Abort the mission! Switch to PlanB!!!!
Table of Contents
I had a shitty day today, so I think i’ll rag on my own profession a bit.
First and formost let me get out of the way that I’m licensed to write for planB. Thats right, I took the fruity CE class and got my dr protocol (whom ive never met, but I guess he’s a nice guy?) which allows me to dispense PlanB without a doctors prescription. I even have a nice piece of paper with my name on it that says im smrt!
I’ve seen enough abused, neglicted and mentally fucked up kids to have no moral problems giving the morning after pill. If you dont want that kid, and its going to grow up not loved or cared for and be ‘someone elses problem’ then by all means go ahead.
However, I do have a problem with fucked up uppity pharmacists who confiscate prescriptions and lecture the poor girl on God and Morals and how abortion is wrong and shes a murder, blah blah blah.
Now I have no problems if you have moral objections in filling and you give the Rx back and tell her where to go. You sir/maam are doing the proper and professional thing. Refuse to fill but let them go someplace else. You are excused from this posting.
However, if you are one of those other Rx-snatching doucebag pharmacists, please wash down 100 elavil with a glass of fine Gin and check yourself out of the profession. Actually, dont do that. Post on here how much i’m going to burn in Hell and how I dont care for my patients so I can pubically make fun of you and just hammer my point closer to home as to how much of a douche you guys are. If you dont want to fill, hand the Rx back and tell them where they can fill it. Is that so fucking hard? No, you guys cant do that, you need to make a big stink and shit in the company pool for the rest of us to swim through.
When the girls come in for those medications, they are usually scared, embarrassed, and dont need your harassment. I feel sorry for the poor things because they are usually on the verge of tears because they dont know what else to do. They dont want the kid, they didnt plan on this, and they need help. Exactly what your fucking job is, to help these people, not teach them about God.
I usually take them aside, tell them its going to be okay. I explain what the procedure is going to be and how to take the medication, and 90% of the time they calm down and quit crying.
Now if the girl comes every week to buy a new package of PlanB, I start to ask questions like what the fuck she is doing and why does she need it so much. I then inform her that if shes using PlanB as a form of contraception shes:
- stupid
- wasting her money
- stupid
- Oh, stupid?
I dont see what the hooplah is about with these uppity pharmacist. I mean, its just a higher form of regular birth control! It has the same MOA as the damn birth control tablets! Its not abortion or killing or anything else the whackos say, you’re just flushing out a cooch-full of man-spooge and Ctrl-Alt-Del’ing the girls menstral cycle! (Did I just use a ‘cooch-full of man-spooge’ in a sentence? My mother hates me right now, sorry mom!).
If you’re one of those pharmacists who likes to confiscate PlanB Rx’s, please let me know your rationale for doing so and letting these poor girls go through more hell then they already are going through. Oh, and the moment you use the word God, Jesus, Bible, or quote anything that ends in Name Number:Number i’m just going to shut my brain off. Pharmacy isnt involved in religion and vice versa. You are here to do a job, now do it. You probably sell candy bars to fat kids and diabetics, you probably dispense Vicodin and Soma to a unproven addict, so I dont see what the big deal is. You guys probably turn away vacationers who need a few atenolol tablets until they get home because they dont have an Rx there and their store is closed (but they brought in their old bottle).
Sometimes pharmacists really really make me mad (though then I wouldnt be the angrypharmacist now would I 😉
- Oh, stupid?
- stupid
- wasting her money
Comments #
Comment by Aaron on 2006-03-20 04:16:34 -0800 #
You’re going to hate me for starting off this way but hear me out. I believe in God and choose not to fill a Plan B prescription. However, I believe that God has given us agency, the ability to make a choice for ourselves. We must live with the consequences of that decision though. If two people consented to have unprotected sex, they made that choice and in my opinion should accept the consequences. That is my OPINION however, and I have no right to enforce it on others. I could express it to them (which I wouldn’t unless they asked for it) but ultimately, it is their decision. I will tell them I will not fill it but will not prevent them from getting it filled by another pharmacist in the store or elsewhere. They have their agency.
Comment by TheAngryPharmacist on 2006-03-20 08:46:47 -0800 #
“If two people consented to have unprotected sex, they made that choice and in my opinion should accept the consequences.”
What if the condom broke? Or the girl was on a progesterone only birth control and missed a day (like if she was on it due to breastfeeding) and just wants to cover her bases. A condom breaking is a bit out of their control dont you think? They took the initative to use protection, and it failed on them. Why punish those poor people over assumptions?
I think people instantly assume that women who request this were having unprotected sex, which in 95% of the cases is a very poor assumption. Thats like assuming that a 90 year old who gets a handful of vicodin a month is an addict and is out selling them.
