Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich issued an emergency rule ordering pharmacists to fill prescriptions for birth control and emergency contraception,
"No delays. No hassles. No lectures."
You go, Rod!
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/02/national/02pharmacy.html
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/01/birth.control.governor.ap/index.html
The Illinois Dept. of Financial and Professional Regulation has filed a formal complaint against Osco over a February incident in which two Chicago women were turned away when they attempted to get prescriptions for the "morning after" pill filled.
Susan Winkler, spokesperson for the American Pharmacists Assoc., expressed concern that the rule might prevent pharmacists from questioning prescriptions that they felt were "clinically inappropriate" due to potential drug interactions, etc., but alsostated that she believes that pharmacists should be allowed to "step away" if they feel uncomfortable dispensing a particular drug.
Some thoughts:
The comments from Ms. Winkler (no relation to Henry, I guess) - do they reflect a rightward lean by the APA or are they just a turf defense? The first concern is somewhat legit. I worked with pharmacists 30 years ago, well before computer record-keeping, and they'd catch a serious potential interaction between drugs prescribed by the same doctor about once a day. Their contention at the time was that GPs often don't know squat about drugs and often prescribed based on sales pitches from durg company reps. Remember, this was thirty years ago. I have to believe that such problems are worse today.
On the other hand, this concern provides an opening that I imagine Bill Frist will shortly be driving a truck through. Should we expect another emergency "Schiavo Session" in Congress to pass legislation "defending the freedom of pharmacists?"
Also - it would have been nice if Blagojevich had framed this as an "abortion prevention" issue. If he had done so, criticism by Repugs could have been countered with, "So - you're saying your against preventing abortions?"
Side note: Blagojevich evidently likes "emergency rules." In December, his administration imposed one to allow religious displays in state buildings. Unfortunately, I can't find the details on this (some help?) so I don't know if this was done to preserve something like a creche display in the capitol or merely to allow state employees to adorn their cublicles with Christmas decorations.