Category: pharmacy

Pharmacists interventions in health care

~ Pharmer

There’s an interesting and confused article called Pharmacy Wars, which should be read in order to understand the reason for posting this article.

A conscience clause is not “a pharmacists right to deny service based upon his personal belief”.
There are many kinds of conscience clauses contained in law which may excuse various medical professionals from involvement in participating in the act of killing a human. Such a thing is attached to the law allowing medically assisted suicide in Oregon. Pharmacists are not required to dispense medication for that purpose, for example. A very few states have laws which excuse pharmacists from dispensing drugs which kill humans very early in development. In most areas, pharmacists will refuse to dispense for that purpose based upon long standing legal protection of religious freedom and conscientious objection to killing. There have been some requirements for signage to be placed at pharmacies in which the pharmacist has a conscientious objection to killing, which are not related to any new legal protections of the human right not to willfully kill others.

I am eager to hear of any specific cases in which a pharmacist refused to dispense life saving medication citing the laws which protect him from being forced to help kill another human. The laws are actually unrelated to this. I have heard of none thus far. The author of this article appears to know of such things and can perhaps provide the references.

HIV patients tend to gravitate towards specialized pharmacists for treatment, as their problems are complex, and the anti-retrovirals have many drug and food interactions which must be juggled for the patient’s safety. Pharmacists in some states are required to take continuing ed in this topic, but it is really a subspecialty of pharmacy as is oncology, for example.

It is not the pharmaceutical industry, but rather academia and state and federal law which influenced the placement of pharmacists more prominently between the physician and patient. Pharmacists are educated that they are morally, civilly or even criminally liable for not addressing safety hazards of medication therapy and stopping medication errors.

A non-traditional Pharm D is not a bachelors degree. It requires graduate education after obtaining the pharmacy degree and license. Non traditional means that it is likely done partially on-line, partially in the classroom and with a different array of experience to make up the clinical requirement.

If one medical professional trashes another medical professional when speaking to a patient, he runs the risk of legal reprisal for anything said which is not completely accurate. He also runs the risk of violating the privacy of other patients.

The standards of safety regarding any drug, and the legal requirements for prescribing and dispensing it can be altered at any time, and when pharmacists become aware of it, they often have to give the patients and the physicians the bad news. This is usually greeted with resentment.

One recent example is the sudden removal of propoxyphine/acetaminophen from the market based upon 53 years of aftermarket experience. It has been decided that the drug bears too much risk for causing cardiac arrhythmia relative to its rather modest potential for pain relief. Some physicians were not at all pleased to hear this news, and might have had a temper tantrum similar to the one to which the author above alludes.

The article, Pharmacy Wars, is filled with so many inaccuracies regarding the function of pharmacists, and the driving forces behind them, that one wonders about the accuracy of the story regarding the pharmacists interaction with the physician.

I do not frequent the subversify blog, but was directed there to append some pertinent information to an article which misrepresented the purpose and function of existing conscience laws.

Washington Board Won’t Protect Pro-Life Pharmacists in Rules | LifeNews.com

~ Pharmer

via Washington Board Won’t Protect Pro-Life Pharmacists in Rules | LifeNews.com.

Not unexpected is the Washington Board of Pharmacy’s refusal to  amend regulations  in order to allow a latitude of practice for pharmacists who choose not to participate in killing humans.

The pro-aborts cite worries that rural people will not have easy  access to abortive chemicals.   In reality they lack concern that the rural populations have any pharmacists at all, to provide healing, pharmaceutical care.

Prepare for the Brave New  Post-Obama World.

More and more, veterinarians, and EMT or paramedics  will be needed to assist the rural populations who completely lose access to  pharmacist, physician and nursing care because of these, and other restrictive policies of Obamacare.  Young people should consider this in choosing their career paths.  Study  Chemistry.

It is good to see more sophisticated imaging and technology being utilized in veterinary medicine.   Significant, cash-only health care  business will be opened  up in the farming communities.  Antibiotic producers  might  spring up amid the meth labs. Any good brewery can assist with raw materials.

Bear in mind that one reason for Janet Napolitano to be taking up  the environmental  cause within her umbrella of authority, is to detect to the energy use required for rural production of health care essentials. It is also reason for the new interest in FDA regulation of food production on farms.

People can learn a great deal from the Chinese regarding these kinds of matters.  How have they grown up capitalism beneath the restrictive communist government?  The immigrant communities of the U.S. are  another source  of information on how to  provide  health and dental  care to the underserved, under the table.

Missouri Pro-Life Bill Protects Pharmacists Conscience Rights | LifeNews.com

~ Pharmer

Missouri Pro-Life Bill Protects Pharmacists Conscience Rights | LifeNews.com.

Missouri State Rep.  David Sater has introduced a conscience protection bill for pharmacists, who opt not to sell abortive drugs.

It is of course, opposed by Planned Parenthood, whose assessment of which drugs are abortive changes depending on the audience.

This bill is to address problems pharmacists have faced in the past for refusing to dispense drugs which end human life at its earliest stages.

Heather Williams, an adherent Baptist was fired in 2006 by Target in Missouri for refusing to dispense the morning after pill, a drug which can stop the implantation of an early human embryo, thereby killing it.

Pharmer Would Have Just Kicked in the Two Bucks

~ Pharmer

It might set people to wondering if they really want to get rid of all the pro-life pharmacists and other health professionals.

Here’s a story of a woman who went after her albuterol refill at a pharmacy because she was in the middle of an asthma attack, and the pharmacy was closer than where she was storing her inhaler.