However you do the right thing and not confiscate the Rx like some people do, and that right there is what the basis of the whole rant was about.. 🙂
Comment by drugnazi on 2006-03-20 10:46:01 -0800 #
Angry dude,
Even though you’re a Republican, I sense you may be one of the good ones after reading this. Did you know that our colleague Lloyd DuPlantis Jr. of Gray, Louisiana gave an interview on national radio justifying his refusal to dispense Plan B or ANY oral contraceptives on the grounds that they are “the most dangerous chemical on the market?” Seriously. He said that. You can hear it here if you want.
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2005/04/20050405_a_main.asp
I bet Lloyd would love to talk about why he thinks birth control pills are “the most dangerous chemical on the market” some more. You can call him at (985) 872-4547 or drop him a line at
[email protected]. Make sure when you call or write to ask him why birth control pills are more dangerous than Accutane, thalidomide, chemotherapy agents, or Arthrotec. And maybe ask him why he can’t just admit he’s really a right-wing Christian wacko on a personal jihad against women.
Comment by Em on 2006-03-23 13:42:53 -0800 #
Good one. I was at APhA this past week, and the local San Francisco TV news was blaring away about “Two more women die from RU486–the *Abortion* pill!”
At least they could get their damn language straight. It’s a contraceptive pill, people.
Comment by FrEsHFromtheOvEn on 2006-04-25 02:34:12 -0700 #
Am not yet a practicing pharmacist…but I am inclined to agree with Mr. Angry Dude. Everyone has the right to decide what they wanna do…and take responsibility for the things that they do…even if it means having abortions if they feel their conscience is up to it…
denying these poor girls their pills only compounds their problems…
the line on selling candy bars to fat kids and diabetics really takes the cake!;)
Comment by chibizin on 2006-06-19 18:06:21 -0700 #
Old, but I thought I’d comment anyways. I’m a CPhT. I’m pro-life. I’m also an atheist and have no problem with sex, be it premarital, extramarital, with 4 other people of the same sex or your dog. I am sick and fucking tired of hearing about quacks refusing to dispense plan B. I’ve even written letters to the paper in which I all but scream “IT DOES NOT CAUSE ABORTION, RETARDS!” Shouldn’t these people know better? Are they just making up excuses?
Comment by Jobee on 2006-07-27 22:36:59 -0700 #
I love you — will you be my pharmacist?
Although I disagree on one point. I think that since a Pharmie is licensed by the state he/she is required to fill any legal perscription presented to them. No ifs, ands or buts. That was always going to be part of the job and they knew it going into the profession. I’m a licensed driver, should I be allowed to decide which stop signs to obey? Not.
Comment by xenon on 2006-08-28 08:04:49 -0700 #
Please, angry pharmacist. I am interested to know where you got your license or certification to dispense plab B. Is this a website that I can go to?
Thank you
xenon
Comment by Melissa on 2006-10-05 11:46:23 -0700 #
We filled a prescription for Plan B before for a 15 year old. She actually had two prescriptions which made me angry. One was for Plan B with 3 refills, the other was a birth control pill with no refills… how does this make sense? My pharmacist didn’t put the extra refills on file because it’s ridiculous.
Comment by Roscoe on 2007-01-30 10:49:01 -0800 #
OK .. this did it .. and this doesn’t directly relate to the point of your post – and I just finished working my 7th MN shift in a row, but couldn’t stop reading this blog – so I may not be entirely conhesive in my presentation and may have some typos and misspellings … BUT!!!!!!
Why the FUUUUUUUUUCK do people think I have to fill every dripping-assed Rx that’s ever written????
I went to school for 5 years for what? To be a ROBOT?!! I swear 10% of the Rx’s I’ve seen have been written wrong .. should I tell the patient, “Oh baby, did your Dr. screw up! But, now you’re going to have to get what the Dr. wrote, cause I’m only ALLOWED TO FILL WHAT HE WROTE!”? Of course not … we take time out of our day to call up the Doc and try to get it straightened out.
Or maybe some junkie thought this one up! He’d love to present me with 5 or 6 controlled rx’s (Keflex, Librim, Vicodin, Soma, Tussionex and Ambien) – even though he got them all filled last week. But, NOOOOO … it’s our DUTY! We must!
(And since WHEN did we learn in school that we were supposed to be the DRUG POLICE! .. if I fill an Rx for some junkie .. who gets the DEA all over them? ME!!! … but, that’s another rant for another day.)
Why not just give me a script for a God damned Cadillac! .. get that one filled, heh , heh
And where the hell is my freedom of choice in this country that declares so many freedoms? Does not a company have the free choice to carry which-ever product it pleases? And we, as consumers, have the choice to shop there – OR NOT! Why should WAL-MART (although I have no love for them, personally) have to carry Plan-B?! Should K-MART be forced to carry guns?
