Pharmacists for Life need to face reality
by
DoctorJ
06/18/2008, 10:10 AM
Pharmacists should NOT be able to pick and choose which drugs they dispense. That's not their jobs, they aren't doctors prescribing drugs. They are pharmacists who dispense the drugs. That's ALL their job is, other than making sure the doctor didn't somehow miss a potential bad reaction to other meds and explaning the proper way to take the meds. If they are uncomfortable dispensing abortive or birth control drugs, SO WHAT? How many other people in other lines of work get to choose which orders to follow?
In this setup, the Doctor is the pharmacists BOSS. The Doctor, who is TRAINED to do so, decides which drugs are needed and he INSTRUCTS the pharmacist to dispense them. There is no choice, and unless the pharmacist wants to go into a new line of work, that's how EVERY prescription will work. It's not the pharmacist's job to decide who gets what and why. They are NOT doctors. They are pharmacists.
If a nurse refused to take an order from a doctor and a patient suffered or died, they would be fired and sued. Period. I see no difference here. This isn't a principled stance, it's a way to restrict the flow of drugs you disagree with IDEOLOGICALLY. The FDA has deemed them safe, and the Dr has deemed them necessary, but YOU deem them unsavory and against your PERSONAL beliefs. So what? Dispense the drugs the Dr prescribes or get a new line of work.