.

[wickerwoman]

95. Me too.

Sometimes BC pills are prescibed for irregular or very painful periods. When I was 14, I was getting my period six days on six days off. The pills straightened out the times and got rid of a lot of the pain. I wasn't sexually active at the time either.

It was embarrassing enough going to the pharmacy to get them (usually I let my mom go in on her own) without some self-righteous prick getting in your face about it.

[RainDog]

29. I agree, Havocmom

I'm also a mom, but I have sons. But I would be happy to let such a person know what I think, loudly and clearly. I wrote to Eckerd back when one of their pharmacists refused to dispense a morning after pill to a rape victim. That pharmacist was fired, thankfully, as he well should have been.

It is none of that pharmacist's fucking business WHY the doctor prescribed those pills to that young woman, and it makes me want to SPIT to think such an asshole is supposed to be responsible for carrying out a doctor's orders for their patient's medicines.

I can't imagine that some person...what are they...christian scientists? who doesn't believe in taking medicines would be hired as a pharmacist, so why should someone who can't do his or her job because of a belief that women should not have access to health care because it offends their religion?

[Hekate]

44. Hekate's with you, Havocmom

The incident does sound scripted, doesn't it? It has "test case" written all over it -- for both sides. I hope this young woman has very, very good legal counsel.

It never fails to astound me that ideologues and fanatics want so badly to put women and girls in the Catch-22 of having no reliable contraceptives.

The pregnancy that is supposed to be God's Will is -- amazingly enough -- also God's Own Punishment for women having unauthorized sex. Unmarried women are supposed to be abstinent -- somehow men's behavior is not part of the equation. If unmarried women are not abstinent, then disease and pregnancy are their well-deserved punishment.

And God forbid any woman at all would seek an abortion due to failed contraception -- not out of concern for the unborn, I think, but because it would prevent the permanent and visible stigmata of their crime -- er, sin, whatever. Twisted.

Add to all that the pharmacist made it his business to ask her what she wanted the pills for. Probably made sure there were other customers within earshot, too.

Wonder if he does that to young men seeking to buy condoms? Wonder if those are against his religion too?

Hekate
:argh:

[Tight_rope]

46. Now see....I would have gotten straight up ignorant with this guy!

The whole store would have thought he was trying to kill me by the time i got through. Forget coming back the next day with the law. I would have dealth with him right then and there. I HATE PEOPLE WHO PLAY GOD! Hypocritical BASTARDS!

[LiberalFighter]

71. Businesses just hate scenes!!

That former pharmacist just might had filled the prescription if he was embarrassed enough by the disruption along with not wanting his employer to know what he was trying to do.

[theHandpuppet]

60. Classic line, havocmom!

"How come liberation is good for women in veils and bad for the American girl next door."

Damned if we do, damned if we don't. I for one am sick and tired of (too many) governments by and for men who decide how women will live their lives, how much and when they can control their own bodies, when and if they have rights to vote, to reproductive freedom, to an education, to an equal wage, to a birth control pill or a drivers license.

It is time for women and our progressive brothers to renew their commitment to equality for ALL people. If you haven't considered joining or contributing to NOW or NARAL, now's the time to step up and take a stand. Don't let the Neanderthals of this world turn back the clock!

[knitter4democracy]

83. I have endo too

My worst pain is the exact same as I had when I was in transition during both natural labors--only it doesn't stop in a few minutes but can last for days (once for a month).

Whatever your daughter needs to deal with it she should be able to get. Who is that d*head, and when did he go to med school and then establish a doctor/patient relationship with that woman?! That medication is nothing new, and there are other reasons to prescribe it, not that he would know that, not being a doctor.

You know what women need to do? Stockpile. Sad.

Btw, did anyone else have pictures of women in Afghanistan voting in burqas in their local paper. Yeah, W did a great job of liberating those women. Sheesh.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

94. Who cares whether people want it for contraception or endometriosis.

Oral contraceptives are a WIDELY PRESCRIBED drug. No one has any business going into pharmacy who doesn't want to deal out meds.

Article doesn't say whether K-Mart fired the dude.

