US pro choice action opportunity

[firecat]

(The below is the text of a message I received from NARAL's pro choice action network)

It should be simple: a woman walks into a pharmacy with her
prescription and walks out with her medicine. Right?

If only it were that easy.

Rogue anti-choice pharmacists across the country are refusing to
fill safe, legal prescriptions for birth control. Some
pharmacists lecture women, humiliate them in public, and refuse
to hand back the prescription even after they refuse to fill it.
This is outrageous -- and it must be stopped.

I just took action with NARAL Pro-Choice America to stop
pharmacy refusals. Join me today! You can ask your members of
Congress to support legislation to ensure women have their
prescriptions filled -- click here:
http://prochoiceaction.org/campaign/98_griswold?rk=jp_1fvE1UmZmW

Comments

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

One point that can't be made too often:

Any pharmacist who hassles or lectures a customer in such a way that other customers or nearby store employees can hear them is in violation of Federal law. This is a HIPAA violation of confidentiality and can be taken up with the regional Federal enforcement agency to get that pharmacist censured or fired. Just leapfrog right over the small-town mentality and go straight to the thousand-pound gorilla!

True, that won't help a woman in an emergency situation -- but if it happens enough times, we can do a lot to stop this plague even without recourse to Congress. Take a friend with you when you go to get your prescription filled, so that there is another person there who can testify to the violation.

[firecat]

Then I wonder why they need to pass another federal law to prevent it (which is what this action campaign is about)? Maybe this law has more teeth?

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

HIPAA only comes in if it happens in front of other people. If you're the only person within earshot, no violation -- that's why I said "take a friend with you".

I'm guessing that the law they're pushing for is more comprehensive and addresses the issue directly, rather than as a sideline to "patient confidentiality".

Note that I am not a medical professional. But this is what I've been told by someone who is.