Complaint filed against pharmacist

[Judi Lynn]

Complaint filed against pharmacist


The Associated Press
3/16/2004, 2:53 p.m. ET


MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A state agency is accusing a pharmacist of blocking a woman's attempts to refill her birth control prescription because of his religious beliefs.

The Department of Regulation and Licensing's complaint against Neil Noesen stemmed from his refusal to transfer the prescription to another pharmacy after he refused to fill it himself.

The complaint was filed Friday with the Wisconsin Pharmacy Examining Board over the 2002 incident at a K-Mart pharmacy in Menomonie in northwestern Wisconsin.
(snip)

According to the complaint, Noesen was the only pharmacist on duty on the weekend when a woman came in to refill her birth control prescription. He had told the managing pharmacist that he would not fill contraceptive prescriptions because he considered them in violation of his religious beliefs.
(snip/...)

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/lateststories/index.ssf?/base/national-20/1079467142168840.xml

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pharmacist faces complaint in birth control case
0:06 AM 3/16/04
Patricia Simms Wisconsin State Journal


The state is accusing a pharmacist of unprofessional conduct for blocking a young woman's attempt to refill her birth control prescription because of his religious beliefs. <

Neil Noesen, 30, wouldn't transfer the prescription to another pharmacy to be filled after he refused to fill it, according to a complaint filed Friday with the Wisconsin Pharmacy Examining Board by the state Department of Regulation and Licensing. <

Noesen has attracted organized support from opponents of abortion rights during the year-and-a-half since the incident occurred. <

Noesen was working as a fill-in pharmacist at the Kmart pharmacy in Menomonie in the summer of 2002. Before he was hired, Noesen told the managing pharmacist that he wouldn't fill prescriptions for contraceptives which could cause what he believed to be an abortion, the complaint said. The complaint said Noesen was told he wouldn't have to fill them - the managing pharmacist would do so later. <
(snip/...)

http://www.madison.com/wisconsinstatejournal/local/70273.php

[xultar]

1. All I can say is ...

:grr::nuke::grr::nuke::grr::nuke::grr::nuke::grr::nuke::grr::nuke:

[Love Bug]

2. This seems easy to me....

If you have any ethical problems with your chosen profession, FIND ANOTHER LINE OF WORK!

Cripes.

[tandot]

3. I hope they fire that guy

He shouldn't work in a pharmacy if his religious beliefs interfere. I hope she is filing a lawsuit against K-Mart.

I am so disgusted with those religious idiots.

[xultar]

4. No shit, pretty soon they will be bombing the contraceptive aisles

in drug stores.

Fuckers

[LiberalFighter]

25. Apparently K-Mart has fired someone before for the same reason

K-Mart Pharmacist Fired for Refusing to Dispense Abortifacient -- Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A. (1996)


I told her we were out of stock. In Ohio, a refillable prescription belongs to the patient and must legally be transferred at the patient's will.


Since I am not the only pharmacist who has run into this sort of trouble with KMart, it could be concluded that such reprimands and firings are an expression of corporate policy.

[LiberalFighter]

26. K-mart Sued by Anti-Choice Pharmacist

K-mart Sued by Anti-Choice Pharmacist

This about the same person

Relatedly, K-mart's competitor Wal-Mart continues to refuse to sell the emergency contraceptive Preven, and has not yet announced whether it will sell "Plan B," an emergency contraceptive kit scheduled to hit the market later this year. Wal-Mart is the biggest pharmacy chain in the United States, and its decision could have a major effect on the accessibility of emergency contraception, especially in more rural areas of the country.


Guess which pharmacy should not be patronized?

[ret5hd]

5. wow...i hope kmart doesn't decide to hire an 7th day adventist

pharmacists...they'd just sit there and not fill ANYONE'S prescription.

(i believe it is the 7th Day Adventists that don't believe in medical care. if not, substitute the proper religion. and please, don't take offense. i'm justr kidding.)

[theoceansnerves]

8. no way

the seventh day adventist church runs one of the premier hospital/medical universities in the country in loma linda california. they are in no way opposed to medical care!

[ret5hd]

10. yeah, now that you say that, i remember...like i said...

substitute the proper religion in there.

which one is it that refuses all medical treatment?