[lakemonster11]

63. That's what I was thinking.

I have lots of friends who are on birth control pills but have no intention of having sex any time soon. They're on the pill to because they have ovarian cysts, or because they would otherwise have extremely painful cramps during their periods, or even because the hormone therapy clears up their acne problems.

Not that the pharmicist should be able to refuse to fill the prescription (or, especially, to refuse to transfer it to another pharmacy) even if he knew for a fact that this girl was having sex.

[calimary]

78. Especially since the pharmacist in question here is only 30 years old.

The Pill's been around for quite a LONG TIME now. Plenty long enough for him to be aware of it when he went to pharmacy school. NO EXCUSE. If he has a philosophical or religious argument with this, perhaps he should rethink his desire to work as a pharmacist. I go to a pharmacist to get my prescriptions filled - NOT to obtain a morals lecture.

[ogradda]

7. he could get a job

in a different field too. now there's a thought...

[VegasWolf]

9. Romans 14:28:32:14:23:18 specifically says the pill is a sin!!

[Tight_rope]

47. Who asked you crackhead!....get a life!

[atreides1]

55. Right

And what kind of drugs are you on?


First of all there is no verses 28-32 in the Book of Romans.

But here is Romans 14:13 - Therefore let us stop passing judgement on one another. Instead make up your mind not to put any stumbling block
or obstacle in your brother's way. 14-As one who is in the Lord Jesus
I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone
regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. 15-If your
brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom
Christ died. 16-Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. 17-For the kngdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18-because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and
approved by men. 19-Let us make every effort to do what leads to peace
and to mutual edification. 20-Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21-It is better not to
eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fail. 22-So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23-But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

Anybody want to translate this.

[republicansareevil]

57. Don't worry.

At least some of us "got it"

;)

[northzax]

61. yeah, how short do you have to be

for that one to go over your head?

[VegasWolf]

69. Thanks!!! I thought the satire was patently obvious! Guess not!

[LiberalFighter]

72. Enlighten us

[VegasWolf]

73. Enlighten you in which way?

[XanaDUer]

10. I don't understand this

okay-you want to be a pharmacist. Don't you know about birth control pills and that you may have to fill prescriptions for them?

Also, some women taken birth control pills for other reasons than birth control-acne, hormones...

[Ilsa]

12. We need to make an impact on the pharmacists association.

Maybe the National Nurses Association could speak to them about not judging clients, etc. I also think FACOG (Fellows of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology) should on it. The FDA needs to intervene as this can be an issue of women's health if they are denied contraceptives, etc.

[iamjoy]

41. Oh, Yeah, Bush's FDA...

Bush actually appointed a man to the Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee who as a GYN refused to prescribe contraceptives to single women and believes the birth control pill is an abortificant. Dr Hager actually recommended women should deal with PMS by praying!

So, hear that havocmom - this administration thinks you should get your daughter off those pills and on her knees to deal with the endometriosis!

But, I do believe the associations take the view that if you work for a company, you need to comply with their rules. This means a doctor/nurse employed by a public hospital (non-religious) could not refuse to give say, the morning after pill (to a rape victim) if the hospital policy is to offer it. I'm not sure what this means for doctors in private practice.

[54anickel]

13. ARRRGH! It's good for a person to be persecuted? WTF - Idiot!!!

This defense had better not stand up either. Think of the precedence this could set.

Noesen's attorney, Krystal Williams-Oby, said Noesen broke no laws. She described him as a devout Roman Catholic and said any punishment would violate his constitutional right to religious expression.

[GinaMaria]

18. You do not have free speech rights

in your employer's business. Sorry. You also don't have the right to cram your religeon down customers' throats. Your employer hires you to do a job. If you cannot or will not do the job, you can be dismissed. Employers will make reasonable accomodations for personal religeous practices like offer a quiet place to pray if that is your practice, but not if it interfers with business. Preaching to and offending customers is not anyone's right unless that is what your employer hired you to do.

No one asked this idiot to TAKE BC pills. If he couldn't do all of his job requirements he had an obligation to disclose that on his application, at least in this state it's on every application.

[havocmom]

15. If a pharmacist refused to fill or transfer a script, patient should go

back to her doctor and ask that the doctor consider filing suit. The pharmacist is effectively circumventing the doctor's course of treatment for a patient, thus potentially damaging the physician's practice.