Now, I have no trouble dispensing a Plan-B prescription, I’ve seen enough messed up, unloved kids. But, I don’t want to be told, YOU MUST FILL ALL.
Maybe I’d rather not carry ScheduleII drugs, because of the unsavory caharacters that are attracted, but simply refer the patient down the street. Or no HIV anti-virals. WEll, that should be my personal business decision and my business will suffer or succeed because of the results of my decision.
Not all gas stations carry deisel or the new E-45 gas. So why should my little one-man pharmacy in a clinic of 3 doctor’s carry everything, although only a handful of drugs are actually written by these doctors?
Even radio talk-show host Dr. Dean O’Dell was heard to say one night,”.. who the hell do these pharmacists think they are to refuse my Rx?” Well, that’s the last time I listened to him …
There’s way too much government in this!
Comment by Tiny Shrink on 2007-09-23 17:43:04 -0700 #
“Good one. I was at APhA this past week, and the local San Francisco TV news was blaring away about “Two more women die from RU486–the *Abortion* pill!”
At least they could get their damn language straight. It’s a contraceptive pill, people.”
It’s my understanding that RU-486 can be used for emergency contraception, but also to terminate intrauterine pregnancies up to 49 days’ gestation, therefore the term “abortion pill” is not entirely inaccurate…
Comment by Tango! on 2007-10-28 20:19:28 -0700 #
Ok so I’ve seen many girls come in to get PlanB. Yes they were all on the verge of crying, and frightened, and all that sad stuff. I don’t feel bad for them. Yes you may think what I say is mean and whatever, BUT were they crying in the heat of the moment?! Now if it were rape I will have sympathy, but most time its hormones getting the “best” of young adults. Now what really pisses me off is seeing young girls barely 16yrs old coming in with their parents to get birth control and the CHILD gets cocky about having their parent pay for it!!! WHAT THE F&%$#!!!
Comment by Juniper on 2008-10-02 14:55:40 -0700 #
“Now what really pisses me off is seeing young girls barely 16yrs old…”
Since when are 15-year-old girls young girls? Get a bunch of girls together and the ones age 15, 16, or 17 will be the oldest. Young girls are toddlers and babies.
“…coming in with their parents to get birth control and the CHILD gets cocky about having their parent pay for it!!! WHAT THE F&%$#!!!”
Sadly, I now wonder how many of them were actually coming in with their parent-in-laws, finally allowed to stop getting pregnant now that they bore grandsons for said in-laws and wanting contraceptives since their husbands don’t want to use abstinence and their parents don’t want to take them back from the “good providers” they found.
Comment by Fatima on 2008-10-02 15:55:59 -0700 #
“Now what really pisses me off is seeing young girls barely 16yrs old coming in with their parents to get birth control and the CHILD gets cocky about having their parent pay for it!!! WHAT THE F&%$#!!!”
Contraceptive pills don’t only reduce the odds of conception for women and girls who have heterosexual sex. They also reduce the severity of beard and moustache growth for women and girls, even virgin ones, who have polycystic ovarian syndrome and/or certain ethnic ancestry.
Suppose a girl’s struggling to keep her shaving and plucking routine short enough to not miss the school bus (especially if it shows up at 6:30 am) and hold back facial hair growth enough to get through the school day without the hair growing through her makeup and attracting the attention of bullies in the class eager to call her a tranny and bash her for it. Paying for the medicine to reduce her beard and moustache growth is the least her parents could do after forcing her to have the genes for a beard and moustache in the first place (instead of using birth control themselves).
Comment by Brian Smith, Pharm.D. on 2009-06-19 09:23:31 -0700 #
Dear AngryPharmacist,
I am realize your original post was some time ago, but I just stumbled upon it today and decided to respond. You are correct when you stated that the MOA is the same as traditional oral contraceptives (you can get this info from plan b’s website). They work in one of three different ways: preventing ovulation, preventing tubal transport, and prevention of implantation. But the thing that bothers me is that is says it will not affect an existing pregnancy. I suppose it depends on how you define the word pregnancy. If in a particular patient, ovulation is prevented, then that would be true, an abortion is not really taking place. If the cervical mucous is thickened and sperm cannot reach the egg, then again, no abortion is really taking place. However, science has proven that a new life begins when sperm and ovum unite. Many people, probably a majority of people in this country, would agree with this position. So based on the third mechanism, and this definition of when a life begins, preventing a fertilized egg from implanting, it is possible for plan b to cause an abortion.
If you believe life begins at conception and you would consider yourself pregnant upon conception. Some people would argue that you’re not really pregnant until the egg implants into the uterine wall. I would argue otherwise considering the prevalence of tubal pregnancies. Obviously a condition that endangers the safety of the mother, but the offspring can still grow and develop, normally or abnormally, outside the uterine lining.
