Gloversville Pharmacist Should Be Disciplined for Refusing to Honor Prescriptions for EC Refills, NYCLU and Planned Parenthood Charge
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
NEW YORK - In a complaint filed on behalf of a health care provider at
Planned Parenthood Mohawk Hudson, the New York Civil Liberties Union today
charged that a Rite Aid pharmacist who refused to fill a patient's prescription
for refill doses of Emergency Contraception ("EC") should be disciplined by the
New York State Board of Pharmacy for putting moralistic judgments before her
professional responsibilities. This is the second complaint filed against the
Rite Aid pharmacist.
"That this pharmacist refused to fill a refill for a
second time in one year shows that she has a serious problem in fulfilling her
professional obligations," said Donna Lieberman, Executive Director of the
NYCLU. "This pharmacist obstructed a patient's access to medication based on her
own uninformed and biased opinions about that patient's sexual activity."
The
NYCLU filed two similar complaints in August 2006, one of them against the same
Rite Aid pharmacist after a similar incident with another customer. A companion
complaint was filed against two additional pharmacists at a CVS in Saratoga
Springs. Each of the three complaints was filed on behalf of a Planned
Parenthood provider who had prescribed EC, also known as the "morning after
pill" or "Plan B," to a woman who was his or her patient. When those women went
to their local pharmacies to fill the prescriptions, the pharmacists filled the
initial prescriptions but refused to recognize the refills that the providers
had authorized. The pharmacists refused to honor the prescription refills not
because of medical or religious principles but simply because they objected to
the idea that a woman might need EC more than once, said the NYCLU.
EC
consists of a concentrated dose of hormonal contraceptive used to prevent
pregnancy after an act of unprotected sexual intercourse, including sexual
assault and intercourse where the contraceptive used failed. Studies have shown
that EC is safe and effective, that there is no risk of taking it on more than
one occasion, and that having access to the drug does not cause an increase in
sexual risk-taking behaviors. EC does not cause an abortion or interfere with an
established pregnancy.
"Writing EC prescriptions with refills is the
standard of care," said Dr. Marc Heller, medical director of Planned Parenthood
Mohawk Hudson, a licensed physician and board certified obstetrician and
gynecologist.
Because women often need EC on evenings and weekends, when
doctors' offices and clinics are closed, providers give women advance
prescriptions so that they will be able to take the drug within the necessary
timeframe. Major medical associations including the American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Medical Women's Association, and
the American Academy of Pediatrics all recommend that health care providers
offer EC prescriptions during routine medical visits in order to provide
patients with advance access.
"Pharmacists are authorized to alter
prescriptions based on health concerns, such as potentially harmful drug
interactions - but they don't get to make the ultimate decision about whether
patients deserve the drugs they have been prescribed," said Galen Sherwin, an
attorney with the NYCLU Reproductive Rights Project. "Pharmacists should be
guided by sound medicine, not moralistic judgments."
The complaints were
filed with the New York State Office of the Professions, which has the authority
to discipline licensed pharmacists. The complaints charge that the pharmacists
exceeded the scope of their authority, breached their duty of care to the
patients, and committed professional misconduct under the Board of Regents
prohibition against "abandoning or neglecting a patient or client under and in
need of immediate professional care, without making reasonable arrangements for
the continuation of such care." The complaints also assert that failure to fill
prescriptions for EC constitutes sex discrimination in violation of New York's
Human Rights Law, which prohibits discrimination in places of public
accommodation.
Yesterday, the ACLU and the Planned Parenthood Federation of
America announced that Wal-Mart has issued a new policy requiring its pharmacies
to satisfy valid requests for birth control, including emergency contraception.
The policy shift came in response to Planned Parenthood's "Fill My Pills Now!"
campaign, in which the ACLU of Florida participated. -Today's complaint is
online at: www.nyclu.org/pdfs/rrp_ec_otc_040507.pdf
For
more information on the 2006 complaints, go to: www.aclu.org/reproductiverights/contraception/26469prs20060815.html