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Pharmacists Should Be Held Accountable for Refusing to Honor Prescriptions for Emergency Contraception, NYCLU Says (8/15/2006)
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
NEW YORK --
The New York Civil Liberties Union today filed a complaint against three
pharmacists who refused to fill patients’ prescriptions for refill doses of
emergency contraception. The complaint argues that the pharmacists should be
disciplined for neglecting professional responsibilities.
According to the complaint, the pharmacists refused to honor the
prescription refills because they objected to the idea that a woman might need
emergency contraception more than once. One pharmacist told the prescribing
provider that the contraceptive “should be inconvenient” for women and their
doctors, and that women who needed emergency contraception were “irresponsible
and should suffer the consequences.”
“These pharmacists
obstructed the patients’ access to medication based on their own uninformed and
biased opinions about the patients’ sexual activity,” said NYCLU Reproductive
Rights Project Director Elisabeth Benjamin. “Pharmacists should be guided by
sound medicine, not moralistic judgments.”
The NYCLU filed the
complaint on behalf of health care providers in the Mohawk-Hudson region. In the
two cases cited in the complaint, the providers had prescribed emergency
contraception, also known as the “morning after pill” or “Plan B,” to women who
were their patients. 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 prescribing providers had
authorized.
The NYCLU filed its complaint with the New York State
Office of the Professions, which has the authority to discipline licensed
pharmacists. The complaint charges 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 complaint also argues that failure to fill prescriptions for
emergency contraception constitutes sex discrimination in violation of New
York’s Human Rights Law, which prohibits discrimination in places of public
accommodation.
“Writing prescriptions for emergency contraception
with refills is the standard of care,” said Dr. Marc Heller, Medical Director of
Planned Parenthood of Mohawk/Hudson. “Because EC’s effectiveness in preventing
pregnancy decreases quickly over time, it is critical that women have access to
EC as soon as they need it. These pharmacists had no medical reason not to
uphold that standard.”
Dr. Heller, a licensed physician and board
certified obstetrician and gynecologist, is one of three health care providers
represented in today’s complaint.
Emergency contraception 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. If taken within 72 hours after
unprotected sex, emergency contraception reduces the risk of pregnancy by
approximately 89 percent. But the drug is most effective when taken within 24
hours, and its effectiveness decreases rapidly as the interval increases.
Because women often need emergency contraception 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.
Studies have shown that emergency contraception is safe
and effective and having access to the drug does not cause an increase in sexual
risk-taking behaviors. Emergency contraception does not cause an abortion or
interfere with an established pregnancy.
The American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists recently launched a campaign to encourage
physicians to offer advance prescriptions for emergency contraception during
routine gynecological visits. The American Medical Women’s Association has also
recommended that doctors provide preprinted prescriptions and instructions for
use of the drug, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that
pediatricians offer advance prescriptions for teens and young adults.
“Pharmacists are authorized to alter prescriptions based on health
concerns, such as potentially harmful drug interactions, but they don’t get to
make decisions about whether patients deserve the drugs their providers have
prescribed,” said Galen Sherwin, a staff attorney with the NYCLU Reproductive
Rights Project.
The NYCLU’s complaint is available at: www.nyclu.org/pdfs/rrp_ec_complaints_complaintletter_081506.pdf
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