If a pharmacist has doubts about a prescription, and face it, sometimes doctors goof and the pharmacist can catch some mistakes, let them call the doctor and ask questions to assure the patient gets good care. For the pharmacist to just decide personal religious views are more important than filling a legal prescription just begs for some doctors to take them out of the circle of health care professionals they are supposed to be.

[knitter4democracy]

84. Good idea!

I'm telling that one to my husband tonight in case this happens to any of his patients.

[truthisfreedom]

16. what an idiot. jail him. make an example. GET A DIFFERENT JOB, BOZO!

[darkism]

17. Persecute this

"'It's good for a person to be persecuted," he said when asked by his lawyer how the proceedings have affected him. "Really, it helps you grow in your faith.'" :puke:

DAMN I can't stand fundies. At least he's not in the business anymore. What a total nut.

[Dhampir]

20. This is horrible.

These people need to be stopped.

I hope he loses his job and/or license.

[VegasWolf]

21. The new friendly faith-based pharmacies!!! Cherry coke avaliable

[soggy]

22. what do you think would happen...

to a vegetarian waiter in a steakhouse, who, for moral reasons, couldn't serve meat with a clear conscience?

i wonder...

[VegasWolf]

23. Nothing. Bush is not a veggie.

[AspenRose]

58. Here's another one

One of my co-workers just had a baby boy. The nurse on duty at her L&D suite TRIED TO PHYSICALLY BLOCK THE DOCTOR from going to perform a circumcision on their newborn, on the grounds that SHE felt it wasn't right, even though that's what the parents wanted.

If she feels that strongly against circumcision, then she has no business working as an L&D nurse. Go work the ER or some other floor.

[WindRavenX]

24. Everyone should use Planned Parenthood for their contraceptive needs

I have not even bothered with local pharmacies because it is simply 1) a matter of privacy and 2)I don't like dealing with occasional douches that give me evil looks when they ring up my pills. So I go to planned parenthood for my pills where I am WELCOMED and NOT judged.
Fuck these holier-than-thou misogynistic bastards.

[Tanuki]

51. Not everyone lives near

enough to a Planned Parenthood clinic. This could be a huge problem for women who live in rural areas where there might only be one pharmacy within a reasonable distance and who can't simply take their business elsewhere. This backward nonsense needs to be nipped in the bud. You would think they would be in favor of contraceptives because it would decrease the number of unwanted pregnancies, hence fewer abortions. This is about controlling women and especially women's sexuality. These jerks would have us all in burkas if they had their way.

[LynneSin]

26. So my friend who took BC because of problem with Cysts on her ovaries...

...would just be Shit out of Luck

This guy should be barred from practicing pharmacy anywhere.

Talk about pain & suffering he'll feel at night - from hunger pains because he can't feed himself & family because of lack of a job

:mad:

[54anickel]

28. Guess she made the mistake of answering his question honestly

Personally, I'd have told him it was none of his business and he had no business asking.

Noesen, the only pharmacist on duty at the store at the time, asked if the prescription would be used for contraception, then refused to refill it when she said it would. "I just wanted to get my pills and go home," Phiede said.

[hlthe2b]

27. Two words: misogynistic BASTARD!

I hope he is reincarnated as a woman with the most nonremitting PMS one could imagine!

[nolabels]

32. I would love to see his record on filling prescriptions for Viagra

or one of them other male orientated prescriptions. Some people have such hypocritical standards for their own conduct. As a male, I cannot understand this attack on a females reproductive freedom.

What kind of foolish payoff could these nut-cases really actually attain :shrug:

[peterh]

30. I am sad to say….

My humanist vision is going the way of my eyesight in these darker times and judging from other items on this board, Ray Bradbury and George Orwell were not familiar with the term fiction.

[Wapsie B]

31. Since when can pill counters overrule a Doctor's prescription?

He should be charged with practicing medicine without a license.
The thing that smells to me when I hear about pill counters worrying about contraceptives is this: So these people have NEVER before filled a script for birth control pills? NEVER? Did these people just all get out of pharm school? Smells like a well coordinated plan to me. Someone needs to make a test case out of this and sue these pharms.

