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Excellent points, Poppinjay. I still believe that even under this business model, the pharmacists are being unethical. That is, I suppose, only if we can assume they wish to operate for the benefit of the general public and they don't help the patient find out how or where they can get their prescription filled. If they were meant to serve their religious community only, then I imagine I'd be fine with it.
There is a difference between refusing to carry soda and candy and refusing to fill a valid prescription. If someone has a religious reason why they can't do their job, then they should at least find the best way to serve the customer.
I like the idea that there is a code preventing pharmacists from deciding what patients receive on the authority of doctors based on something unrelated. I don't like the idea of pharmacists interfering with the work of doctors. They can refuse to do something based on religion, but I expect them to be professional about it.
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
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