Do you think a pharmacist should be forced to fill any legal presciption? Why or why not?

Question by Xavier: Do you think a pharmacist should be forced to fill any legal presciption? Why or why not?
I asked this question yesterday and while I got a lot of interesting answers I wasn’t totally satisfied due to one issue:everyone there seemed to be concentrating on the plan B/birth control issue instead of the more general picture that I was trying to present. I felt the bigger question here was, if a person becomes a licensed professional in any field, should they be forced to give their services to anyone for any reason? The idea with birth control I saw flying yesterday was that no pharmacist should make moral judgements about what they sell, but should rather fill a script if a doctor prescribed it. What if a private pharmacist did not want to stock birth control? It is fair to make him/her do this? What if this person does not want to stock fungal lotion? Is it a crime for this person to refuse this stock? Pharmacies often stock what they want to sell and what they feel will sell in a certain area (ie cold medicines in colder climate, antibiotics for tick bites in
rural areas, et cetera). At what point is it infringement on a private enterprise to make them buy and sell certain items whether they want to have them or not? Do you realize very few or no pharmacies in america have a medication for every stituation? Can a man sue a pharmacy that decides not to carry inhalation pumps? What gives this man the right to tell a private business what to sell?
While I brouth up this case yesterday, nobody addressed it. Consider this scenario. A pharmacist’s son is recently diagnosed with pneumonia. He needs antibiotics from his mothers store, and she knows that theres only enough left for 1 treatment. She gets a call from her husband who says hes coming over with the prescription and he should get there just before closing time. If another patient has a presciption for that last treatment, should she be required by law to fill it for him? What if she wants to keep the medicine for her son? Who can force somebody to sell something they don’t want to sell?
I agree its not a smart business move. The point I’m making though is not whether is smart or not but where the rights of a professional are crossed. As a fellow pharmacy student answered in my last question, an overwhelming majority of pharmacists have no qualms with selling birth control. We do have issues being told that we do not have private rights over what services we offer, particularely if its our private business.
“This happens all the time. Just because something is not in stock doesn’t mean a pharmacist can’t fill it-even though it may take longer.”
So you feel that any legal script brought to a pharmacist must be bought by that pharmacist and then sold to the patient? What if the pharmacist decides this script (while sold legally) is not a drug he believes in due to possible side effects? This could be the reason the private pharmacist refuses to stock/order this particular medication. What makes you feel you have the right as an outside party to make him order it and sell it?
By telling him he must order it, you are commanding what he he has to do with his private funds. He could use them for a medication that makes a bigger profit, treats a more severe illness, smells better or looks better on his shelf. He could have any reason why he wants to spend his money on one product over the other. What gives you the right to tell him what he needs to buy/stock with his own money.
Also there is the clear hypocrisy of telling a person that because you (or others) have no problem with something they should not either. We as human beings have the right to make moral judgements, and act accordingly to them. The point being, nobody is stopping you from becoming a pharmacist, opening your pharmacy and selling your products. By telling pharmacists what drugs they have to sell in their own business, it is you who is pushing your morality on to others.
Now if a pharmacist has moral qualms with fulfilling the task assigned to them by a business they work for, like CVS, then the company has every right to fire them.
Telling a private pharmacist that they have to take every type of prescription is similar to telling a private doctor they have to take every type of patient, or telling a private lawyer they have to take every type of case.
“Perhaps the problem with yourt question was you were talking about a free enterprise principle and I understand that but the question of emergency contraception where time is critical for efficacy is a question of professional ethics”

Is it ethical to make it a illegal for a doctor to refuse to aid somebody in need? Our system currently values the Doctors freedom over his actions over the other persons health (however offensive you may find that). We he forced to help a person he would not be a professional, he would be a slave.
Were he* sorry for the stupid typing errors.
“I have a hard time understanding why a person would repeatedly post a question looking for someone to support his view”
I’m not looking for support for my view (I already have that from the APha and the government, as well as a very large majortiy of my pharmacy class) I am looking to discuss the details of this case from a business standpoint rather than the reproductive rights perspective. Any intelligent human being would recognize that the same question can be seen from various angles.

Best answer:

Answer by Untamed Rose
Fine a private business has the right to not sell things yes…but the free market also has the right to drive them out of business as well and arnt the small local pharmacys already having issue with the big chain ones….it would not be a very smart business move

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