[deadmessengers]

35. I can think of one reason

Pharmacists refuse to fill scripts all the time, but not for stupid reasons like this. The most common one is that there will be times when a patient will have prescribed for them 2 drugs which could harmfully interact with one another.

My mother suffered for years with depression, until her doctor prescribed an anti-depressant. The pharmacist noticed that she was also taking, long-term, a blood-pressure medication that had the side effect of causing severe depression. The pharmacist contacted her doctor, who was unaware of the side-effect. The end result was that my mother's depression was successfully treated by switching her blood pressure med to one suggested by her pharmacist.

This guy's an asshat, though, and none of this actually applies to him :-)

[republicansareevil]

56. That's their job.

Why do you feel the need to denigrate all pharmacists by calling them "pill-counters"? If that's all they were, drug stores could hire anyone who knew how to read and count and pay them minimum wage to "count pills". Pharmacists overrule prescriptions all the time -- if the doctor makes a mistake, for example, or if the prescription seems "fishy". It's a system of checks and balances. A pharmacist is obviously not supposed to bring his religious beliefs into it. But just because there are a few bad apples, you shouldn't insult an entire profession. Pharmacists are overworked, underpaid, and one of the most trusted professions in the country.

[jmowreader]

89. That's almost possible

There is a pill dispensing machine on the market. There's a computer connected to it. When the pharmacist feeds in a prescription, the system selects the proper bottle, moves it under the proper bin's dispensing nozzle, counts out the number of pills requested, prints a label, attaches it and puts the cap on the bottle.

If this machine were connected to the Internet, a doctor could log on to a pharmacy and, through his password-protected account, submit prescription orders directly to the pharmacy. The computer could look up the records for a particular patient, cross-check this script for drug interactions, the whole thing. Even bill the patient's insurance carrier.

Given a system like that, you'd need only one registered pharmacist to run the whole department--and that because the law probably wouldn't allow someone to run a pharmacy department with no pharmacist. (And we're talking BS-level pharmacists, not Pharm.D.-level ones.) Yes, it's expensive to own and maintain a machine like this, but if you had a choice between needing five or six $65k/year Pharm.D. pharmacists and needing one $40,000 R.Ph. and a handful of $7/hour techs, which would you choose?

[Kool Kitty]

33. Every woman and everyone that loves and respects women

should pay serious attention to this. This is just the beginning of what is in store for us if this bunch of pigs and shits gets put in for another term. No rights for women and don't think that you men are going to be safe, either. If they can pull this kind of shit with us, they will think of something to go after you left-leaning, progressive males, too. (I often wonder what kind of hue and cry would go up if a female pharmacist refused to fill a Viagra prescription for a single male. Think there would be much coverage of it in the press? It would be on the front page of every fucking newspaper in the country.)

[VegasWolf]

36. Nah, that would just alienate the NASCAR dads, shrub already

knows he has lost the women! Just say No! Who
needs birth control when you are blessed with mental powers
like our fearless leaders. Besides, his daughters can afford to buy them overseas.

[Kimber Scott]

34. Notice the adjective "FORMER" before the word pharmacist?

Nuff said.

[LiberalFighter]

37. I remember this being discussed a while back

[qs04]

42. Ah, persecution complex

"It's good for a person to be persecuted," he said when asked by his lawyer how the proceedings have affected him. "Really, it helps you grow in your faith."


That explains why he took that job. He wants to be "persecuted" as validation of his beliefs. And he probably has friends and family who he'll go to and whine to about the "persecution" while they all nod their heads in agreement. Gah, I've run across too many of these people.

[Tight_rope]

45. The mutherfucker is in the wrong business...I bet he's ok with Oxicotin

[Oak2004]

49. Oxycontin... and every educated person should be OK with it

Oxycontin is not evil. It and about three other drugs (all of which have the same abuse potential) are the only safe, reliable treatments for severe chronic or terminal pain. Far far more Americans die of the consequences of untreated or under-treated severe pain each year than have ever died of an oxycontin overdose.

