Woman claims Peoria Walgreens wouldn’t fill miscarriage prescription
Jun 24, 2018, 4:02 PM | Updated: Jun 25, 2018, 6:28 pm
FILE - This June 4, 2014, file photo, shows a Walgreens retail store in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
(AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
PHOENIX — A woman claimed that a pharmacist at a Walgreens in Peoria would not fill her prescription to treat her miscarriage due to his “ethical beliefs.”
Nicole Mone wrote in a now-viral Facebook post that she was denied when she went to pick up her prescription at a Walgreens near 91st and Peoria avenues last week.
“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.
“I get it, we all have our beliefs. But what he failed to understand is this isn’t the situation I had hoped for, this isn’t something I wanted. This is something I have zero control over.”
Mone continued, saying the pharmacist — identified in the post as Brian Hreniuc — “has no idea what its like to want nothing more than to carry a child to full term and be unable to do so. If you have gone thru a miscarriage you know the pain and emotional roller it can be.”
She said she left the 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.”
Mone said she wanted to share her story in order to spare other women the chance of going through a situation like this, especially when they are “vulnerable and already suffering.”
The post ended on an update that said Mone was able to pick up her prescription at another Walgreens location after Hreniuc “ultimately had it transferred,” but had spoken with her doctor, contacted Walgreens’ corporate office and filed a complaint with the Arizona Board of Pharmacy over the incident.
It has been shared more than 28,000 times and commented on more than 12,000 times since Mone first posted it on June 22.
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s legal analyst Monica Lindstrom told Mac and Gaydos on Monday that Arizona is one of the only states in the nation that allows pharmacists to refuse to fill a prescription due to their moral values.
But according to a tweet from Walgreens, store policy “allows pharmacists to step away from filling a prescription for which they have a moral objection. At the same time, they are also required to refer the prescription to another pharmacist or manager on duty to meet the patient’s needs in a timely manner.”
