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2005 Wis. L. Rev. 1611 (2005)
Conscience Clauses for Pharmacists: The Struggle to Balance Conscience Rights with the Rights of Patients and Institutions

handle is hein.journals/wlr2005 and id is 1625 raw text is: CONSCIENCE CLAUSES FOR PHARMACISTS: THE STRUGGLE TO BALANCE CONSCIENCE RIGHTS WITH THE RIGHTS OF PATIENTS AND INSTITUTIONS MATTHEW WHITE* I. INTRODUCTION On Saturday, July 6, 2002, a pharmacist named Neil Noesen filled in for a vacationing pharmacist at a Menominee, Wisconsin K-Mart pharmacy.' When Mr. Noesen agreed to fill in at the pharmacy, he agreed with the managing pharmacist that he would not fill prescriptions for contraceptives because of his religious beliefs.2 On that particular Saturday, however, Mr. Noesen was working at the pharmacy alone, so when Amanda Phiede came in with a prescription for birth control pills, the stage was set for a confrontation.3 When Ms. Phiede asked Mr. Noesen to fill her prescription, he asked her why she was taking the pills.4 Ms. Phiede answered that the pills were being taken for contraceptive purposes, and accordingly, Mr. Noesen refused to dispense the pills.' Ms. Phiede went to a nearby Wal-Mart and asked that they fill the prescription.6 When the Wal- Mart pharmacist called Mr. Noesen to have the prescription transferred, Mr. Noesen refused, saying later, it would be a sin to induce another to sin.7 Mr. Noesen was the only pharmacist on duty the following day as well and again refused to release the prescription * B.A., University of Wisconsin, 2002; J.D., University of Wisconsin Law School, 2006. Thank you to my family for their love and support, and to my wife Sharon for her immense patience, her constant juggling, and her sense of humor, without which I could never have achieved so much. I would also like to thank my friends and colleagues on the Wisconsin Law Review for their help in crafting and revising this Comment. 1. Anita Weier, Patient, Pharmacist Collide; Birth Control Pill Conflict Shows Dilemma, CAP. TIMES (Madison, Wis.), Mar. 16, 2004, at IA [hereinafter Weier, Patient. 2. Id. 3. Anita Weier, Rx License Is on the Line in Birth Pill Fight; Pharmacist Refused to Fill Woman's Order, CAP. TIMES (Madison, Wis.), Oct. 12, 2004, at IA [hereinafter Weier, Rx License]. 4. Weier, Patient, supra note 1, at 1A. 5. Id. 6. Id. 7. Weier, Rx License, supra note 3, at 1A.