[theoceansnerves]

13. hm i'm not sure

i know what you're thinking of, but i can't remember. i think they're a relatively small church though aren't they? maybe a cult? (although strangely i think sda is maybe considred a cult too?)

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

15. christian scientists

>substitute the proper religion in there.

Church of Christ, Scientist (a.k.a. Christian Scientists)
(side-note: they publish the excellent Christian Science Monitor, which has been highly critical of Bush on many occasions)

Not to be confused with Scientology, which is a whole *different* form of crazy.

[Roaming]

27. They are an extremely tiny minority church, not representative at all

of Christianity.

[Betty]

20. Christian Scientists

I had a friend growing up who was not even allowed to take aspirin when she had a headache. She left the church as soon as she was an adult.

[LynzM]

21. I'm diabetic...

I find it very comforting to know that there's a whole religion that thinks I should have died at 9 years old... We have a Christian Science reading room in our town. It claims to be 'open to the public'... hrm.

[lumpy]

31. Seventh Day Adventists

give excellent medical care. Some are the best in their field. This is the sort of blantant 'kidding' that gives birth to unwarranted rumors.

[mainer]

32. as far as I know, SDA's aren't against medical care

but they are against coffee, alcohol, and meat.

[Zero Gravitas]

6. Support Your Local Lion Breeder

;)

[BiggJawn]

7. Surprised he didn't also inquire as to her marital status....

"Oh, MY!!! You're not MARRIED?!!?!?!? Then you don't need these, and no, I won't sell you condoms, either. Besides, even if you were married, I'd need a note from your husband consenting to use the condoms..."

Here comes another Dark Ages. Maybe I'll get to share the same fire with Ann Druyan when they burn me...

[cosmicdot]

9. there was that recent case in Texas, too

Woman with doctor's prescription for drug turned away

Updated: 6:15 p.m. ET Feb. 03, 2004

DALLAS - A Texas pharmacist was disciplined for refusing to fill the prescription of a rape victim seeking a morning-after pregnancy-prevention pill, the pharmacy chain that employed the man said on Tuesday.

Eckerd Corp. said the pharmacist considered it a violation of morals to give a rape victim, with a valid prescription, a pill that would prevent her from getting pregnant due to the sexual assault.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4155229/

[mainer]

33. Did he take the condoms off the store shelves?

Does he refuse Viagra prescriptions? I mean, he should be consistent, shouldn't he?

[Soloflecks]

11. A similar incident in the Dallas area.

At Eckerd's a pharmacist wouldn't fill a prescription for the morning after pill for a woman who was RAPED. She had to go to another pharmacy. The Eckerd pharmacist was fired.

I agree with whoever said if your occupation raises issues about whether or not you are enabling these "sinners" you should be in another line of work!

[rexcat]

17. It looks like they took this one more step in Wisconsin...

I can only hope that he loses his pharmacy license. That way he will never be able to work as a pharmacist again!

[DoNotRefill]

12. Well that's really stupid....

considering that birth control pills are used for multiple reasons, not just birth control.

I'm wondering if this bonehead refused to sell party balloons, since they might be used as condoms by pencil-dicked geeks like him...

[truthspeaker]

29. n/k. Maybe she had acne or bad cramps

Idjit.

[havocmom]

14. Any guesses about this fellow's views of the Taliban?

Was he cheering bush* on to 'bomb them back to the stone age'?

When, oh, when will these neanderthals accept that women are people and not property?

Management should have explained upon hiring him that he would fill all legal prescriptions or he will work elsewhere. If someone tells a potential employer that they flat out refuse to preform a common duty for a position, the employer is taking a risk hiring them. The chain puts themselves at risk of practicing medicine without license if they accept pharmacists deciding what to fill and what not to fill.

I know most pharmacists are on top of things and often catch errors when doctors prescribe drugs which are incompatible, but that probably involves a call to the doctor for verification/clarity.

[DulceDecorum]

30. or pedophile priests?

In one episode of Law and Order, a detective asks to be removed from a case in which a man died while performing some seriously kinky S&M bondage stuff.
The detective cites the fact that he is Catholic. The request is denied.
Later the detective is shocked and dismayed when it turns out that the dead man turns out to have been a devout Catholic.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

16. hypocrisy, perhaps?

I would just like to know whether this guy is OK with filling Viagra perscriptions.

