[Commentary] If You Cannot Do the Job, Then You Need to Leave the Profession
I know I have probably touched on this topic once before but since it seems to be making a comeback I think it needs to be addressed again. Of course I am talking about the movement in the Pharmacist profession to legally allow pharmacists to deny patients prescriptions based on so-called "moral" grounds. The latest one to consider this is Wyoming where the proposed regulation basically allows a pharmacist who has any "moral" objection to any drug can refuse to fill the prescription. That means they can refuse Oxycontin to a patient in chronic pain, birth control and "the morning after pill" to women, and even more sickening is the potential for AIDS patients to be denied their medication.
I am all for personal rights and liberties but I am also a firm believer in the notion that "your rights end where my nose begins" and there are many times where your religious faith or whatever gets left at the door. The practice of medicine is one of those times because human decency if nothing else compels an individual to provide the service needed. "Morals" have no place in medicine beyond the cardinal rule "First Do No Harm".
Of course conservatives would counter this by pulling out the tired argument of how a person should not be forced to choose between their faith/morals/etc. and their profession in this situations. To that I say this - they made that decision by entering the profession. None of these people needed to become a doctor/pharmacist/whatever. They could have easily chosen other professions. They knew that birth control, morning-after pills, AIDS medications and other controversial prescriptions would come their way and they chose to enter the profession knowing this so they either need to deal with the fact they are going to have to find another line of work. Doctors get out a little easier because they can pick a specialty that would not involve controversial procedures. How many cardiologists perform abortions? Endocrinologists? Neurologists?
I will say this though. I do support pharmacies allowing individual pharmacists the privilege , and it is a privilege and not a right, to deny filling a prescription they object to on "moral" grounds provided another pharmacist is there that will and if there is not, tough shit. That is acceptable because it attempts to please both but still comes down on the side of the patient who should always trump.
I am all for personal rights and liberties but I am also a firm believer in the notion that "your rights end where my nose begins" and there are many times where your religious faith or whatever gets left at the door. The practice of medicine is one of those times because human decency if nothing else compels an individual to provide the service needed. "Morals" have no place in medicine beyond the cardinal rule "First Do No Harm".
Of course conservatives would counter this by pulling out the tired argument of how a person should not be forced to choose between their faith/morals/etc. and their profession in this situations. To that I say this - they made that decision by entering the profession. None of these people needed to become a doctor/pharmacist/whatever. They could have easily chosen other professions. They knew that birth control, morning-after pills, AIDS medications and other controversial prescriptions would come their way and they chose to enter the profession knowing this so they either need to deal with the fact they are going to have to find another line of work. Doctors get out a little easier because they can pick a specialty that would not involve controversial procedures. How many cardiologists perform abortions? Endocrinologists? Neurologists?
I will say this though. I do support pharmacies allowing individual pharmacists the privilege , and it is a privilege and not a right, to deny filling a prescription they object to on "moral" grounds provided another pharmacist is there that will and if there is not, tough shit. That is acceptable because it attempts to please both but still comes down on the side of the patient who should always trump.