Before I entered pain management a few years ago, it took me close to an hour and a half just to get out of bed in the morning. Once I did get out of bed, all I could do was crawl -- yes, crawl -- to a chair where I'd spend the rest of my day. This kind of immobility led to a pulmonary embolism for me (30% fatality rate). And I'm just a few weeks out of the hospital after a three week battle for my life against a severe staph infection whose cause can be traced to the permanent damage done to my leg veins by that immobility.

It's popular to diss pain management drugs and suggest or imply that they're something frivolous, or even dangerous, that we'd be better off without. Popular, at least, until the one who disses gets to find out, firsthand, that they're as frivolous as insulin.

[Tight_rope]

74. My argument is not about the drugs...it's about the dispensing of them...

This pharmacist has no right to tell anyone what drugs they should or should not take. His job is ONLY to fill the orders.

[Carolab]

48. Sorry dude

should have thought about that before you decided on your career choice.

[deadparrot]

52. Why in god's name would he become a pharmacist...

if he KNEW he would have to hand out contraceptives? Idiot.

[ibegurpard]

64. No kidding. Become a minister.

If you're a pharmacist, it's your JOB to dispense medication that people have prescriptions for, NO QUESTIONS ASKED! (Unless you have reason to believe it might be fraudulent).

[arikara]

65. No way, can't agree with that...

don't need any more small minded ministers preaching to the unenlightened either.

He could always clean toilets. :evilgrin:

[eyepaddle]

53. What a complete ASS.

This is so fucked up on so many levels I am almost speechless....On a purely selfish note I am amused by fundie-nutjobs at the same time I am frightened by them.

Hey here's a good way to pass the time; go to a creation "science" forum and just ask them if Jesus IS God, or the SON of God--and then sit back and watch the carnage!

:wtf:

[Mandate My Ass]

54. Arkansas, South Dakota and Mississippi

Have passed so-called "conscience clauses" protecting pharmacists already.

Ten more states — Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin — are considering passing this legislation.

CVS has said they support pharmacists who refuse to fill BC and EC and they just bought Eckerd. Going elsewhere is not going to cut it soon.

Don't believe for a second they went into this business not thinking that they'd have no other choice than to dispense BC and only thought about it when the first opportunity arose. They're organized and they're winning.


Google Pharmacists for Life if you want to get really outraged.

[davidinalameda]

59. they're doing the same thing with birth control providers

that they're doing with abortion providers

don't outlaw it--just make it impossible for people to gain access to the services

[Zerex71]

66. Somebody tell this guy to quit living in the middle ages

with his conservative religious mumbo-jumbo. God/Whoever really doesn't care if Joe Bloe Pharmacist fills Rx's for birth control. You can take that to the bank.

Mike

[Catt03]

67. The guy needs a psyche evaluation

Good lord......where are all these mental people coming from?

I can't ever remember this many people with serious mental health problems in previous elections.

[truthbetold]

68. He can take his "spiritual pain"

And shove it right up his pompous ass!

[smirkymonkey]

70. Pain? I'll Show Him Pain. REAL PAIN.

Fundie Freak!

[Eurobabe]

75. why do these people get into these professions??

ferchrissakes. Do something that won't compromise your values and leave the rest of us alone!!

[Bo]

76. Get this P>O>S outta there

[arwalden]

77. Another Psychotic Fundie Christian

[snippy]

79. In several republican States his license AND his job would be protected.

I sometimes think birth control might be the issue which ultimately defeats the Reich wing fundamentalists. I had hoped that some group would run ads about all of these incidents where women have been denied having their prescription for birth control filled and the pharmacist was protected by laws passed by the Reich wing fundamentalists. In one case a rape victim was denied the morning after pill prescribed by her doctor.

[LiberalFighter]

81. Here is more background

The Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing amended a complaint against Neil Noesen of Barron last week.
The original complaint was filed on Sept. 10, 2002, but was amended last week for three reasons: "To state the facts more clearly, to specify the condition which is being violated by board rules and to limit the issues so as to focus on the charged conduct," said Christopher Klein, executive assistant at the Department of Regulation and Licensing. 27 Mar 2004

[LiberalFighter]

82. Attempt to revise State Law

Pharmacist faces charge in local case

The controversy created by Noesen's alleged actions caused Wisconsin lawmakers in 2003 to introduce, among several pieces of "conscience clause" legislation, Assembly Bills 63.

