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   XPost: alt.health   
   From: etbassjr@gmail.com   
      
   Nurses Fired for Refusing Flu Shot   
   ABC News - Thursday, January 3, 2013   
      
      
      
   An Indiana hospital has fired eight employees, including at least   
   three veteran nurses, after they refused mandatory flu shots, stirring   
   up controversy over which should come first: employee rights or   
   patient safety. The hospital imposed mandatory vaccines, responding to   
   rising concerns about the spread of influenza.   
      
   Ethel Hoover wore all black on her last day of work as a nurse in the   
   critical care unit at Indiana University Health Goshen Hospital. She   
   said she was in "mourning" because she would have been at the hospital   
   22 years in February, and she's only called out of work four or five   
   times in her whole career , she said.   
      
   "This is my body. I have a right to refuse the flu vaccine," Hoover,   
   61, told ABCNews.com. "For 21 years, I have religiously not taken the   
   flu vaccine, and now you're telling me that I believe in it."   
      
   More than 15,100 flu cases have been reported to the Centers for   
   Disease Control and Prevention since Sept. 30, including 16 pediatric   
   deaths. Indiana's flu activity level is considered high, according to   
   the CDC, which last month announced that the flu season came a month   
   earlier than usual.   
      
   Click here to read how flu has little to do with weather.   
      
   When Hoover first heard about the mandate, she said she didn't realize   
   officials would take it so seriously. She said she filed two medical   
   exemptions, a religious exemption and two appeals, but they were all   
   denied. The Dec. 15 flu shot deadline came and went. Hoover's last day   
   of employment was Dec. 21.   
      
   Fellow nurse Kacy Davis said she and her colleagues were "horrified"   
   over Hoover's firing, calling her their "go-to" nurse and a   
   "preceptor."   
      
   "It was a good place to work," Hoover said. "We've worked together all   
   these years. We're like a family."   
      
   The hospital said in a statement that it implemented the mandate to   
   promote patient safety based on recommendations from the American   
   Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, and the Centers   
   for Disease Control and Prevention. It announced the mandate in   
   September. Of the hospital's 26,000 employees statewide, 95 percent   
   complied. That means 1,300 employees did not comply, but only eight   
   were fired.   
      
   "IU Health's top priority is the health and wellbeing of our   
   patients," said hospital spokeswoman Whitney Ertel. "Participation in   
   the annual Influenza Patient Safety Program is a condition of   
   employment with IU Health for the health and safety of the patients   
   that we serve, and is therefore required."   
      
   The CDC recommends flu shots for everyone older than six months of   
   age. Dr. William Schaffner, chair of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt   
   University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., said hospital patients   
   are especially vulnerable to flu complications because their bodies   
   are already weakened.   
      
   "I cannot think of a reason for any health care professional to   
   decline influenza immunization that's valid," said Schaffner, a former   
   president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, adding   
   that people with egg allergies may have to avoid the flu shot to   
   prevent anaphylactic shock, but even that hurdle has been remedied.   
   The Food and Drug Administration approved an egg-free vaccine in   
   November.   
      
   Schaffner said invalid excuses to avoid the shot include being afraid   
   of needles and simply promising to stay home when they're sick.   
   Patients now have the option of a vaccine nasal spray if they want to   
   avoid needles. And since flu victims become contagious before they   
   start to feel sick, they can get patients sick even if they stay home   
   when they have symptoms.   
      
   Over the last several years, hospitals have been moving toward   
   mandatory vaccinations because many only have 60 percent vaccination   
   rates, Schaffner said. He is leading an effort for a similar mandate   
   at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.   
      
   Nurses in particular tend to be the most reluctant to get vaccinated   
   among health care workers, Schaffner said, citing his opinion.   
      
   "There seems to be a persistent myth that you can get flu from a flu   
   vaccine among nurses," he said. "They subject themselves to more   
   influenza by not being immunized, and they certainly do not   
   participate in putting patient safety first."   
      
   In October 2011, Vanderbilt broke the world record for number of   
   vaccines administered in an eight-hour period in an event called   
   Flulapalooza. From 6:50 a.m. to 2:50 p.m., they vaccinated 12,647   
   people. By that evening, more than 14,000 people had been vaccinated,   
   and there were no severe adverse reactions, he said.   
      
   But still, Alan Phillips, who represented several nurses at the   
   hospital, says his clients had the right to refuse their flu shots   
   under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits   
   religious discrimination of employees. Religion is legally broad under   
   the First Amendment, so it could include any strongly held belief, he   
   said, adding that the belief flu shots are bad should suffice.   
      
   "If your personal beliefs are religious in nature, then they are a   
   protected belief," Phillips said.   
      
   Phillips, who is based out of North Carolina, has made a name for   
   himself fighting for employees' rights to get out of mandated flu   
   shots, but he has never needed to go to court. Although he usually   
   handles a couple dozen health care workers per year, he had 150 this   
   fall in 25 states.   
      
   Dr. Damon Raskin, an internist with his own practice in the Pacific   
   Palisades in Los Angeles, said hospitals should mandate flu vaccines   
   as a matter of public safety. The flu can lead to complications like   
   pneumonia and death, said Raskin, who is also affiliated with the   
   Cliffside Malibu Addiction Rehabilitation Center.   
      
   "I think if the health care worker has some problem with religious   
   faith then perhaps during flu season, they shouldn't do that job,"   
   Raskin said, suggesting that the worker do something administrative   
   instead during flu season. "It's not fair to the patient. The people   
   who are most at risk are in the hospital."   
      
      
      
      
   http://news.yahoo.com/nurses-fired-refusing-flu-shot-224637902--   
   bc-news-health.html   
      
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