April 1, 2005
FOUR FOR FRIDAY
Q1: According to an article in The Washington Post, pharmacists across the United States are refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control, saying that dispensing such medications violates their personal or religious beliefs. Supporters of pharmacists' rights see the trend as a welcome expression of personal belief. Opponents see it as a major threat to reproductive rights and one of the latest manifestations of the religious right's growing political reach. What do you think? Should pharmacists be allowed to refuse to fill prescriptions based on personal beliefs, or should they be required by law to fill all prescriptions, regardless of their beliefs?
Q2: If you have Caller ID on your phone, do you answer incoming calls from people you know any differently than from people whose number's you do not recognize, or do you just say "Hello" in the same tone and inflection regardless of who it is that's calling? If you do not have Caller ID, are there times when you wish you did?
Q3: Do you have a living will? If not, has Terri Schiavo's situation caused you to think twice about putting one in place?
Q4: What's the name of the first book you can remember reading from cover to cover?
Posted by Mikal at April 1, 2005 12:08 AM
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1. Sure, let the zealots stop selling the prescriptions. Market forces will keep the pills flowing. It will give the consumer a chance to spend money at a pharmaacy that shares their views.
2. Depending on the number I see, I answer in a drastically different manner. My best buddy Jonathan likely gets a friendly dis, and known professional calls/or unknown calls get a "Hello, Matt speaking."
3. I created one last weekend, with the help of a few sites.
4. "Home for a Bunny"
(1) Of course they should be allowed to refuse, as long as the pharmacies that employ them have the right (and in some cases, the obligation) to fire them for not doing their job.
(2) I assume now that everyone, especially at work, has some form of Caller ID. So, whereas I used to be freaked out if someone answered the phone, "Hi, Hugh", now I do it all the time.
(3) Yes, I do. Had one made up right after I got married.
(4) "The Sugar Mouse Cake", a now out-of-print classic by Gene Zion and illustrated by Margaret Bloy Graham.
1. Well, I suppose pharmacists can follow their own beliefs and morals when giving or not giving out pills, but if they're doing that, they really need to reconsider their career choice. They are not doctors and they don't have any right to impose health decisions on people they don't know.
2. I don't have caller ID and all those telemarketers are certainly annoying, but most of the time, I wish I wasn't so lazy to hook up the answering machine to screen calls.
3. No. I'm still a student, so it seems rather ridiculous to make any will at all until I'm a little older.
4. I don't remember the title, but it had to do with a bear with a bunch of paints.
1. Fellow publishing employee, I'm here to say that I've edited many a book with which I had moral conflicts. I regarded my choices as follows: do it anyway or quit. Sorry, but you leave your politics at the door when you go to your chosen career.
2. I have Caller ID. I'm not really a phone person; if I don't recognize the incoming number, I don't answer at all, whether it's my cell phone or landline. Just ask Jay how many times he sees me staring at a ringing phone and says, "Aren't you going to answer it?"
3. I don't have a living will; and yes, it's now on my to-do list, to be accomplished ASAP.
4. It's a toss up between "Hop on Pop" and "Are You My Mother?"
1. When a person chooses to become a pharmacist, they're stepping into the role of dispensing prescribed meds. The Rx's they fill are not a matter of choice; they're a matter of obligation.
2. Yes, with caller ID both at home and at work, I definitely answer accordingly.
3. I don't have a living will, and I definitely want one. Matt, are you willing to share the Web sites you used?
4. "Black Beauty" by Anna Sewell or "My Friend Flicka" by Mary O'Hara
Mine is up, good questions!
1. I really don't think it's any of the pharmacists business what prescriptions people need. I'm sure they know going into this profession that they will need to fill prescriptions for birth control. If they don't like it, they shouldn't work in a pharmacy. It's like a police officer refusing to carry a gun because he might have to use it...well, yeah you knew that when you signed up. No one has the right to tell someone what medications they should or shouldn't take. People need to mind their own business.
2. I never answer calls from phone numbers I don't recognize. I wait for the machine to pick it up, and if it's someone who knows me they will leave a message or call back. 100% of the time it's a telemarketer and I despise them calling me.
3. No. Kinda.
4. Oh geez, are you testing my memory? Hmmm...I can't even remember, there have been so many.
Q1) Prosecute them if they refuse to fill a prescription. What's next? AIDS drugs?
Many women take birth control to manage serious threats to their health.
Q2) I have a personal and loving greeting for every person who calls. And if my caller id says "BLOCKED CALL," then I have an extra special greeting just for them.
Q3) Yes, doing it now...
Q4) A Cricket in Times Square.
1. As far as I know, pharmacists aren't paid to think; they are paid to wear white jackets. Next thing you know, we'll be hiding condoms in the pages of the Family Cirlce magazine we're purchasing.
