A CVS pharmacist in Fountain Hills, Arizona, was fired last Friday after refusing to fill a hormone prescription for a transgender woman.
This is the second recent incident of a pharmacist in Arizona refusing to give medication to a customer. Last month, a Walgreens pharmacist in Peoria, Arizona, refused to give a pregnant women medication that was intended to cause a miscarriage because her baby had stopped developing within her womb.
Arizona is one of the six states along with, Georgia, Idaho, South Dakota, Arkansas, and Mississippi, that allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions based on moral or religious reasons.
Art Caplan, director of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center, told Boston Public Radio Wednesday that clear limits need to be set for a pharmacist's ability to deny people their medication.
“I think it has to be made clear that pharmacists should not be imposing their morals on legitimate doctor ordered prescriptions. They certainly can impose their standards for safety and drug interaction, that is what they’re there for, to give an extra layer of protection,” said Caplan.
Caplan told BPR that state laws that let pharmacists exercise discretion on what prescriptions they fill are intended to protect patient health, not the moral objections of the pharmacist.
“Why would you go into a field where you can’t do key parts of the job? That’s not conscience, that’s dumb,” Caplan said.
