Update: Doctor’s refusal to prescribe birth control creates ‘barrier’ for patients: ethicist

A doctor at a walk-in clinic in southwest Calgary is refusing to prescribe birth control due to her personal beliefs.

Chantal Barry of Westglen Medical Centre does not prescribe contraception. A sign at the facility’s front desk reads, “The physician on duty today will not prescribe the birth control pill.”

A receptionist at the clinic confirmed the policy is based on Barry’s personal preferences and said patients looking for birth control are provided a list of other offices in the city that prescribe it. Westglen only has one doctor available to walk-in patients at any given time.

“I was shocked and outraged,” said Joan Chand’oiseau, 45, who noticed the sign while attending an appointment with her gynecologist Tuesday. Chand’oiseau immediately posted a photo of the sign on Facebook, prompting angry responses from several of her friends.

“I don’t think her belief system should have any part in my reproductive health,” she said.

Pam Krause, president and CEO of the Calgary Sexual Health Centre, said she’s aware of doctors who morally object to making abortion referrals, but refusing to prescribe birth control is virtually unheard of in Alberta.

“This is something you find in really conservative places in the U.S.,” she said.

Personal beliefs should not interfere with a professional responsibilities, she said, adding that the birth control pill is one of the most highly demanded prescriptions.

“It just does not seem acceptable to me because in a way you’re refusing care,” she said. “If somebody has that strong of values and they really can’t do that, it should be set up so that they have to refer to somebody else right away who can do it.”

Under the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta’s policy on Moral or Religious Beliefs Affecting Medical Care, doctors can refuse to provide medical services, but must ensure the patient is offered timely access to those services from another practitioner.

Trevor Theman, registrar with the CPSA, said the policy does not require Westglen to have a doctor on hand who can prescribe the pill.

He did not specify what “timely” meant, but said a delay in receiving a birth control prescription is “not likely going to disadvantage a patient in a serious way.”

“There’s a degree of urgency, but it’s not like life or death today kind of urgency,” he said, adding most women should be seeing a family doctor about their sexual health needs.

“In an ideal world, women who need birth control or are seeking birth control will have a regular doctor and won’t just be dropping into a walk-in clinic to get a prescription for birth control pills.”

In fact, one in five Calgarians ­­— 200,000 people — is without a family doctor and rely on walk-in clinics to serve their medical needs.

“People would have them if they could, but they’re just not available,” said Krause, who called the CPSA’s response ridiculous.

Barry, a University of Alberta alumni, declined to comment. In a 2010 U of A profile, she described the struggles of raising two small children during medical school.

“I was completely exhausted, up all night with my baby, missing part of my rounds and pumping in between lectures . . . It was unbelievably stressful and there were many tears,” she said, citing God as one of her sources of strength.

“If kids happen or someone is planning on children, there are ways of dealing with it and getting through it. It is all worth it.”

Ronald Lim, owner of Westglen Medical Centre, could not be reached for comment.