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May 11, 2005
Refusal
of Walgreen's Pharmacy to Fill Prescription
Leads to Hearing
by Edith A. McFadden, M.D.
In January, 2005 a Milwaukee woman went to a
Walgreen's Pharmacy for emergency contraception
after the condom her partner was wearing broke
during intercourse. The pharmacist ( a woman)
refused to honor the prescription for the emergency
contraction, called the patient "a murderer",
denouncing her loudly enough for other customers
to hear, and the pharmacy manager did not intervene
in this completely unprofessional and unacceptable
abuse by the pharmacist. The patient left emotionally
traumatized and was afraid to go to another
pharmacy for fear that the same thing would
happen. She became pregnant and had to undergo
an abortion that would have been completely
unnecessary had she not been discriminated
against.
The pharmacist was not disciplined or even reprimanded
until May 3, when Walgreen's received notice
from the patient's lawyer that the pharmacist
and the company are now being sued by the patient.
Then Walgreen's fired the pharmacist on May
3, almost 5 months after the incident. This
is the second incident of a Wisconsin pharmacist
refusing to fill a contraception prescription.
Fortunately, the woman in the other incident
did not become pregnant.
The Wisconsin legislature is now considering
a bill that would make it legal for pharmacists
to refuse to fill prescriptions they disagree
with. This is another example of the national
attack on women's right to effective and timely
reproductive health care. We have not seen
the like since the 1930's with the Comstock
Law which declared sexual education and
reproductive health care pornographic.
I am discouraging my patients from using Walgreen's
pharmacies, a very large Illinois-based chain.
I can not attend the public hearing in Madison
on the Pharmacist refusal bill so I wrote a
testimony that I am asking Planned Parenthood
of Wisconsin to present at the hearing for
me.
Testimony of Dr. Edith McFadden to Legislative
Committee
Dear Wisconsin Legislator Committee Members,
I am a physician practicing on the south side
of Milwaukee. I am very concerned about the
Prescription Denial Bill, a Wisconsin bill
under consideration at this hearing that would
make it legal for Wisconsin pharmacists to
interfere with the doctor-patient relationship
by refusing to fill lawful prescriptions written
by qualified physicians. This would also be
a form of "practicing medicine without
a license" and not the level of care Wisconsin
citizens have a right to expect from pharmacists.
Unfortunately, there have been recent instances
of Wisconsin pharmacists refusing to fill contraception
prescriptions for women patients. If these
pharmacists are opposed to contraception based
on their idiosyncratic interpretation of their
religious traditions (because every major world
religion has rich traditions which can be interpreted
as prochoice as well as no-choice, including
the Roman Catholic Church) then these pharmacists
should not be working in areas where they are
directly involved in patient care. They could
use their training in pharmaceutical research
, etc or they could go into another area of
work. This is true for any healthcare professional.
However, if they are deliberately seeking employment
as a clinical pharmacist, dispensing medications
to the public, and refuse to treat patients
respectfully and professionally, and refuse
to dispense particular medications because
of their personal beliefs, , then this is unprofessional,
unethical, and completely unacceptable and
should not be legally condoned.
Additionally, this bill would make it legal
for pharmacists to discriminate against women
by refusing to fill their contraception prescriptions.
This is a violation of the basic human rights
of women.
The pharmacists' refusal to fill prescriptions
based on a religious belief is an assault on
the religious freedom of patients to exercise
their moral choice based on their own developed
consciences and consistent with their rich
religious traditions. We do not live in a theocracy
and in a democracy the pharmacists' conscience
is not more important than the conscience of
a patient who is trying to care for herself
in accordance with the evaluation and recommendation
of her physician.
Sincerely,
Edith A. McFadden, M.D., F.A.A.O.A.Director
EAR, NOSE, THROAT AND ALLERGY CENTER
3201 South 16th St., Ste 400
Milwaukee,WI 53215
(141) 383-7528; fax: 383-7538
emcfadde@igc.org
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