You Don't Know Me At All
You don’t know me.
I come into your pharmacy to fill my prescriptions, but you seldom interact with me. Most of the time, a cashier handles the whole encounter. If you saw me on the street, you wouldn’t even realize that you fill my prescriptions.
Occasionally, if I’m picking up a new prescription for a new drug, the cashier will ask if I want to speak to the pharmacist. I usually say no. Why would I? I can read and understand the drug insert myself. I’ve already discussed the drug with my doctor. Why would I want to talk to you, when I don’t know you anymore than you know me?
You don’t know why my doctor prescribed this particular drug for me at this particular time. Even if we were to talk, I might not want to tell you why I’m being prescribed this drug. There are probably people behind me in line, and more people in the store, and maybe I don’t want to share my condition with everybody. I have no reasonable expectation of privacy in this situation.
It’s also unclear to me what degree of confidentiality I can expect from a pharmacist. I’m sure you are professional and would take measures to ensure confidentiality, but legally, I don’t know what the bounds are.
So, that’s why I have a problem with you wanting to refuse to fill my prescription on moral grounds. Without knowing me at all, without having a relationship with me, without understanding the situation, you have decided that the reason my doctor prescribed this drug for me is not acceptable.
You’d probably think it was ridiculous if the grocery store checkout clerk refused to ring up your steaks because she was a member of PETA. You might respect her beliefs, but think that she has no right to require you to follow those same beliefs. Perhaps you’d think that she should respect your right to make your own decisions, and that maybe she should give you some credit for being autonomous and able to make the best decision for your particular situation. Maybe you’d think that if she can’t ring up meat, she should find another line of work.
And maybe if you can’t trust me and my doctor to make the right choices for my situation, you should find another line of work, too.
I come into your pharmacy to fill my prescriptions, but you seldom interact with me. Most of the time, a cashier handles the whole encounter. If you saw me on the street, you wouldn’t even realize that you fill my prescriptions.
Occasionally, if I’m picking up a new prescription for a new drug, the cashier will ask if I want to speak to the pharmacist. I usually say no. Why would I? I can read and understand the drug insert myself. I’ve already discussed the drug with my doctor. Why would I want to talk to you, when I don’t know you anymore than you know me?
You don’t know why my doctor prescribed this particular drug for me at this particular time. Even if we were to talk, I might not want to tell you why I’m being prescribed this drug. There are probably people behind me in line, and more people in the store, and maybe I don’t want to share my condition with everybody. I have no reasonable expectation of privacy in this situation.
It’s also unclear to me what degree of confidentiality I can expect from a pharmacist. I’m sure you are professional and would take measures to ensure confidentiality, but legally, I don’t know what the bounds are.
So, that’s why I have a problem with you wanting to refuse to fill my prescription on moral grounds. Without knowing me at all, without having a relationship with me, without understanding the situation, you have decided that the reason my doctor prescribed this drug for me is not acceptable.
You’d probably think it was ridiculous if the grocery store checkout clerk refused to ring up your steaks because she was a member of PETA. You might respect her beliefs, but think that she has no right to require you to follow those same beliefs. Perhaps you’d think that she should respect your right to make your own decisions, and that maybe she should give you some credit for being autonomous and able to make the best decision for your particular situation. Maybe you’d think that if she can’t ring up meat, she should find another line of work.
And maybe if you can’t trust me and my doctor to make the right choices for my situation, you should find another line of work, too.
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