Dawn is an ordained minister in a little church located in a small Midwest commu

Question

Dawn is an ordained minister in a little church located in a small Midwest community. She has had to overcome discrimination as the first female clergy member in the town. However, Dawn feels that her church congregation and other members of the community have finally started to accept her in this new role. Dawn has recently been diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome by a gastroenterologist in the next town. He performed a colonoscopy on Dawn to rule out cancer of the bowel and found nothing more than a few polyps, which he removed. He told Dawn that he wanted her to start taking amitriptyline for three months to see if that would solve her irritable bowel problem. He said that he had success using this antidepressant, also known as Elavil, to treat irritable bowel syndrome. He said that he would call the prescription into Dawn’s local pharmacy.

When Dawn went in to pick up her prescription, she met two members of her congregation, who were also picking up their prescriptions. The pharmacist leaned over the front counter and said to Dawn, “Why are you taking this antidepressant?”  

3A. What rights of Dawn’s were violated?

3B. Were any laws broken by the pharmacist’s statement? If so, what are they?

3C. How could Dawn’s reputation suffer from this brief comment by the pharmacist?

Explanation / Answer

3A) Dawn's right to privacy were violated.

3B) The pharmacist has broken the conscience clause laws.

3C) The people would think that the clergy woman herself was suffering from mental illness.

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