Kroger's exercise in futility

Kroger Response to Emergency Contraception

    ATLANTA, March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co. believes that
medications are a private patient matter. Our role as a retail pharmacy
operator is to furnish medication using applicable professional standards
in accordance with a doctor's prescription or as requested by a customer.
    The Kroger Co. began carrying dual label OTC Plan-B in November of
2006, when the FDA approved it. It is our policy to carry the product in
all of our stores.
    If, for whatever reason, an individual pharmacist objects to furnishing
this or any other medication, our policy is to find a way to accommodate
the customer.
    We are taking additional steps to make certain that all of our pharmacy
teams have a clear understanding of this policy.

SOURCE The Kroger Co.

This press-release coming actually three days prior to Family News in Focus running a related story on their Monday news program: "NARAL Bullies Kroger over Abortion Drug." (Just to clarify: they're talking about Plan B, not RU-486.) The story actually quotes NARAL Georgia director, Dionne Vann,

“We’re seeing here that somehow these personal values are interfering with medical decisions made between a patient and their doctor,"

and goes on to supply a response from Sadie Fields, director of the Georgia Christian Alliance,

“If they object to any drug based on their conscience, how they feel or believe about it, then they have the right to not participate or to participate.”

FNiF goes on to report that Fields thinks NARAL is just "causing a stir."

“When they go after a corporation for making a corporate decision or after the individual store for making a decision that best suits their beliefs or what they want to do," she said, "then they’re going too far.”

According to a CNN story last Friday, a Rome, Georgia woman named Carrie Baker requested her local Kroger pharmacy to order the Plan B contraceptive, meaning, to actually stock the over-the-counter medicine at this one pharmacy (rather than the woman needing immediate access in order to deal with a pending situation). But even without the typical appeal to pathos, the case of this particular Kroger pharmacy (or specific head pharmacist) disregarding the company's stated policy is interesting for a couple reasons.

One: if the company-wide policy was to stock Plan B since November, why wasn't the drug ever shipped or supplied to this store in Georgia? The pharmacist would have either refused the shipment or refused to order a shipment---both of which should have aroused... well, something... and been addressed early.

Two: the pharmacist may have lied about stocking the drug, which would have violated the policy anyway (by not offering "accommodations" in the form of referral to substitute pharmacist or another pharmacy) and should presumably be subject to disciplinary actions by the company.

The FNiF broadcast incorrectly calls NARAL's action a campaign to force Kroger into changing its policy, which they state is: "to allow each store to make their (sic) own buying decision based on demographics,"(see above for the company's stated policy) but it would appear more accurate that NARAL is trying to assert that if Kroger is going to set a corporate-wide policy for the drug's distribution, Kroger and its pharmacies should follow it.

What FNiF does bring up correctly, however, is the Georgia state law regarding pharmacist's consciences. The law's Code of Conduct regarding this appears to be pretty clear:

Georgia Admin. Code § 480-5-.03
(n) Refusal to Fill Prescription. It shall not be considered unprofessional conduct for any pharmacist to refuse to fill any prescription based on his/her professional judgment or ethical or moral beliefs.

However, the Georgia Code of Conduct does not create any direct conflict to Kroger's stated policy of simply stocking the Plan B drug. If Kroger is going to be serious about following its own policy, it should, nay must do the right thing: stock the drug in its Rome, Georgia stores so that the pharmacists there can refuse to sell it to the customers.