[jijji]

I concur, pharmacists have no legal basis nor license basis in determining the decision making of a licensed medical doctor. The doctor is the one that provided the care came up with the diagnosis and came up with the plan for the prescription for the medication. The only role the pharmacist has is in dispensing that medication. it's wholly inappropriate for a pharmacist to get into the business of second guessing the work of a licensed MD.

[pyuser583]

No … just no.

For one thing, pharmacists aren’t just retailers. For example, I take a very powerful medication. It’s essential to get the dose just right.

My health care organization employs a pharmacist who sepecializes in the medication, and sets the doses for patients in the program.

This pharmacist doesn’t dispense medication. She instructs the physicians on what dose to prescribe.

I recently had an extremely painful medical event. I was given hydrocodone, but it didn’t have any effect. A pharmacist was called in, and they figured out a drug cocktail that addresses the pain.

Pharmacists really are medical experts and a knowledgeable part of the care team. Doctors should use their expertise more than they do. And it’s completely appropriate for a pharmacist to assertively demand an explanation for what’s going on.

[jijji]

as mentioned throughout the comments I've also seen many situations where patients that were given prescriptions were then turned away by pharmacists because they didn't like the type of clothes that the person was wearing or they didn't think that there was a diagnosis to match the prescription, or that the doctor was too far away in a different town in the same state, Even though the patient might have been taking this medication for 20 years or more... This is only happening recently within the last few years, specifically after the multibillion dollar settlement by CVS and Walgreens that happened in November of 2022... so I'm not buying it that pharmacists are allowed to Trump the decision making of medical doctors.

[pyuser583]

Wasn’t the idea behind the settlement that pharmacists should be accountable for the prescriptions they filled?

I guess I’m confused - are you saying pharmacists should not be able to refuse to fill a script or they are not able?

As it stands they are able, and can be held accountable for doing so.

Maybe the law should change to where pharmacists are simply agents of the prescribed. But that’s not current law or custom.

[jijji]

I guess you are right, according to some articles online [1], a pharmacist can refuse to dispense a prescription due "moral and/or religious" reasons.... so they literally can just look at you and say well you know what I don't think you deserve this stuff sorry go somewhere else and I guess it's perfectly okay, because of a moral duty, which is vague and specious.

[1] https://www.goodrx.com/healthcare-access/pharmacies/why-phar...