Long story short:
I went to my family doctor today to start myself on Chantix (those of you who don't know what it is, it's a prescription to stop smoking). While we were talking I told him that I would like to start birth control soon and wanted to know if Chantix would affect the birth control in any way.
This was his response and I quote "I don't know...We actually aren't allowed to write out prescriptions for birth control, the Catholic church will not allow us. I mean, if it was a 15 year old girl who wanted to regulate her period, that would be fine. Other then that we don't do it. If you get it from your gynecologist, you can ask them"
I didn't know what to say to that, I was really taken aback with what he said to me.
Tim said that we are going to get a new doctor, which I agree 100%. There's no way that I want the catholic church to influence my family doctor.. What other diagnosis has he possibly given me that was influenced by the Catholic church??
Pardon me if I didnt get a chance to read all the posts as i know I may have missed some points clarified already at this point. I'll just answer the OP and 1 post which i think i may know answers to
1) family MD: are just that. They have the basic general knowledge about medicine particularly family med but they didn't specialize or didnt go into training unlike specialists like your gynecologist ( more years into residency and specialization )
Your family MD might only know basic stuffs about Chantix without all the bits of info about stuffs complicating or prescribing such medication. Hence such General MD if it's not within their scope of practice would make it not their business bcoz they can be held liable if they dont know your obstetrics and gynecological history and they prescribe a birth control pill just bcoz a patient requests it. I know it may not make sense to you......BUT being in the healthcare system myself - am just stating facts of how it is. Sorry as i truly understand how you're feeling and where you're coming from
2) Catholic church involvement: If that's a Catholic institution then those MDs are bound by contract with the Catholic church. I know it sounds ridiculous but it's the truth. Every transaction done thru the church given that church funds them shall be within the standards set by the contract with that church. Otherwise they lose business and patients loyal to such church. Unfortunately, they will also lose patients like yourself not being a part of that church I presume....BUt that's very minute loss for them over what they lose if they break contract with such church. It's much more complicated than you can see from the surface- billing even with Insurance companies would also have contracts with the church and business is business for them.Even if such service is already rendered to you for example- they are NOT guaranteed payments until approved by Insurance in coordination with the church
3) girl who's bleeding and why one can prescribe birth control pills: Bcoz the MD can justify the payment claims with the Insurance and the church with a medical diagnosis.
For yours- he can't justify as you currently don't have a medical condition that he can base a prescription for.
Other MDs of course not within the control of the church may prescribe the pills BUT most dont want to take that risk nowadays given the many lawsuits due to the lack of gynecological/obstetrics records to help them justify prescribing such.
What the fuck?
I'd think about reporting him to someone for that. How can he say it'd be okay to give you the pill if you were young and unmarried, but not if you're an adult woman trying to have safe sex? That's insane.
Is the clinic he works in funded by a church or something? I've heard about hospitals having to refuse abortion cases because they'd lose support from the church, maybe it's along those lines.
It's still ridiculous though. Religion should have no place in a doctor's clinic. If YOU wanted to refuse treatment based on religious grounds then that's your right, but he shouldn't be able to withhold options because of his own beliefs.
1) It's not a matter of prescribing the birth control pills if one is married or unmarried- it's a matter of having a medical diagnosis to justify approval by the church and insurance company for that matter.
2) Its not also a matter of the MDs beliefs. Doent necessarily mean that bcoz the MDs work for Catholic Institutions that they believe in what they are bound by the contract with such church. Nope that's not always the case
