A new lighter and simpler code. This is the guarantee displayed by the National Council of the Order of Pharmacists, after the adoption of the draft new code which governs the rights and duties of the profession. If it will now be submitted to the Ministry of Health who will validate or not, after consultation with the Council of State, the publication of this decree, it is a certainty: the conscience clause which had caused so much stir has been excluded. of the new code.
Small step back: this clause of conscience of pharmacists, initially on the menu of the discussions of the new text, had removed a lot of reluctance and fears because it mentioned the right for the pharmacist to “refuse to perform a pharmaceutical act likely to attack human life “. This rather vague precision had made fear the possibility for the professional to refuse the issuance of contraceptives.
Faced with the controversy, the Order of Pharmacists had stepped back and decided to suspend consultation with pharmacists on this clause, which is too prone to confusion. “The article relating to the introduction of a possible conscience clause, whose consultation had been suspended during the summer of 2016, was not retained and therefore does not appear in the project “, notes the Order of Pharmacists in a statement.
#pharmacist The order definitively abandons the possibility of a “conscience clause” in its new code of … https://t.co/kIztQXfTxB
– Chronicity (@chronicite) September 8, 2016
Patient rights strengthened in the new pharmacists’ code
The revised version of the code, which arrives in the hands of the government, was designed “with the firm resolution to strengthen respect for the rights and freedoms of patients and to be part of current professional practices“, specifies the Order of pharmacists.
The new code “ensures the protection of patient data […]; it insists on professional independence while promoting the relationship between pharmacists and other health professionals and the continuity of care […]; it affirms the role of public health, information and prevention of pharmacists with regard to the population “.
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