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5 J. Pharmacy & L. 1 (1995-1996)
Pharmaceutically Assisted Death and the Pharmacists Right of Conscience

handle is hein.journals/jpharm5 and id is 7 raw text is: PHARMACEUTICALLY ASSISTED DEATH AND THE PHARMACIST'S RIGHT OF CONSCIENCE WILLiAM L. ALLEN, J.D.* DAVID B. BRUSHWOOD, J.D.** Pharmacists are health care providers who accept responsibility for the outcomes of drug therapy by accurately processing medication orders, detecting and rectifying potential problems with drug therapy, counseling patients concerning the anticipated effects of drugs, and monitoring the results of drug use. Once thought of as mere retail dealers in a product, pharmacists have expanded their activities as service providers to patients, and have adopted a mission for them- selves referred to as pharmaceutical care.1 The commitment to pharmaceutical care signifies that pharmacists are responsible provi- ders of drug therapy, for the purpose of achieving definite outcomes, intended to improve patients' quality of life. Pharmacists see them- selves as drug therapy managers whose duty it is to assure that patients' best interests are being promoted. This means, necessarily, that any controversial use of medications, such as execution by lethal injection, abortion by pharmacotherapy, or pharmaceutically assisted death through prescription of drugs, is a critical issue for pharmacists. In this article, we describe the pharmacist's potential involvement in what has been referred to as physician assisted suicide. We suggest that when a physician prescribes a medication for the purpose of terminating a patient's life, and when that prescription is presented to a pharmacist for filling, a moral dilemma may exist. The basis of the dilemma is the choice a pharmacist may be required to make between the duty to fill a legal prescription for a medication that is deemed appropriate by both the prescriber and the patient, and the duty to adhere to one's own belief that medication should not be used to end life. We contend that in filling a prescription, especially given the recent advances in pharmacy practice, a pharmacist is no mere bystander in drug therapy. Rather, the pharmacist is an active participant whose values, attitudes, and beliefs should be given con- sideration. In the current context of pharmacy practice, where the * College of Medicine, The University of Florida, Gainesville. ** College of Pharmacy, The University of Florida, Gainesville. This paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Pharmacy Law in Orlando, March 18, 1995. 1. See Charles D. Hepler and Linda M. Strand, Opportunities and Responsibilities in Pharmaceutical Care, 47 AM. J. HOSP. PHARM. 533 (1990). See also, Richard M. Schulz and David B. Brushwood, The Pharmacist's Role in Patient Care, 21 HASTINGS CENTER REP., Jan. 1991, at 12.

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