PEORIA, Ariz. — An Arizona woman whose unborn baby’s heart stopped beating nine weeks into the pregnancy said a pharmacist humiliated her by denying her a medication to help her body release the pregnancy tissue, according to a report by KSAZ-TV.
After learning her pregnancy would not run to term, Nicole Mone was given two options: a surgical procedure to remove the tissue, or a prescription medication to cause her body to release the tissue. She chose the latter.
“I stood at the mercy of this pharmacist explaining my situation in front of my 7 year old, and five customers standing behind only to be denied because of his ethical beliefs. I get it we all have our beliefs. But what he failed to understand is this isn’t the situation I had hoped for, this isn’t something I wanted. This is something I have zero control over,” Mone wrote in a Facebook post after her experience at a Walgreens in Peoria.
Mone said she walked out of the Walgreens without her prescription Thursday night, but she received a notification that the prescription was ready for pickup at another Walgreens location across town.
She learned the pharmacist who denied her the medication had her prescription transferred to the second location.
“I picked up my prescription from that Walgreens with no problems,” Mone said after consulting with her doctor to make sure there would be no further difficulties.
James Graham, senior manager of media relations for Walgreens, issued the following statement to WTSP-TV:
“After learning what happened, we reached out to the patient and apologized for how the situation was handled. To respect the sincerely held beliefs of our pharmacists while at the same time meeting the needs of our patients, our policy allows pharmacists to step away from filling a prescription for which they have a moral objection. At the same time, they are also required to refer the prescription to another pharmacist or manager on duty to meet the patient’s needs in a timely manner. We are looking into the matter to ensure that our patients’ needs are handled properly.”
