The Pharmacist's Obligations to Patients: Dependent or Independent of the Physician's Obligations?

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Anderson R. D. , “The Peril of Deprofessionalization,” American Journal of Health System Pharmacists 61, no. 22 (2004): 2373–2379.

Id., at 2373–2374.

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See Denzin Mettlin , supra note 1, at 378.

See Anderson , supra note 2, at 2374.

Id., at 2373.

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This seems to be a form of the “ought” implies “can” principle: If it is true that Jared ought to do A, then it must also be true that he can do A.

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Id., at 12.

Id., at 13–14.

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In the most recent annual Gallup poll (Nov/Dec 2007), 71 percent of people rated pharmacists as having very high/high in honesty and ethical standards ranking third behind only nurses and grade school teachers on the list of most trusted professions. Only 64 percent of people rated medical doctors as highly, and 7 percent of people rated them low/very low on this scale: Jones J.M. , Lobbyists Debut at Bottom of Honesty and Ethics List, available at <http://www.gallup.com/poll/103123/Lobbyists-Debut-Bottom-Honesty-Ethics-List.aspx> (last visited March 11, 2009).

Code of Ethics for Pharmacists, supra note 3.

See ASHP Mission and Vision, supra note 6.

“Oath of a Pharmacist,” supra note 11.

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Id., at 80.

Id., at 81.

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Id., at 56.

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Id., at 56.

Gould O. N. Wasylikiw L. Rogers E. E. MacPherson M. , “Pharmacist or Physician: Age Differences in Satisfaction with Medical Advice,” Canadian Journal on Aging 25, no. 2 (2006): 207–17.

Id., at 207.

Worley M. M. Schommer K. C. Crown L. M. , “Pharmacists' and Patients' Roles in the Pharmacist-Patient Relationship: Are Pharmacists Reading from the Same Relationship Script?” Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy 3, no. 1 (2007): 47–69.

Again, they would be doing so on the basis of neither doubts about the patient's competency nor to prevent some clear harm done to the patient, but on the basis of their own personal beliefs about emergency contraception.