Freedom of Choice? Not for Nurses and Flu Vaccines.

[XLFD]

Does this hospital, or any hospital, have the power to mandate their long-term employees into getting flu shots, under the threat of termination?  Even if it's not for religious or any other EEO concern?  Which side do you fall on, and why?

 

Hospital fires EIGHT veteran nurses because they refused to take flu shot for religious reasons
By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 16:59 EST, 1 January 2013 

An Indiana hospital has fired eight employees, many of them veteran nurses, because they refused to take the flu vaccine.
IU Health Goshen is just the latest hospital to force its employees to receive the jab and fire or discipline the ones who object.

At least four of the nurses who was terminated tried to appeal the vaccine on religious grounds with the help of a lawyer. The hospital rejected their arguments and fired them anyway.

The Elkhart Truth reports that the hospital informed its staff in early September that vaccinations would be mandatory for all employees.

The hospital said it was following guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Medical Association, which both recommend mandatory vaccinations for employees.

'As a hospital and health system, our top priority is and should be patient safety, and we know that hospitalized people with compromised immune systems are at a greater risk for illness and death from the flu,' hospital spokeswoman Melanie McDonald told the newspaper.

'The flu has the highest death rate of any vaccine preventable disease, and it would be irresponsible from our perspective for health care providers to ignore that.'
The nurses, though, say the mandate tramples on their own deeply-held religious beliefs.

'I feel like in my personal faith walk, I have felt instructed not to get a flu vaccination, but it’s also the whole matter of the right to choose what I put in my body and what I feel God wants me to put in versus someone mandating what I put in,' Joyce Gingerich told the Truth.

Ms Gingerich, an oncology nurse who worked at the hospital in Goshen for 25 years, said she didn't want to leave her patients or her job - but she said she couldn't compromise her religious beliefs.

 

 

Sue Schrock, a hospice nurse, said she has not had a flu vaccine for 30 years as a result of a choice she made because of her Christian faith.

She said compromising that position was unthinkable.

Read more: Elkhart Truth: Eight hospital employees oppose mandatory flu shots, get fired

[Willy]

There's no proof that flu vaccines reduce the number of flu cases and noone knows what strains of flu will be infecting folks in any given year so flu shots are a hit and miss proposition. In my opinion the hospital was way out of line and I'm sure they will be facing a hefty lawsuit from the fired nurses.

[XLFD]

The legal scuffle that is going to be happening will be based on protections guaranteed under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  A nurse acquaintance I know argues strongly on the hospital's side, but I don't think anyone should be forced to ingest or inject anything into their body against their will as a matter of continued employment.   

The eventual outcome will be an interesting judicial interpretation of the CRA of 1964 and the rights of employees.   

[Willy]

If this does go to court, my guess is the companies that make the vaccines will pay off the nurses before any type of trial begins because in my opinion we will finally find out if flu shots are really affective or are a bunch of hype generated for vaccine producers profits. The nurses will most likely dig up all available research on just how much we really need these shots. I think a lawsuit will reveal what a scam the flu vaccine industry really is.

[masonco]

There are pros and cons to both sides. Yes those who don't do shots have a right, but it does not mean that heath care professionals should not be strongly encouraged to get a flu shot. A better solution would be to wear masks if you work and  are coughing or whatever and check patients daily for any signs of fever or other possible signs/symptoms of viral illness.

[XLFD]

That actually has been the policy of some hospitals, and I would bet few nurses would quibble about having to wear mask or continually wear gloves to keep their jobs during flu season.  But what about hospital waiting rooms?  At most hospitals and doctor's offices the waiting rooms are occupied and visited by a wide variety of sick people laying their infected/infested hands on those same magazines you're reading; I think the least of your worries is a nurse that has not had a flu shot who otherwise follows hygienic practices.

[Jane]

I'm really torn by this, I want to say no they should not have to take the vaccine,yet I don't think vaccines hurt anyone even if they are off the strain of flu they guess will be this seasons culprit.

Looking at it from a patients perspective, if I was very very ill or had a compromised immune system I would not want anyone working on me that had any chance at all of making me sick.

[XLFD]

The effectiveness of flu vaccines are still a question, and there are deaths that occur each year from the vaccines.   Australian public health experts have called for an independent body to monitor drug safety after it emerged that young children were more likely to end up in hospitals because of side effects from a flu vaccine than they were from the disease itself.  Here is an article that perhaps explains why some medical professionals swear off flu vaccines.