She and her boyfriend were less than two bucks short to pay for the inhaler, and were refused the refill.   The woman is a bit miffed now, by how she was treated at this particular CVS pharmacy, located in New Jersey.

Pharmer was in retail practice for just shy of 14 years, and does not recall such an incident of a patient with such an immediate need  being turned away with no meds.  Rather than get in trouble with the employer,  Pharmer used to kick in her own cash when the situation warranted.  Also, there were acceptable mechanisms of price adjustment  in some pharmacies, at that time, which would have solved this woman’s problem immediately.   Any normal, independent pharmacist would have just adjusted the price to cancel the cash shortage on the spot.

One would have thought the NJ   CVS pharmacist would have given over the inhaler to avoid a scene at the pharmacy, even if concern for the patient weren’t uppermost in his mind.

While we’re on the CVS topic…….   that chain has agreed to a huge fine due to violations of  governmental controls on pseudoephedrine sales.

You see………. pseudoephedrine, a decongestant, is the starting compound used  for producing methamphetamine in home laboratories.  Significant increases in meth production in California and other states is said to be associated with the laxness at CVS pharmacies over a two year period.

This fine,  75 million,  is the largest ever levied as a result of controlled substance act violations.   CVS is also expected to forfeit another 2.6 million in profits associated with the improper pseudoephedrine sales.

Thirdly,   getting to know CVS as PFLI knows CVS:  Here is a fax of the company position on conscience rights of their  employee pharmacists.

This is an example of  hard nosed corporate policy.

It’s conceivable that a CVS pharmacist, working for a company with such rigid policies,  might be afraid to adjust a price, or otherwise  assist a patient with immediate need,  in the way that would seem natural to a pharmacist in another practice setting.

Christine Gregoire Backing Down from Abortion Extremism in Preparation for move to Washington DC

~ Pharmer

Washington state lawyers acknowledge pharmacies’ right to not stock Plan B :: Catholic News Agency (CNA).

Kevin Storman owned a number of Thriftway stores in the Olympia area of Washington State.   He decided to back his pharmacists decision (at Ralph’s Thriftway) to avoid stocking and dispensing the Plan B morning after pill.

This sent governor Christine Gregoire into a foaming frenzy of involving herself in a boycott of the stores, and threatening to fire members of the Washington Board of Pharmacy if they backed the freedom of pharmacists to conscientiously object to dispensing this abortive drug.

In 2009, a federal judge decided in favor of the store owners and pharmacists but that ruling was struck down on appeal and the case was remanded back to the district court.

Recently a request for summary judgment, from the Governor, was turned down, and trial was scheduled to resume in Federal District  Court in Tacoma, Washington.

This past Wednesday,  July 7, the Board’s lawyers signaled that there would be regulations enacted to protect pharmacists who would not dispense this drug, providing that they would refer the patient elsewhere.

Curiosity has arisen as to the reason behind  a Gregoire Administration reversal of policy regarding the pharmacists.

Gregoire, being crazy-pro-abortion enough,  was on the Obama Short List for Souter’s position on the U.S. Supreme court, but this position eventually went to Sotomayor.

Elena Kagan is the likely leftist body to fill the open position on the Supreme Court left by liberal Justice John  Stevens.   Gregoire is on the list to possibly occupy the solicitor general vacancy left by Kagan should she be confirmed.

Perhaps the prospect of moving to Washington DC has left Gregoire less interested in the local issues of  Washington State.

From the Becket Fund:  http://www.becketfund.org/files/final%20response%20to%20msj.pdf

Sneering at a Niche Business that Didn’t Make It

~ Pharmer

Petula Dvorak – Virginia pharmacy had plenty of moral convictions, few clients.

The DMC Pharmacy, a pro life health care venture in Virginia has recently closed, due to business losses which the investor could no longer sustain.   Columnist Petula Dvorak did not pass up an opportunity to celebrate the failure of this health care establishment,  which catered to those who would prefer natural family planning to the artificial methods of birth control.

A sample of the style which ensconces Ms Dvorak  within the Washington Post:

“It makes little sense to make another stop to fill a prescription across the street for moral reasons, especially considering that Kmart is probably a regular shopping place for even the most devout Christians. I mean, where else can you get a $14.99 cubic zirconia cross, a $1.49 Blessed Mother candle, lawn fertilizer for that lawn your lovely offspring will play on and a crockpot for the church cook-off under one roof?”

Pharmer rewarded her efforts in the comment section appended to her column:

Repeating just a bit of the information given in an interview with this columnist-
The pharmacy itself grew at a rate perfectly acceptable for new chain/dept. store pharmacies, in many locations. Unfortunately since the staff was hired, and the pharmacy was freestanding, the investor needed extremely fast growth in the customer base in order to stay afloat. This was fairly unlikely for any freestanding pharmacy in  this location unless it had been mail order, and licensed to dispense in many states.
Yes, Ms Dvorak was informed about these and other pharmacy facts of life, but conveying the real business info would have robbed her of a supposed basis for sneering at another new niche business that didn’t make it.

Walgreens Pharmacies in Washington State to STOP Taking Medicaid Patients

~ Pharmer

Local News | Walgreens: no new Medicaid patients as of April 16 | Seattle Times Newspaper.

The reimbursement is too low.   That’s  121 pharmacies which will take no new medicaid patients as of April 16.   The reimbursement for prescriptions is too low for them to absorb the cost of serving that patient base.

This is a small taste of what will happen with further socialization of medicine.

A connected medical story within the same state……. 36  or more patients have been successfully killed pursuant to the new Washington  policy allowing physician assisted suicide.