Judge dismisses Houston hospital workers' lawsuit over vaccination mandate.

[marble falls]

Judge dismisses Houston hospital workers’ lawsuit over vaccination mandate.

https://www.nytimes.com/

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U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes, in the Southern District of Texas, issued a ruling on Saturday that upheld the hospital’s new policy, announced in April. The judge said the hospital’s decision to mandate inoculations for its employees was consistent with public policy.

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“The hospital’s employees are not participants in a human trial,” Judge Hughes wrote. “Methodist is trying to do their business of saving lives without giving them the Covid-19 virus. It is a choice made to keep staff, patients and their families safer.”

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Ms. Bridges cited the lack of full Food and Drug Administration approval for the shot as justification for refusing to get vaccinated. But the F.D.A., which has granted emergency use authorizations for three vaccines, says clinical trials and post-market study shows they are safe, as does the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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“Bridges can freely choose to accept or refuse a Covid-19 vaccine, however if she refuses, she will simply need to work somewhere else,” he said, also rejecting the argument that employees were being coerced.

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— Sheila Kaplan




The judge also commented on The plaintiff's comparing the vaccination mandate to Nazi medical experimentation during the Holocaust treatment as “reprehensible”.

[MiniMe]

1. Isn't Texas an "at will" state?

[marble falls]

3. Yes, but you still can't fire someone for a reason that is illegal. I can write you a final check ..

... and we shake hands. But if I fire you for being a woman, the consequences are different. What the nurse and her group are saying is this wasn't a right to work decision but a concerted effort to clear out a class of workers, the unvaccinated, as prejudicial.

I don't have to make any prejudicial comment, if my behavior is prejudicial in effect.

[captain queeg]

2. I used to have to wear a hair net when I worked in meat packing.

Even the Amish wore them on their beards. Everyone understood it was a sanitary measure. Maybe not all that effective but the effort was made.