Supreme Court Rejects Pharmacist’s Petition
June 20, 2008
Last March, I posted a story on Niel Noesen, a pharmacist who refused to refill or transfer a college student’s birth controll pills.
Noesen, 34, of St. Paul, Minn., told regulators that he is a devout Roman Catholic and refused to refill the prescription or release it to another pharmacy because he didn’t want to commit a sin by “impairing the fertility of a human being.”
The Pharmacy Examining Board ruled in 2005 that Noesen failed to carry out his professional responsibility to get the woman’s prescription to someone else if he wouldn’t fill it himself.
The board reprimanded Noesen and ordered him to attend ethics classes. He was allowed to keep his license as long as he informs all future employers in writing that he won’t dispense birth control pills and outlines steps he will take to make sure a patient has access to medication.
Noesen petitioned the state’s highest court to review a state appellate court ruling that upheld sanctions against him.
The board ruled Noesen violated the standard of care applicable to pharmacists by refusing to fill or transfer the prescription for an oral contraceptive. Noesen claimed the board’s discipline violated his constitutional right of conscientious objection for religious reasons and that the board abused its discretion with the formal discipline instead of a warning.
In its June 10 order, the court ordered that Noesen’s petition for review was denied without costs.
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