The bill was designed to legally permit a pharmacist to refuse to dispense or transfer a prescription for a drug or device that would be used to cause an abortion or the death of a person. Such a refusal would also not allowed to be used as the basis for a claim for damages or disciplinary action against the pharmacist.

In addition, A.B. 63 would have ensured protection against employment discrimination "on the basis of his or her refusal, based on creed, to dispense a prescribed drug or device that the pharmacist has reason to believe would be used for causing an abortion or causing the death of a person."

On March 5, 2003, Noesen testified before the Assembly Labor Committee in support of the bill.


Thankfully the bill failed to pass.

[struggle4progress]

92. Pharmacist faces charge in local case

<snip> What Noesen also didn't tell her was that the state's Pharmacy Examining Board recognizes a pharmacist's right to refuse a prescription. And, indeed, he had a verbal agreement with managing pharmacist, Ken Jorandby, about his beliefs and was told that other pharmacists on duty would fill them later.

But customers have rights, too, under the Wisconsin Administrative Code, to have their prescriptions transferred to another pharmacy.

Later in the day, the woman attempted to obtain her refill from the Wal-Mart Pharmacy. When the pharmacist called Kmart to transfer the prescription, Noesen refused to do so, again citing his religious beliefs.

Following the incident, the Stout student filed a complaint against Noesen with the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing (DRL). The complaint was filed on Sept. 10, 2002 and later amended in March 2004 to reflect that charges of unprofessional conduct are not concerned with the fact that Noesen did not dispense the contraceptives. Rather, it is because he allegedly refused both to transfer the prescription to another pharmacy and to return the original prescription to the customer. <snip>

http://www.dunnconnect.com/articles/2004/09/29/news/news02.txt


<edit:>
Pharmacist refused to refill birth control
He said he didn't want to commit sin; hearing to determine any sanctions
Associated Press
Posted: Oct. 12, 2004

Madison - A pharmacist who refused to refill or transfer a college student's prescription for birth control pills violated standards of care by not releasing the prescription or telling her about other ways she could get her pills, a former director of the state Pharmacy Internship Board testified Tuesday.

Paul Rosowski, a licensed pharmacist in Wisconsin since 1988, testified during a disciplinary hearing for former freelance pharmacist Neil Noesen that Noesen had a duty to tell the woman she could have gone to an emergency room to get her pills.

"It's the patient's prescription, not the pharmacist's prescription," Rosowski said. <snip>

http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/oct04/266123.asp

[robcon]

85. We need to celebrate this pharmacist's integrity.

Although I disagree with what he did, he acted magnificently in accordance with his conscience. We need to encourage everyone to perform as bravely as this pharmacist.

[Susang]

86. Bullshit

He was brave? I think the women and men who work at Planned Parenthood under threat of violence and death on a daily basis are brave.

I think this man is just a pissy little shit who felt it was his job to teach this woman a lesson. If this man acted "bravely" on a daily basis, then how did he manage to obtain his license in the first place? After all, I believe there is a standards of ethics and conduct that pharmacists agree to uphold when they are licensed, just like doctors, nurses and other state licensed medical professionals. You can't just arbitrarily decide to withold someone's medication because you personally think it's wrong. That's not bravery, it's criminal.

[Bridget Burke]

87. He's become a poster boy for the anti-contraception set.

And he didn't get into trouble for refusing to fill the prescription. When she went to Walmart & the pharmacist called him, he refused to transfer it.

So he slept peacefully that night knowing that the evil slut wasn't having sex. No doubt, he wasn't, either.

[Lars39]

88. Integrity? Sounds like he lied on his resume.

[Mandate My Ass]

90. Let him support for 18 years

the "life" he determined was so much more important than the woman who was forced to carry it. Then, and only then, we can talk. :eyes:

[Andromeda]

97. Are you nuts?

He did not act "magnificently" and he can take his conscience and shove it up his rear end!

It wasn't up to him to decide whether this woman got her prescription filled or not.

[noamnety]

91. The future of women's health care in the US

[Pert_UK]

98. Land of the Free.........You're free to do whatever I think is right.

Fanfuckingtastic.

P.