Last night we had a pretty passionate talk about pharmacists and what rights they have to hide behind shields of morality or religious convictions when refusing to dispense legal medication. If you're interested, you can download the show or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.

And while I clearly won the discussion, an hour didn't really feel like enough time to talk about all of the issues, so I thought I'd bring the topic over to the blog to discuss in more detail. I'm interested in everyone's opinion on this subject:

Should a pharmacist be allowed to refuse to dispense a prescription or over the counter medication to a patient for moral or religious reasons?

If you say yes, should there be any restrictions or conditions on that right? Are there any medications that should always be dispensed regardless (Insulin, heart medication)? Why should they be allowed?

If you say no, what should the penalty be? Why should a pharmacist be forced to serve someone when in other retail environments, the business can refuse service to anyone?