[Pflienews] PHARMACIST CONSCIENCE COALTION NEWS: Brauer comments to HHS regs online

Sat Sep 20 09:11:08 MDT 2008

*Pharmacist Conscience Coalition** (PCC)
*

20 Sept 2008 AD
**

*Dedicated to defending the First Amendment rights of all pharmacists to 
the free exercise of their conscience in all their professional activities.*

Karen Brauer's comment is up on the Leavitt HHS secretary's blog.   It 
includes the earlier press release on the regulation and some more 
comments.

http://secretarysblog.hhs.gov/my_weblog/2008/08/physician-con-1.html#comment-131038080.

/This writer is a pharmacist who has been fired from a retail position 
for refusing to dispense a drug which has a major mechanism of action to 
prevent implantation of the human embryo.Current pharmacy practice is in 
a hospital setting. /

/
*On notification of non-discrimination regulations:*/

/The physical posting of notices in conspicuous places has been 
effective in personal experience. As the administrator of the affected 
facility complies with the regulation to post the notices, that person 
is reminded of the possible penalties for discrimination. Over time, the 
employees become aware of the notices and it affects the culture in the 
workplace. A surprising number of employees do not read employee 
handbooks. Most employees do not fully 'digest' the huge paperwork 
burden at the time of first hire./

/Notices will not remove the fear that people have of departing from 
standard practices in an institution. Explicit language stating that 
those employees reporting discrimination practices against themselves or 
others will not suffer a penalty needs to be included./

*/On exceptions to the regulations:/*

/There need not be exceptions to the non-discrimination regulations 
based upon the nature of funding, and which subsection of an institution 
obtains the funding, vs which subsection fails to comply with 
non-discrimination practices. Any party, government, or institution will 
be most likely to comply if all federal funding will be forfeited 
otherwise. Enumeration of exceptions to the rule creates more 
complication, work for lawyers, and cost. It also will leave the 
conscientiously objecting health care workers in their current state of 
confusion as to where to seek employment./

/*On definitions*:/

/Leaving 'abortion' undefined is a two edged tactic. It might serve to 
allow these regulations to be instituted, but unfortunately it will lead 
to very uneven application of the non-discrimination regulations. The 
cost for protecting many health care professionals will fall on those 
who have become unemployed through discrimination practices, and this 
will render the regulation to be much less effective./

*/Comments:/*

/In my current circumstance, an unfavorable work environment exists even 
at a health care institution which is not expected to provide surgical 
and chemical abortions. This is because the procedures are sometimes 
being done there, but not overtly. The fact that I can recognize some of 
these events from the physicians orders, and refuse to fill the 
medication orders, is disturbing to my colleagues and management, even 
those who feel similarly about abortion. /

/Many health care professionals have an innate fear of refusing to 
comply with a physicians order, or a patient's request, no matter the 
reason. There is an innate fear of any conflict. The tendency to follow 
the path of least resistance is the human characteristic which has 
allowed many atrocities of mob action, and genocides./

/It is recognized that no regulation can solve the problem of natural 
human cowardice, but some protections for whistle blowers in addition to 
the conscientious objectors themselves, will strengthen the regulation./

/At this time, women feel intense external pressure to abort in the 
circumstances of untoward fetal diagnoses, in the event of rape, and in 
the circumstances of financial dependency. It is becoming a social 
expectation. Protecting health care professionals from an obligation to 
participate in ending human lives helps to protect women from this 
coercion./

/This writer recognizes the very cumbersome work of instituting 
regulations against intolerance, and appreciates the effort which has 
been put forth to protect health professionals who refuse to willfully 
kill humans.
/

/KB
/

/Karen L Brauer MS, RPh is president of Pharmacists For Life 
International, the most fully pro-life pharmacists organization.  Find 
our politically incorrect site at //http://www.pfli.org//. Pharmacists 
For Life International truly makes no profit and the officers and staff 
are volunteers./

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pharmacist Conscience Coalition
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PO Box 1281
Powell, OH 43065-1281 USA
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