Walgreens needs to fire Brian Hreniuc immediately
By the Kid
In case you have no idea what I’m talking about, here’s a summary from the New York Times about the current trending story of America’s newest villain:
Excerpt from the New York Times Article: “Nine weeks into her pregnancy, Nicole Arteaga got distressing news from her doctor: There was no fetal heartbeat and the pregnancy would end in a miscarriage. Rather than have a surgical procedure to remove the fetal tissue from her uterus, Ms. Arteaga, a first-grade teacher who lives in Peoria, Ariz., decided on Wednesday to take misoprostol, a medication that can be used to end a failed pregnancy. She dropped off a prescription for the medication and by that night, got an email saying it was ready to be picked up.
But when she tried to get the medication from her local Walgreens on Thursday, the pharmacist [Brian Hreniuc] asked whether she was pregnant. When she said she was, he refused to give her the misoprostol, citing “his ethical beliefs,” she recalled in a detailed account on Facebook.
“I stood at the mercy of this pharmacist explaining my situation in front of my 7-year-old, and five customers standing behind only to be denied because of his ethical beliefs,” she wrote, adding, “I left Walgreens in tears, ashamed and feeling humiliated by a man who knows nothing of my struggles but feels it is his right to deny medication prescribed to me by my doctor.”
Walgreens needs to fire this Brian Hrenciuc pharmacist yesterday, no question about it. There’s nothing I hate more than people who try to push their own psychotic, religious beliefs upon others. And yes, I described religious beliefs as psychotic. I have no use for religion. Sure it provides comfort, and I am sometimes envious of people who use it as such in times of distress. But all too often religion is the justification for telling others how to live their lives, and unfortunately the positive attributes of religion are the ones least practiced, like having good values and treating others with kindness and compassion. The only religious rule I (try to) follow is the Golden Rule, “do to others what you want them to do to you.” I’m sure I follow other rules without meaning to, like “don’t covet thy neighbor’s wife”, but those types of actions (or inactions) should just fall under a general rule called “just live like a decent human being.”
The part that pisses me off most about this story is actually not what happened. It’s not that some religious whack job thinks he has the moral authority to deny someone prescribed medication based on his own delusions. It’s not that abortion is STILL an issue for women. It’s that she didn’t need to explain her situation to him, or any of us for that matter. We don’t need to hear her reasons for the medication. We don’t need the details, we don’t need to know her personal condition or the circumstances of her medical choice. She shouldn’t have to explain anything, and THAT is what ticks me off the most. It was none of his business and is currently none of ours. When he asked her if she was pregnant she should’ve told him from the start it wasn’t any of his fucking business, and if for some reason they need confirmation of a pregnancy before dispensing that medication then that should’ve been the only detail she divulged. The fact that he made her feel like she needed to explain herself is reprehensible. So if any of you ever find yourself in a similar situation, just know that you don’t owe an explanation about your choices regarding your healthcare to anyone, especially some jack off pharmacist named Brian Hrenciuc.