More than 150 health workers at Houston Methodist Hospital have resigned or were fired because they refused to take a COVID vaccine, according to NPR.
They resigned or were suspended or terminated after a judge dismissed an employee lawsuit over the vaccine requirement.
A spokesperson for the hospital said, “153 employees either resigned in the two-week suspension period or were terminated on Tuesday.”
Earlier this month, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit filed by 117 employees over the vaccine requirement.
Officials have closely been watching the case over how far health institutions can go to protect patients and others against the deadly coronavirus. In the United States, it is believed to be the first of its kind, but it will not be the end of the debate.
In the June 12 ruling, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes of Houston deemed lead plaintiff Jennifer Bridges’ contention that the vaccines are “experimental and dangerous” to be false and otherwise irrelevant, according to NPR.
The judge also found that her “likening the vaccination requirement to the Nazis’ forced medical experimentation on concentration camp captives during the Holocaust to be ‘reprehensible,’” according to the news outlet.
The judge said, “If employees of the hospital system didn’t like the requirement, they could go work elsewhere.”
The health workers who filed the lawsuit have appealed the judge’s dismal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Houston Methodist Hospital system had required all employees to complete their vaccination by June 7.
After the due date, the hospital system suspended 178 employees for two weeks without pay for not complying. The article was published in NPR.
