Scary

A member of my Celiac listserve just sent the following email:

We have just been told by our pharmacy that they will no longer fill prescriptions for my wife because they cannot be sure that they would be gluten-free. They are citing potential liability if they goof. This is coming from the corporate level, not the local pharmacist who has been extremely helpful in researching the GF status of meds. I do know that a psychologist cannot abandon (refuse services to) an existing patient without providing them with a viable alternative. Doing so can lead to loss of license. Is there a similar requirement for pharmacies or pharmacists? My wife has been diagnosed with and is battling: Celiac, Porphyris, Ankylosing Spondylitis, Heart Disease, Bell’s Palsey, Thyroid disease, Stroke. Her prescriptions are essential. Basically, she will die without her meds. Many of her prescriptions fall outside MEDCO’s formulary, so they are very expensive. The local pharmacist has been giving us the ‘uninsured’ price which helps a lot, but we are still going into heavy credit card debt to buy her meds. This all happened about three hours ago and we are reeling. What it comes down to is that she will die without her meds. Any suggestions? Is it legal to discriminate against her because she has a disease?

WOW, SCARY. Can you imagine? I would be HYSTERICAL! I wish I knew what to tell this person, but I really have no idea if this is legal or not. If it is, it definitely shouldn’t be. I think I’d better do some research… I don’t ever want to be caught in this situation.

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