New pharmacy code continues opt-outs over beliefs

Thanks to MarkOnTheRiver for the link.
Original link

Pharmacists across the UK have been told they can continue to refuse to prescribe items that might clash with their personal religious beliefs.

A revised code of conduct from the new industry regulator will allow staff to opt out of providing items such as the morning-after pill and contraception.

But they may in future have to give customers details of alternative shops.

The National Secular Society wanted the General Pharmaceutical Council to scrap the so-called conscience clause.

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is to take over the regulation of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and the registration of pharmacy premises from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society later this year.

Under its new code, pharmacists with strong religious principles will still be able to continue to refuse to sell or prescribe products if they feel that doing so would contradict their beliefs.

But the GPhC says pharmacists who refuse services could be obliged to tell patients where they can access them and it plans to consult more widely on the issue.
...
Continue reading

TAGGED: MEDICINE, MORALITY, RELIGION


RELATED CONTENT

A Mathematical Challenge to Obesity

CLAUDIA DREIFUS - New York Times 15 Comments

Carson C. Chow deploys mathematics to solve the everyday problems of real life. As an investigator at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, he tries to figure out why 1 in 3 Americans are obese.

Cocaine decreases activity of a protein...

- - MedicalXpress 27 Comments

Cocaine decreases activity of a protein necessary for normal functioning of the brain's reward system

Neurons Mirror the Diametric Mind

Christopher Badcock, Ph.D -... 3 Comments

Neurons Mirror the Diametric Mind

Schizophrenics amplify neuronal mirroring, autistics reduce it

How thinking about death can lead to a...

- - MedicalXpress 11 Comments

How thinking about death can lead to a good life
Thinking about death can actually be a good thing. An awareness of mortality can improve physical health and help us re-prioritize our goals and values, according to a new analysis of recent scientific studies. Even non-conscious thinking about death – say walking by a cemetery – could prompt positive changes and promote helping others.

Brain Controls Paralyzed Muscles

Ed Yong - TheScientist 11 Comments

A new system decodes brain signals from the motor cortex of monkeys and translates them into basic arm movements, despite temporary paralysis.

Let Them Eat Dirt

Megan Scudellari - The Scientist 25 Comments

Let Them Eat DirtEarly exposure to microbes shapes the mammalian immune system by subduing inflammatory T cells.

MORE

MORE BY BBC

Catholic Church in anti-gay marriage...

BBC - BBC News - Scotland 97 Comments

"Governments do not have the authority to say what marriage is or to change its nature or to decree that people of the same sex can marry."

Time travel: light speed results cast...

BBC - BBC News Science & Environment 45 Comments

Physicists have confirmed the ultimate speed limit for the packets of light called photons - making time travel even less likely than thought.

Vatican recalls Irish papal envoy after...

BBC - BBC News website 54 Comments

"The fact that I have had thousands of messages from around the world speaks for itself about the impact and the way people feel," he said.

UPDATE: FALSE STORY Jerusalem rabbis...

BBC - BBC News website 154 Comments

A Jewish rabbinical court condemned to death by stoning a stray dog it feared was the reincarnation of a lawyer who insulted its judges, reports say.

BBC - Everything and Nothing

BBC - Youtube - wedontknowanything 93 Comments

BBC Richard Dimbleby Lecture 1996 -...

BBC - YouTube - GodTheHypothesis 47 Comments

MORE

Comments

Comment RSS Feed

Please sign in or register to comment