2. Caller ID is a communist plot. I trust it about as much as flouride in the water. Do I ever wish I had it? No. I mean, yes. I mean, why do you want to know?
3. I do not have a living will. My husband said that he'll do whatever his girlfriend at the time thinks is best.
4. Ah...my favorite children's book: Daddy Drinks Because You Cry. Fond memories there.
5. April Fools :0P
1. A grocery store cashier who's personal religious beliefs prohibit alcohol still has to sell (legal) alcohol to an of-age customer who whats to purchase it. Why should a Pharmacist be treated any differently? If the prescription is legal, he should fill it or open up his own pharmacy based on those principles.
2. I don't have caller ID at home. I just screen on the machine. I do on the cell though. If it's someone I know, I usually say "Hi Bill," or whatever; which of course, I wouldn't be able to do if I didn't recognize the number.
3. No, no living will yet. I still need to decide on someone who I would trust to pull the plug or deny services.
4. Horton Hears a Who
Q1.Yes they should be required by law to fill the role of a professional pharmacist,who is a trusted member of society,and not be able to dispense medication of any kind esp. birth control( which as some ignorrant male pharmacists might forget is not only just used for birth control!)according to their so called beliefs.
Q2.I do not have caller I.D. but yes, there are times are wish i did!!
Q3.'YES' it is the number one thing 'to do 'on my "to do" list.Esp..now more than ever.
Q4."Dick and Jane"a compulsory australian school text book in grade one!!
1) I think if it is a small, family-owned pharmacy, then it certainly their right to choose what products they carry. However, if they work for a chain pharmacy, then it would probably be up to the chain to set some sort of policy on whether they would aloow that or not.
2) I use an answering machine to screen my phone calls. My phone has a loud, annoying ring which scares the shit out of me when it goes off (usually because my apartment is pretty quiet), so I have the phone unplugged, the volume on the answering machine down, and every so often I will just look at it to see if there are any messages.
3) I haven't done one yet, but I have thought about it. I've talked about it with members of my family in the past, but those were general terms. I might post my wishes on my blog, when I come up with some more explicit terms.
4) "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl, in fifth grade. This was mostly for pleasure. I had to pick a book and write a book report on it, but I was glad I got to decide which one, rather than have one assigned.
NO, they should be required to fill all prescriptions. As some have said where do you stop? Birth control pills have many other reasons for being prescribed. Most drugs have many uses besides their common usage and a pharmacist canít determine why the medicine of being taking.
No, I do not have Caller ID. Itís a waste of money. If you want to find out who the caller is, get an answering machine and hook it up.
Yes, I got one along with a power of attorney when my mother passed away a couple of years ago. During her illness I had to use hers and I realized that it was important to have one, especially since I am single. If I was incapacitated you need some one to pay your bills. After all you donít want to come out of the hospital to find out the bank foreclosed on your mortgage.
But one thing no one thinks about when someone asked you to hold their living will or power of attorney is someday you might have to use it. One of the hardest things I have ever done was to tell them to go ahead and operate on her when she fell ill. Afterwards, I had to watch lie unconscious in the hospital bed all connected up with life support as she was dieing.
Robert Heinlein "Stranger in a Strange Land"
Zoe, here you go:
US Living Will Registry (useful info, but no need to register with site):
http://www.uslivingwillregistry.com/
Caring Connections (more Hospice info than anything):
http://www.caringinfo.org/
1. No. Their job is to dispense medications as needed by patients,not to pass judgment. They can have opinions, but that should not influence their job. If they have ethical concerns, maybe they need a different career.
2. I don't answer from "unknown" because they are either crediors or solicitors.
3. No, but I plan to get one. I've been thinking about this for a couple of years, but have never taken the initiative to get it done.
4. Probably the "Spot" books. Later, when I actually bought books from the Book Club at school, I read all of the sports stories, like "Touchdown for Tommy" and similar. I was a sports stories junkie.
Q1: I believe that all pharmacists, regardless of whether they work for a national chain or private company, should be required to dispense anything upon doctors orders to any paying customer who acts within the law.
Q2: Because the screen on my cell phone doesn't work anymore, I answer all incoming calls the same (impersonal, your basic "Hello"). If the screen was working, and I knew the caller, I'd answer the call with a very personal touch. If I know that the person I'm calling has Caller ID and still answers my call as if they do not know that it's me who is calling, I tend to get a bit irritated, but I never say anything.
Q3: The Schiavo situation has caused me to pause and consider the whole living will thing, but i haven't done anything about it, yet!
Q4: While I may have read others cover-to-cover, "Bart Starr: Professional Quarterback", is the first I can remember (I picked it out in second grade for a school book report).
1) I'm sorry but answering that question would violate my religous beliefs.
2) I'm mute.
3) It has made me think twice about how obsessive our media can become on a personal issue.
4) Is Playboy a book?
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