Wouldn't this be filed under lawsuit abuse?

The Republicans in the state legislature passed a ridiculously long list of bills aimed at restricting the ability of Wisconsin residents to file many types of lawsuits. Governor Doyle had to veto many bills to protect people's access to the court system. They did however try to protect the ability of certain people to abuse the legal system.

The one group they did try to protect is pharmacists (and other medical professionals) that want to deny a woman the right to have her birth control prescription filled simply because they believe it is morally wrong that the woman is taking birth control. The Republicans passed AB 207 this session which would provide a liability and disciplinary exemption for any health care worker that refuse to due certain procedures because of their religion. The Assembly Republicans also refused to require pharmacists to dispense all FDA-approved contraceptives to patients by voting against bringing AB532 to the floor.

Over the weekend we saw the pharmacist that was sanctioned in 2002 by the state Pharmacy Examination Board for refusing to transfer the birth control prescription to another pharmacy in Menomonie, Wisconsin lost a lawsuit against Wal-Mart for firing him. According to a story in the Wisconsin State Journal, Wal-Mart tried to accommodate his religious views not fill birth control prescriptions by having other pharmacists fill them but he wasn't satisfied with that.

He put customers calling about their birth control prescriptions on hold indefinitely and refused to get another pharmacist for those that showed up in person wanting to fill birth control. After this went on for a while, Wal-Mart fired him. He didn't go away quitely either.

In fact, when Wal-Mart asked him to leave the store he refused and had to be physically removed from the store in a wheelchair by the police. Then he sued Wal-mart for firing him.

A U.S. District Judge ruled last week that Wal-Mart was justified in firing him.

It's safe to say this guy isn't really interested in being a pharmacist at all. He only wants to push his personal religious beliefs on everyone else.

The Republicans in the state legislature think we should all protect this guy's right to go to court so he can cause this much trouble at work and not do his job, but think we should also limit the ability of citizens injured by a product to recover damages from the product’s manufacturer, distributor or seller (SB 58).

Justice for all. All of the Republican campaign supporters that is.

Update: For those looking for the story online, you can find it at the La Crosse Tribune page here.