Docs want to dispense drugs if pharmacists won’t
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The American Medical Association wants legislation that will allow physicians to dispense drugs when pharmacists say their consciences will not allow them to fill prescriptions for contraceptives, painkillers and mood stabilizers.
The AMA says conscientious objection by pharmacists is a major public health problem in many areas of the country.
To solve the problem, the AMA’s policy-making House of Delegates voted Monday to ask for changes in state laws so that physicians can dispense medications when there is no “willing pharmacist within 30 miles.”
Some pharmacists first balked at filling prescriptions for oral contraceptives and the emergency contraceptive pill called Plan B. But a coalition of medical specialty societies, including the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), now claims the refusals have spread to medications for mental conditions and pain medicines.
Moreover, they say that pharmacists often refuse to refer patients to other pharmacists to get prescriptions filled.
Dr. Mary Frank of Mill Valley, California, a former president of the AAFP, said some pharmacists are also refusing to return prescriptions that they refuse to fill and “they are lecturing patients. This is interfering with patient’s access to care.”
The new AMA policy also asked the AMA to lobby for legislation that “requires individual pharmacists or pharmacy chains to fill legally valid prescriptions or to provide immediate referral to an appropriate alternative dispensing pharmacy.”
Moreover, the AMA house directed the AMA leadership to initiate formal discussions with the American Hospital Association, the American Pharmacists Association, American Society of Health System Pharmacists, National Association of Chain Drug Stores, and National Community Pharmacists Association to guarantee that “a patient’s right to obtain legal prescriptions will be protected by immediate referral to an appropriate dispensing pharmacy.”
A spokesperson for the American Pharmacists Association said the organization has received no complaints about pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions. The spokesperson added that the APhA does not have a procedure for disciplining pharmacists who refuse to refer patients to other pharmacists.
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