Sean Murphy*
Code of Ethics (2009)
A protection of conscience provision is found in the Alberta College of Pharmacy Code of Ethics (2009).1 Objecting pharmacists are directed
- to help patients “obtain appropriate pharmacy services from another pharmacist or health professional within a time frame fitting the patient’s needs” (clause 3);
- to arrange their practices so that “the care of [their] patients will not be jeopardized” when they refuse to provide services for reasons of conscience (clause 4);
- to continue “to provide professional services” until another pharmacist or health professional has assumed responsibility (clause 1).
The text seems to presume that the objecting pharmacist need not provide the morally contested service. The requirement to continue to provide “professional services” until someone else assumes responsiblity does not impose an obligation to provide it if another professional is not available within the relevant time frame. . . [Full text]