Activist pharmacists should seek other jobs

As you can tell from my picture, I am not a woman, but I am frightened by the ethics of Neil T. Noesen, who refused to fill a University of Wisconsin student’s birth control pill prescription at a Kmart pharmacy in Menomonie, Wis.

Noesen decided not to fill this prescription because he saw himself becoming an accomplice to both the practice of abortion and premarital sex. I respect his right to express his conscience. I do not respect his right to use his vocation to cast his vote.

What Noesen may not know is that birth control medication can also be used for the management of irregular menstrual cycles, pre-menstrual syndrome and infertility. The errant medical assumption of this pharmacist was his first mistake.

His second error was getting between this woman and her doctor.

It appears that Noesen has become the poster pharmacist for a minority of his profession. Karen L. Brauer, president of Pharmacists for Life, recently was quoted, “Our group was founded with the idea of returning pharmacy to a healing-only profession.” I like the “healing,” but I do not like the pharmacy Big Brother.

The problem, as I see it, is not only legal but ethical. At the thumping heart of my resistance is the resentment that there is a growing number of censors in this free society who believe they are divinely assigned to dictate what I and my doctor and my conscience decide.

And I find this entire phalanx of pharmacy faux pas to be openly sexist.

Has Mr. Noesen refused to fill a prescription for Viagra? Does he require the sexual histories of college men who purchase birth control devices on a discrete shelf?

Do not misunderstand me. I give standing ovations to those in our nation that do believe in ethical absolutes. I endorse lines that are drawn in the sand of our society.

What I want is for my government to protect children, the innocent, the impoverished, the victims of prejudice and those who do not share my value system.

What I do not want is a monolithic political theocracy that starts worming its way into decisions about where I can spend my money, the people I can invite to my home, the words I decide to use in this column and whether my pharmacist is going to trump the decisions of my doctor.

This column is really not about my pharmacist. As a matter of fact, I have a wonderful, trusting relationship with my local pharmacist, whom I consider to be the consummate professional.

Rather, this column is about a larger issue that presses all my hot buttons.

First, other than my marital relationship and the one I have with my daughters and their husbands, my connection with my doctor has to be close to divine.

Here is someone who, over the last 25 years, has cared not only for my body but also how I feel about what is happening to my body. This man knows me inside and out. (Don’t go there!)

I am indignant over the thought that another person even has the possibility of getting between me and my doctor.

Second, I work with people all the time who tell me they are working for an organization that does not match their conscience. As a consultant, what do you think is my counsel? They have two choices: work at changing the internal climate or find a place where they can be ethically comfortable.

If pharmacists believe they are violating their consciences with the next prescription, this is not the profession for them.

Third, I hate losing control. Yes, that is one of my “issues.” I revel in the freedoms we enjoy in our nation. I do not take them for granted nor eschew the divine dignity of every person.

The kind of control I do not want to lose is the right to choose how I will care for my body.

Pharmacists who exercise their ethical conscience by refusing to fill my prescription or yours are a prescription for ethical disaster.

Cal LeMon of Executive Enrichment Inc. solves organizational problems with customized training and consulting.

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