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The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) is inclined to recognize pharmacists' right not to fill a prescription as long as the patient's needs can be met by others, according to Susan Winckler, RPh, JD, vice president of policy and communications and staff counsel. The APhA suggests that in addition to referring patients to another pharmacist or drugstore, concerned pharmacists also consider practice settings where this issue is less likely to arise, or working with physicians or other pharmacists to establish alternative dispensing methods.
A pharmacist in a rural community, for example, might let physicians know what prescriptions he will not fill and suggest that they dispense the drugs themselves, if their state allows it. Or, he could refer patients to another pharmacist.
The APhA, the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, the American College of Clinical Pharmacy and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists noted in a letter in the Legal Times that "pharmacists, like physicians and nurses, should not be required to engage in an activity to which they object."
That said, Winckler emphasized that the APhA opposes obstruction: “A pharmacist may step away from a prescription but shouldn't step in the way.”