A transgender woman living in Arizona
has filed a complaint against CVS for refusing to fill her hormone
prescription.
Hilde Hall said in a blog post
published on the American Civil Liberties Union's (ACLU) website that
she was excited to fill her first hormone therapy prescription.
“I was finally going to start seeing
my body reflect my gender identity and the woman I've always known
myself to be,” Hall said.
Hall said that instead of walking out
of the pharmacy with a prescription, she left feeling humiliated by
the pharmacist.
“He just kept asking, loudly and in
front of other CVS staff and customers, why I was given the
prescriptions," she
said.
"Embarrassed and distressed, I
nearly started crying in the middle of the store," she wrote. "I
didn't want to answer why I had been prescribed this hormone therapy
combination by my doctor. I felt like the pharmacist was trying to
out me as transgender in front of strangers. I just froze and worked
on holding back the tears."
Hall filed a complaint with the Arizona
State Board of Pharmacy after CVS failed to address her concerns.
CVS apologized in a statement given to
CNN.
“CVS Health extends its sincere
apologies to Ms. Hall for her experience at our pharmacy in Fountain
Hills, Arizona last spring,” the statement reads.
“We also apologize for not
appropriately following up on Ms. Hall's original complaint to CVS,
which was due to an unintentional oversight, " the
company said. "We pride ourselves in addressing customer
concerns in a timely manner and we are taking steps to prevent this
isolated occurrence from happening again."
The chain added that the pharmacist's
response does not reflect its “values” or “commitment to
inclusion, nondiscrimination and the delivery of outstanding patient
care.”
(Related: CVS
fires 2 employees involved in calling 911 on black woman over
coupon.)