Slog - Comments on Pharmacy Fundamentals http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/04/pharmacy_fundam Going to be breaking a story in tomorrow's paper (and on-line this afternoon) about Cedar River Clinics—a network of abortion, birth control, and reproductive health clinics. They have filed a formal complaint with the state Dept. of Health about pharmacists refusing to honor prescriptions for Cedar River's clients. Cedar River's complaint is timely because the Washington State Board of Pharmacy is currently considering writing rules that could allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for things like emergency contraception if they have moral objections. If that possibility concerns you—you should attend the pharmacy board's public hearing on Wednesday April 19... Copyright 2007 Tue, 11 Apr 2006 17:17:22 -0800 Sun, 16 Apr 2006 20:49:05 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Tim The charges in the article are extremely serious. If a pharmacist refused to fill an antibiotic prescription at Swedish, then there are some serious patient safety issues involved and the Dept of Heatlh should explore the possibility of a citation.
Pharmacies like that tend to serve communities that have a hard time purchasing medication from retail pharmacies and for these pharmcies of last resort to refuse something as critical as an anti-sepsis drug means a lot. Several people shold lose their jobs over this and the pharmacy should be fined.

]]> Tim http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/04/pharmacy_fundam#c090877 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/04/pharmacy_fundam#c090877 Politics Tue, 11 Apr 2006 22:16:26 -0800 Comment by Stinky No shit. I couldn't believe this wasn't mentioned more in the article - the pharmacist wasn't refusing to fill Plan B, or contraception, but ANTIBIOTICS - wtf??? Not that it is right to refuse to fill any of the stuff I mentioned, but this is the first case where I have heard of someone refusing to fill a drug which they don't object to, because of the circumstances under which they presume the patient requires it. Sorry, but that's fucking nuts.

]]> Stinky http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/04/pharmacy_fundam#c102755 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/04/pharmacy_fundam#c102755 Politics Sun, 16 Apr 2006 20:49:05 -0800