Sunday, July 22, 2018

The Damage Is Done

It’s too late, she has suffered a tremendous blow and it will probably take a long time to heal.

Last week I wrote about a trans woman who had a prescription for hormones refused to be filled by the druggist and to add salt to her wounds he kept her prescription.
CVS Apologizes After Pharmacist Harasses Trans Customer
The woman said she “just froze and worked on holding back the tears” as he allegedly harassed her.
Huffington Post
By Sara Bobolt
July 20, 2018

On Friday, one day after Hall shared her story publicly, CVS announced that the pharmacist who allegedly harassed her is no longer employed with the company. CVS would not clarify whether the pharmacist was fired, telling HuffPost that it does not comment on employment decisions.

In an apology statement, CVS said the man’s conduct “violated company policies and does not reflect our values or our commitment to inclusion, nondiscrimination and the delivery of outstanding patient care.”

A CVS spokesman said it requires pharmacists to notify the company in advance about any religious convictions they have that would interfere with their ability to perform their job, so management “can ensure there are other arrangements in place to ensure the patient’s medication needs are promptly satisfied.”
We don’t know the reason why the pharmacists didn’t want to fill the prescription but one we know it wasn’t on medical grounds because the doctor called the pharmacists and he still refused to fill the prescription.
[…]
An American Civil Liberties Union spokesman told HuffPost that she appreciates the company’s response. She got a call from a CVS representative who “offered a sincere apology on behalf of the company and said that the pharmacist who mistreated [her] acted outside of the company’s guidelines.”
Terrific!

The pharmacist just caused irreparable harm to her but it all could be perfectly legal in Arizona.
Arizona is one of six states with “conscience clauses” to protect pharmacists who do not wish to fill prescriptions on moral or religious grounds, according to the National Women’s Law Center.
[…]
Much like CVS, Walgreens ― which was recently involved in a similar incident in Arizona ― requires pharmacists to refer the customer to a co-worker or manager “in a timely manner,” The Arizona Republic reported. The retailer announced plans to revamp employee training after an employee in June refused to fill a woman’s prescription to treat her miscarriage.
So what happens if the pharmacist says that notifying the company of his objections is also against their religious beliefs… it is a never ending cycle of madness hidden behind religion.

What I want to know is why if the person is so religious that he lies and breaks an oath is okay. They take an oath like doctors do. The American Pharmacists Association oath is…
"I promise to devote myself to a lifetime of service to others through the profession of pharmacy. In fulfilling this vow:
  • I will consider the welfare of humanity and relief of suffering my primary concerns.
  • I will apply my knowledge, experience, and skills to the best of my ability to assure optimal outcomes for my patients.
  • I will respect and protect all personal and health information entrusted to me.
  • I will accept the lifelong obligation to improve my professional knowledge and competence.
  • I will hold myself and my colleagues to the highest principles of our profession’s moral, ethical and legal conduct.
  • I will embrace and advocate changes that improve patient care.
  • I will utilize my knowledge, skills, experiences, and values to prepare the next generation of pharmacists.
  • I take these vows voluntarily with the full realization of the responsibility with which I am entrusted by the public.”
But is seems okay to let other people suffer because of their religious beliefs… somehow this seems to me to very wrong, to wreck a person’s life because of your religious beliefs.

1 comment:

  1. These laws are a violation of human rights in a basically subverted way. They could be classified as Ignorant and Backward when science is advancing enough to finally admit that transgender Geno-types have been with us from the dawn of time, throughout all of the natural world, including humans. We've just been too ignorant to know it.
    We should accept this new scientific knowledge as another way that God now informs our minds, and not as a frontal attack on "Christian Virtues"

    We should respect this. However, in cases like this pharmacist, Religious belief is being used to justify an uninformed prejudice. This is so arcane and limited a view of God's creation you would think they could see it... alas..

    ReplyDelete