[loftycity]

18. Then he should quit his job if it is so intrusive on his belief system.

But of course he is too much of a meeley mouthed chicken to do that.
These people are such cowards!! Please!

[bain_sidhe]

19. What they can't do with the "supreme" court

They will do with "conscience clauses." I hate to use the cliche "mark my words" but... well, mark my words. Or if not mine, the ACLU's

New ACLU Report Considers Religious Refusals To Provide Reproductive Health Care
http://archive.aclu.org/features/f012202a.html

access to reproductive health care is increasingly jeopardized by the imposition of religious beliefs in the health care context, according to a report released today by the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project.

The report, Religious Refusals and Reproductive Rights, makes available for the first time the ACLU's recent public opinion research, which shows that Americans overwhelmingly oppose laws that protect religious objectors at the expense of the patient's rights and the public health.

"The debate over religious refusals to provide certain reproductive health services is often miscast as a straightforward contest between religion and reproductive rights," said Catherine Weiss, an author of the report and Director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. "But people of all faiths and no faith need and provide reproductive health care. And institutional religions stand on both sides of the debate about reproductive choice."

(The above is a press release about the actual report, which is a pdf document: http://archive.aclu.org/issues/reproduct/refusal_report.pdf)

And Women's Enews

Pharmacies New Reproductive Rights Battleground
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1003

"Conscience-clause" legislation that exempts medical providers from performing procedures or dispensing drugs they oppose is appearing on more and more legislature dockets across the country. At least 19 states considered bills with conscience clauses in the last legislative session, and two states, Arizona and Massachusetts, passed laws. In several states the proposed legislation specifically cited pharmacists for coverage, an inclusion that potentially puts a woman's reproductive health at risk, according to women's advocacy groups.

Pro-choice groups say the time sensitivity of emergency contraception--the drug most likely to be denied by pharmacists--makes for a dangerous mix of conflicting needs and rights: If a pharmacist refuses, a woman may not have enough time to secure the medication within 72 hours.

And then, of course, there's the fact that Catholic hospitals are more and more becoming the ONLY choice for people in a given area - hospitals:

Women's Services Cut as Catholic Hospitals Expand
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/316/context/archive

Across the country, women in need of reproductive medical care--birth control, abortion, tubal ligation, infertility treatments or emergency contraception--are increasingly being denied treatment and often experiencing grave consequences from the vast expansion of the Catholic healthcare network, in which religious dictates can take precedence over individual preference.

What makes this development even more alarming, hospitals affiliated with the Catholic Church have historically taken a leadership role to provide urgent medical care to those most in need, from lepers to impoverished immigrants, from pregnant women to newborns.

Catholic hospitals now constitute the nation's largest single group of non-profit hospitals, according to the Catholic Health Association of the United States, with 621 hospitals and 85 million patients in 1999. Of the 20 largest non-profit systems, 10 of them are Catholic. The mega-system, Catholic Healthcare West in California, added 12 hospitals in 1999 for a total of 48 hospitals, 8,172 beds and $5.9 billion in assets.

Catholics for a Free Choice, a pro-choice advocacy organization in Washington, D.C., reports that in the past 10 years, the number of Catholic medical care centers has grown rapidly through acquisitions, mergers, business arrangements and now consolidations. In 1998, the group says, Catholic hospitals were the sole providers of medical care in 91 communities--a 20 percent increase in a single year.

**edited formatting to improve readibility**

[damnraddem]

22. This isn't even about his 'right' to not provide a service ...

he feels is 'immoral.' It's an attempt to prevent the service from being provided by anyone else. Criminal charges should be considered, if there is any way to do so.

[snippy]

23. This story and the Dallas story could make an incredibly powerful ad.

This is where the republican party wants to take the United States. There are lots of women and some men who vote republican who might change their minds because of these stories. More importantly, there are millions of people who do not vote but would because of this.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

24. If a person's religion restricts their ability to work effectively

they shouldn't be hired in the first place.

This is like a stripper refusing to strip because it's against his/her religion, but expecting a paycheck regardless.

[Roaming]

28. It's possible he became a pharmacist before he knew he would have to

distribute these pills to women... I suppose you could argue that he could refuse on religious grounds to fill the prescription, but the real wrongdoing here is when he KEPT the prescription and refused to transfer it to another pharmacy. The prescription itself belonged to the woman, and he should have returned it to her.