[Vision2020] Pharmacies and Plan B

[Jim Meyer]

As a pharmacist,  I  need to weigh in on the issue of Plan B. I have 
just a few comments:

1. Deciding which drugs to stock is a business decision. A pharmacy that 
is out of one drug or another on  a regular basis will lose clients. If 
the drug exists in the distribution chain, it can be ordered. Stocking 
every single drug is impractical or impossible and would negatively 
affect the bottom line.

2. A pharmacist that proselytizes in any manner, shape or form at work 
or who embarrasses the client based on religious conviction is acting 
unprofessionally and shouldn't be a pharmacist.

3. A medical professional should treat anyone in need. Treatment might 
mean referral to another pharmacy, however. That said, a pharmacist who 
substantially harms a person's ability to access medical care is acting 
in an unprofessional manner and shouldn't be a pharmacist (and should be 
reported to the Board of Pharmacy). If a pharmacy is the only pharmacy 
in town and the pharmacist  refuses to provide care for client in 
medical need, then I believe that this would/should be illegal.

4. I personally find it repugnant and unprofessional, the idea that 
personal moral conviction might override the provision of accepted 
medical services.

5. I am absolutely dead set against any laws designed to shield a 
pharmacist from being fired based on his inability to perform his job 
because of personal moral conviction. I do not want to promote what I 
consider to be unprofessional behavior. Furthermore, a business has 
every right to hire and fire those who follow or don't follow policy.

6. It is a free country (sort of). A pharmacist could start his own 
pharmacy and call it Joe's Christian Pharmacy. People could go there if 
they please. Personally, I would not. I prefer science to superstition 
and therefore would question the intelligence of someone choosing 
superstition over science when providing medical care.

Jim Meyer