Transgender woman: A CVS pharmacist in Fountain Hills denied my hormone prescription

Grace Palmieri | The Republic | azcentral.com

Corrections & Clarifications: Arizona law allows pharmacists to decline to fill abortion-related prescriptions on moral and religious grounds. But no Arizona law gives pharmacists the explicit right to deny to fill other prescriptions. Information about the laws was incorrect in the original story. Also, Mike DeAngelis' last name was spelled incorrectly in some places.

A transgender woman in Arizona is speaking out after she says a CVS pharmacist denied her hormone prescription.

The pharmacist questioned her loudly in front of other customers and rejected her and her doctor's requests to transfer the prescription to another location, Hilde Hall said in a blog post published on the ACLU of Arizona's website Thursday.

News of the encounter comes weeks after another woman, Nicole Arteaga, was denied her miscarriage medication at a Walgreens pharmacy in Peoria.

Arizona is one of six states that allow pharmacies and pharmacists to refuse to fill an abortion-related prescription on religious or moral grounds. The pharmacy isn't required to transfer refused prescriptions, but companies may make workplace polices that require referrals.

But no Arizona law gives pharmacists the explicit right to deny to fill other prescriptions.

Hall said the prescription marked her first round of hormone therapy.

"I left my doctor's office elated," she wrote. "I was finally going to start seeing my body reflect my gender identity and the woman I've always known myself to be."

MORE: Can a pharmacist legally justify denying medication?

Hall had received three prescriptions on April 24 from her doctor, who specializes in hormone therapy, she said.

But when she gave them to the pharmacist at a CVS in Fountain Hills, he denied her the medication and didn't give a reason, according to the post.

"He just kept asking, loudly and in front of other CVS staff and customers, why I was given the prescriptions," Hall wrote. "… I felt like the pharmacist was trying to out me as transgender in front of strangers."

Here's what you can do if a pharmacist refuses to fill your prescription Steve Kilar of ACLU Arizona speaks with Republic reporter Bree Burkitt about incidents where Arizona pharmacists denied to fill women's prescriptions.

In her post, Hall says the pharmacist would not give her back the prescription note, so she was unable to take it to another pharmacy to be filled.

"I left the store feeling mortified," Hall wrote.

After she called her doctor's office to explain what happened and the office contacted the pharmacist, he continued to refuse to fill the prescription or explain why, she said.

The doctor instead sent a new prescription to a local Walgreens, where it was filled without question, according to the post.

Hall then transferred all of her prescriptions to that Walgreens "so that I never again have to see the pharmacist who discriminated against me," she wrote.

She filed a complaint with CVS after the incident but didn't receive acknowledgement for her concerns, Hall said.

In an email statement to The Arizona Republic on Friday morning, CVS Health apologized for the incident.

"CVS Health extends its sincere apologies to Ms. Hall for her experience at our pharmacy in Fountain Hills, Arizona last spring," said Mike DeAngelis, senior director of corporate communications for CVS.

Arizona pharmacist talks about ability to refuse to fill a prescription Melrose Pharmacy pharmacist Brandon Luke speaks with Republic reporter Bree Burkitt about the right of a pharmacist to refuse to fill a prescription.

He said the pharmacist violated company policies and "does not reflect our values or our commitment to inclusion, nondiscrimination and the delivery of outstanding patient care."

DeAngelis confirmed the employee is no longer employed by CVS.

"We also apologize for not appropriately following up on Ms. Hall's original complaint to CVS, which was due to an unintentional oversight," he said in the email.

DeAngelis added they are making arrangements to speak with Hall today.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona encouraged Hall to speak out to create change on behalf of transgender people, said Steve Kilar, ACLU of Arizona spokesman.

"She's obviously not the first person this has happened to, so the more people we can make aware of the problem, the better," he said.

But Kilar added he's never seen an incident quite like this one.

"I think now that this is on people's radar, they're more willing to talk about it," he said.

Hall said she has filed a complaint with the Arizona State Board of Pharmacy.

Nicole Arteaga talks about a Walgreens pharmacist denying to give her a prescription After a miscarriage, Nicole Arteaga had a doctor prescription filled at Walgreens. She went to pick it up, the pharmacist refused to give it to her.

After Arteaga complained to the pharmacy board about a Walgreens pharmacist denying her a miscarriage-related prescription because of personal beliefs, the agency began an investigation.

Arteaga's doctor had ordered the drugs to terminate a wanted pregnancy after the fetus was found without a heartbeat. She said she chose the medication instead of undergoing an invasive medical procedure.

Walgreens policy requires pharmacists who morally object to filling a prescription to refer it to another pharmacist or manager "in a timely manner," which Arteaga's pharmacist did not do.

It was unclear late Thursday whether CVS has a similar policy.

Hall said she hopes CVS will also take action and apologize for the way she was treated.

"Through training and written policies, the company needs to make it clear to their employees — especially their pharmacists — that transgender customers deserve respect," she wrote.

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