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Conscientious objections in pharmacy practice in Great Britain.

¹University of Bristol – Centre for Ethics in Medicine, 3rd Floor Hampton House Cotham Hill Bristol BS6 6AU, UK. zuzana.deans@bristol.ac.uk

|July 30, 2011

Summary

Pharmacists can refuse services for conscience reasons if patients are informed and not burdened. However, universal exemption from providing standard pharmacy services is not morally permissible.

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Area of Science:

Pharmacy Ethics
Professional Obligations
Healthcare Policy

Background:

Pharmacists' refusals of services based on conscience face criticism for potentially neglecting professional duties.
Current practice in Great Britain allows pharmacists to refuse services for moral or religious reasons if they refer patients elsewhere.
Refusals often involve emergency hormonal contraception, highlighting ethical dilemmas.

Purpose of the Study:

To propose modifications to the pharmacy profession's policy on conscientious objections.
To establish ethical criteria for acceptable conscientious refusals by pharmacists.
To argue against universal exemptions from providing standard pharmacy services.

Main Methods:

Philosophical argumentation, building on existing ethical frameworks (Brock and Wicclair).
Analysis of current policies and high-profile cases concerning conscientious objections in pharmacy.
Ethical reasoning to define conditions for permissible and impermissible refusals.

Main Results:

Conscientious refusals are deemed acceptable under specific conditions: patient information, redirection, no unreasonable burden, and alignment with core professional values.
Individual pharmacists cannot claim a universal exemption from providing standard services, even if alternatives exist.

Conclusions:

A revised policy on conscientious objections in pharmacy is proposed.
The ethical permissibility of a pharmacist's refusal hinges on patient impact and professional alignment.
The concept of universal exemption for individual pharmacists is ethically untenable.