Walgreens issued the following statement regarding a pharmacist in Peoria, Ariz., who declined to fill a prescription for a patient:
"To meet the health care needs of our patients while respecting the sincerely held beliefs of our pharmacists, our policy allows pharmacists to step away from filling a prescription for which they have a moral objection. It’s important to note in that situation, the pharmacist also is required to refer the prescription to another pharmacist or manager on duty to meet the patient's needs in a timely manner. We are looking into this incident, and as the patient suggested this week in a media interview we will provide additional training to all of our pharmacists on appropriately handling these situations in accordance with our policy. We also reached out to the patient over the weekend, apologizing for how the situation was handled."
"To meet the health care needs of our patients while respecting the sincerely held beliefs of our pharmacists, our policy allows pharmacists to step away from filling a prescription for which they have a moral objection. It’s important to note in that situation, the pharmacist also is required to refer the prescription to another pharmacist or manager on duty to meet the patient's needs in a timely manner. We are looking into this incident, and as the patient suggested this week in a media interview we will provide additional training to all of our pharmacists on appropriately handling these situations in accordance with our policy. We also reached out to the patient over the weekend, apologizing for how the situation was handled."