Pennsylvania Code › Title 49 - PROFESSIONAL AND VOCATIONAL STANDARDS › Part I - DEPARTMENT OF STATE › Subpart A - PROFESSIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL AFFAIRS › Chapter 27 - STATE BOARD OF PHARMACY › STATEMENTS OF POLICY › Section 27.103 - Matters of conscience-statement of policy

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a)
Background and purpose
.
					 This statement of policy is not intended to supersede relevant laws, rules or
					 regulations. Questions have been raised relating to the professional
					 obligations of licensed pharmacists with respect to providing services to which
					 they may be religiously, morally or ethically opposed. Pharmacists have a
					 professional responsibility to offer complete pharmaceutical service by
					 compounding or dispensing prescriptions which may reasonably be expected to be
					 compounded or dispensed by pharmacists to meet the needs of patients who would
					 usually attempt to utilize the services. However, pharmacists may also decline
					 to fill or refill a prescription if, in the pharmacist's professional judgment
					 exercised in the interest of the safety of the patient, the pharmacist believes
					 the prescription should not be filled or refilled. When a pharmacist recognizes
					 that religious, moral or ethical beliefs will result in the refusal to fill a
					 prescription that is otherwise available in a pharmacy, the pharmacist has a
					 professional obligation to take steps to avoid the possibility of abandoning or
					 neglecting a patient.
(b)
Guidelines
. Pharmacists and pharmacies should consider the
					 following guidelines when a pharmacist has religious, moral or ethical
					 objections to filling certain prescriptions:
(1) When a pharmacist begins practice in a
					 professional setting, the pharmacist should take steps that may include
					 notification to the owner and pharmacist-manager if the pharmacist's beliefs
					 will limit the drug products the pharmacist will dispense.
(2) If a pharmacy employs a pharmacist that
					 has identified circumstances that would preclude the filling of prescriptions
					 for particular products, the owner and pharmacist-manager should devise
					 reasonable accommodations that will respect the pharmacist's choice while
					 assuring delivery of services to patients in need. This may include the
					 scheduling of pharmacists to allow a pharmacist who has a religious, moral or
					 ethical objection to practice simultaneously with another pharmacist who will
					 fill the requested prescription, entering into collaborative arrangements with
					 pharmacies in close proximity, or other accommodations designed to protect the
					 public.
(3) When a pharmacist has a
					 religious, moral or ethical objection to filling a prescription, the pharmacist
					 should not interfere with another pharmacist responding to the professional
					 needs of a patient. The objecting pharmacist should refrain from engaging in
					 nonhealth related judgmental or confrontational activities with the
					 patient.
(4) In the case of a
					 pharmacy staffed by only one licensed pharmacist who conscientiously objects to
					 performing certain pharmacy practices and providing services customarily and
					 ordinarily performed by a licensed pharmacist at a pharmacy, the pharmacist
					 should ensure that protocols are in place that will avoid results that cause
					 harm or potential harm to any patients/customers as a consequence of any action
					 or inaction by the pharmacist based upon any such conscientious objections,
					 including, but not limited to, the denial of access to prescribed medications
					 and disruptions in the continuity of care.