(Dallas) More than 150 employees at Houston Methodist Hospital who refused to vaccinate against COVID-19 were fired or resigned after a judge’s ruling.
A spokesman for Houston Methodist Hospital said 153 employees have quit within two weeks or have been laid off.
Earlier this month, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit brought by 117 employees to challenge the vaccination requirement.
This story is being followed closely as it highlights the steps healthcare facilities can take to protect patients and staff from the coronavirus.
Judge Lynn Hughes, in her June 12 ruling, ruled that lead plaintiff Jennifer Bridges’ claim that vaccines were “experimental and dangerous” was false and irrelevant.
It also found that Jennifer Bridges compared the vaccination requirement to medical experiments the Nazis conducted on concentration camp prisoners during the Holocaust, a claim “reprehensible,” according to the judge.
Judge Bridges said that if workers in the hospital system did not like this requirement, they could go and work elsewhere.
The hospital staff who had already lodged the complaint appealed the ruling to 5e United States Court of Appeals. The hospital had demanded that staff be fully vaccinated by June 7.
After this delay, 178 employees were suspended without pay for two weeks for not complying with the rules.