In conclusion, I would argue that your statement that plan b doesnt cause abortion is misleading, as is the package literature, based on peoples differing definitions of pregnancy and abortion. It is very important for prescribers, both physicians and yourself to consider the views of patients and not just give a blanket statement of “it doesnt cause abortions”. You are certainly entitled to your own views and opinions. You would be doing your patients a huge disservice by telling them that it will not cause an abortion if they believe life begins at conception and would not want to take a chance of causing the fertilized egg to die. The complete information needs to be presented if you truly care about your all of your patients, not just the ones that you presume to agree with your position.
I will concede that you do have a point regarding traditional contraceptives. If someone takes exception to plan-b, then they should take exception to OCs as well, since they work the same way.
You seem to be good intentioned with all of this, and behind your angry appearance, I think you really want to help these girls. I would also like to say that dispensing plan b will not cause you to go to hell. I would also like to say that I am not the one to say who goes to hell and who doesnt. I believe that scripture is clear that there is only one thing that anyone can do to be sent to hell and that is to reject Jesus Christ as the savior of humanity (your name here). That is what I believe. You are free to believe what you want. But I am commanded as a follower of Jesus Christ to tell you about His love and care for you. And that He Himself said that He is the only way to heaven. I am not saying that. He did. If you choose to believe or not, you are free to make that choice. God gave each one of us free will to do so.
I think that Christianity gets a bad rap quite often. Some of it due to immature Christians, and some due to people who make the claim who really are not. And sometimes those people say and do things that arent so “Christian”. So if your animosity toward Christianity is because of something a Christian did or said that was hypocritical, then I apologize on behalf of that person. I would say in that person’s defense however, just because a person is a Christian or becomes a Christian, doesnt make that person perfet. We still make mistakes just like everyone else. I think the problem you have, is that there are so many people who want to call out non-christians on all of their shortcomings. I would agree with you that it is not appropriate.
But I disagree when you say that “pharmacy isnt involved in religion, or vice versa”. It is involved if the pharmacists hold certain beliefs. It is involved if patients have beliefs. Asking me to check my beliefs and morals at the door is like asking President Obama to not be president when hes not in the oval office. From now on President Obama is president or will be referred to as FMR President until he dies. Thats who he is. It is the same with Christianity or any other religion. That is who people are and shapes and develops them as people. They cant simply in good conscience stop being who they have been their whole life. It would be similar to asking an MD not to be a doctor when hes not in his office. If he sees someone out dying of a heart attack when hes at the mall, he cant save their life. And I realize there is a balance. You are right that I should not use my elevated pharmacy counter as a pulpit. But I cant completely ignore my conscience and who I am.
So that is my position. Long as it is. If you skipped a lot I will summarize.
- Be honest with all patients when prescribing plan b about complete mechanism, and find out their beliefs/feelings before just giving blanket statement “it doesnt cause abortion”
- Dispensing plan b wont send you on a direct flight to hell. Rejecting Jesus Christ as savior will, according to His own words. Whether you choose to believe or not is up to you.
Comment by JetRockette on 2009-08-05 18:41:04 -0700 #
You’re a licensed driver, and yes you can say “well I don’t go to that part of town” or whatever. So technically, you CAN choose to not fulfill a customer’s request in that sense. We have something called Professional Judgment. Which means that provided we have a valid objection, we don’t have to fill it. (VALID = this patient’s selling it on the street; I know this person’s an addict; etc.) We also will be question by TONS of higher authorities–legal, corporate, whatever– about whether our reason was valid. Doctors can choose not to write a prescription for someone if in their professional opinion, the patient is faking it. We have that same right to use our brains.
P.S. I have no moral objection to filling birth control, but I have to address what you said re: filling anything brought to you.
Comment by cardsfanbj on 2010-09-11 19:38:14 -0700 #
Well, this may be a little late, but earlier today, here in bible-thumper country, some radical Christian snuck up on us and left us a flier for some oral contraceptive pill called Ella. I have never seen this, my pharmacist has never seen it (I’m a tech), and it’s not even in our system yet.
I’d honestly have to agree with TAP about this (born & raised Catholic, but I’m more of the opinion that I don’t wanna pay for your Medicare crack baby.). I see tons of fucked up people come in on their walk of shame (or in rare cases, a drive-thru of shame) to purchase our generic Plan B (as far as I know, our state only requires prescriptions for girls under 17, not requiring some permit like TAP’s). It’s still entertaining to see the bible thumpers out and about.
Comment by Loren on 2014-08-24 22:48:30 -0700 #
While I doubt you’ll see this others might:
We must live with the consequences of that decision though. If two people consented to drive cars, they made that choice and should accept the consequences of the accident. They should not seek medical care to alleviate the harm.