Woman Suffering Miscarriage Says Pharmacist Refused to Fill Her Prescription

http://now.snopes.com/2015/04/13/walmart-pharmacist-miscarriage-refusal/

Posted by Kim LaCapria /
April 13, 2015

A Facebook status update, shared by Georgia resident Brittany Cartrett about her experience at a WalMart pharmacy after she suffered a miscarriage, has drawn attention to the issue of “refusal clauses” exercised by pharmacists in some states.

On 9 April 2015, Cartrett published a detailed post to Facebook in which she tagged the WalMart location in Milledgeville. In that post, Cartrett explained that she learned she was pregnant in early March 2015 but opted not to disclose her pregnancy due in part to a previous history of miscarriage. However, Cartrett said, her experience at WalMart prompted her to reveal the details of what transpired in the hopes that others might be spared a similar experience:

I can’t keep quiet about this. Something happened to me today, and I want my story shared so that this doesn’t happen again … we decided to wait until after I hit that 12 week mark to make an announcement, like we did when I was pregnant with Damon. Unfortunately, we won’t make it to that 12 week mark. At the first ultrasound we knew immediately that baby#2 was not progressing like he/she should be, and after going to the doctor every week since then, we finally were able to confirm I miscarried, probably around 5-6 weeks.

Cartrett said that when she learned she had miscarried, her doctor allowed her to choose between a dilation and curettage (D&C) or a medication known as Misoprostol (which is also used for early abortions). Cartrett said she chose the latter in part because it presented an option that was less taxing on her body. (One of the two courses of treatment is generally required to ensure that a miscarriage is complete and the patient is protected from infection.)

Cartrett explained that after she chose Misoprostol, a WalMart pharmacist refused to fill her prescription for the medication. Cartrett said that while she was picking up a separate prescription, she questioned the pharmacist about why her preferred option had been denied to her:

So I go up to Walmart and I get my prescription and the #Walmart pharmacist comes to me for my consultation and asks If I have any questions. I tell her yes, but not about this one. I ask her why they refused to fill the other prescription I had. She looks at me, over her nose and says “Because I couldn’t think of a reason why you would need that prescription.” ….. Excuse me?! I tell her my reasons for needing it, and she says “Well, I don’t feel like there is a reason why you would need it, so we refused to fill it.”

I said “Well ma’am, it’s not your job to know what I need or don’t need. It’s your job to fill a prescription. The job of knowing what I need or don’t need is between my doctor and myself. I shouldn’t have to come up here and explain myself or why I need any kind of medication.” After a few more comments, I thanked her for my other prescription and walked away. Talked to the Store Manager and was told I would get a phone call back from a Neil, the “Pharmacy’s District Manager.” which I have yet to get……

•••••

Valdosta television station WGXA spoke to a Milledgeville WalMart pharmacy worker, who said the store was aware of the situation. Brian Nick of Walmart’s corporate offices commented on the controversy by saying:

Our pharmacists fill prescriptions on a case by case basis every day in our stores throughout the country, and we encourage them to exercise their professional judgment in doing so.

Georgia is one of six states (along with Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Mississippi, and South Dakota) in which pharmacists can legally refuse to dispense emergency contraceptives if doing so is “contrary to their religious or moral beliefs.”