Indiana Nurses Fired for Refusing Flu Shot

Just ran across this article earlier today.

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.

"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."

Although I most certainly believe patient health trumps employee rights, I don't believe this is a patient health issue. If an employee has a cold or flu, you tell them to stay home until they are over it. Forcing them to get a flu shot because it's good for hospital and big pharma PR, is draconian, and unethical...imho.

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.

This is probably true. I know some medical professionals who will not get that shot!

"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."

A myth huh? Then why is it that I know several people, including medical professionals, who say the worst flu they ever had was after they received this shot. As for the last part of that statement, Bollocks!!!

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.

And this can't happen to people who have had the jab? Again. Bollocks!!!

I'm not buying into the PR campaign, nor the propaganda. As I said above. Flu shots are good for big pharma, so they would push for a huge turn on their investment, no matter what the risks were.

Source

reply to post by Klassified


Here is my issue with a person being fired for this type of thing.....

Does the hospital require proof to those whom are visiting or being admitted proof of a flu shot??? If not, then how can they use it to fire and employee??

Seems like more proof that Big Pharm and Big Brother have more of an agenda than their propaganda that people need to be coerced into taking a vaccine.......

reply to post by seeker1963

That's a really good point! And it makes me wonder if maybe this is what they're working toward.

"We can't admit you to our facility, or doctors office Seeker until you've had a flu shot, sorry."

reply to post by Klassified


This reminds me of Christmas Day dinner at my in-laws. We started talking about how the flu was going around. Both my mother and father in-law talked about how they got the flu shot a few days ago. Two days later they both came down with the flu. So much for flu shots, there's too many strains and one shot won't protect you from all of them.

I personally believe subjecting yourself to germs and viruses strengthens your immune system. I never went to the doctor when I came down with the flu. I always grinned and bared it. I feel I fight off more germs and viruses because of it.

reply to post by WeRpeons

I personally believe subjecting yourself to germs and viruses strengthens your immune system. I never went to the doctor when I came down with the flu. I always grinned and bared it. I feel I fight off more germs and viruses because of it.

Also a good point. Our system is already designed to fight this stuff off. Maintaining our body properly aides the immune system in doing that.

Originally posted by WeRpeons
reply to post by Klassified

 

I personally believe subjecting yourself to germs and viruses strengthens your immune system.

Technically that is what vaccines do, exposing your body to pathogens, but I agree with you fully that we shouldn't try to insulate ourselves too much from common sicknesses. Unfortunately overuse of antibiotics has already created new generations of monster bacteria and other lovely things you can get at your local hospital.

Certainly much more dangerous than refusing a vaccine for the flu.

reply to post by Mkoll

Nearly half of 50 hospital rooms tested by researchers were colonized or infected with a multidrug-resistant bacteria, a new study says.

University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers found Acinetobacter baumannii (MDR-AB) bacteria on multiple surfaces, including bedrails, supply carts and floors. This species of bacteria, which has caused infection outbreaks in health care facilities over the last decade, can survive on surfaces for long periods of time. MDR-AB infections mainly occur in patients who are very ill, wounded or have weakened immune systems.

Hospital Rooms Crawling With Drug-Resistant Germs: Study

Nearly half of patient rooms sampled tested positive for Acinetobacter baumannii

Yeppers! Better to fire some good employees, than clean up our existing mess aye?!

I don't know what vaccines are actually doing to people, even whether they are preventing influenza etc, but I know one thing, I have never had a vaccination apart from the one when I was born and I have never had a flu that I couldn't handle even without medication. Its BS people willingly accept this stuff being pumped into them without even knowing what is going into their bodies and good on these nurses for standing up for their beliefs.

This is something we should all be paying close attention to, and the outcome of it. Disconcerting on many levels.
Big picture, everyone??!
Thanks for the info, Klassified.

All of my kids are adults now. One had the whole gamut of vaccines required by law, one had the ones required in the first couple years of life and the last two have never had a single vaccination.

My 2 who have been vaccinated have been sickly kids all their lives. Every bug that comes around, they catch. My kids who have never had any shots at all, get a cold about once a year if that. Worst illness we had was a true case of the mumps which she got through just fine.

In my youth, my father was in the military and I had shots for everything and got deathly ill from most of them. The worst was in 1969 when they used a live virus flu vaccine that nearly killed me.

I don't care if people wish to vaccinate but forcing people to do it is ridiculous. I have my reasons for not doing it and putting someone's job on the line for refusing to do it is just not right. Of course in Indiana, it doesn't surprise me. We also have this rule that if kids take the state approved online homeschool courses, they have to be vaccinated. Go figure.

We had the same thing happen in Kentucky with Norton Hospitals.
A mandatory inoculation of workers for the flu.

They also tried the totally non smoking policy also,but I don't think that one worked.
That is the workers couldn't take a smoke break,couldn't smoke at lunch or they're time off.

They are forcing us to abide by dangling jobs in front of your face.

reply to post by kdog1982

They are forcing us to abide by dangling jobs in front of your face.

As George Carlin said, "They gotcha by the balls." But I think it's going to begin backfiring on them down the road.
These employers are losing any loyalty their good employees had for them. Down the road, that's gonna hurt them.

reply to post by kdog1982


Jobs in health care and education, for cripes sake. I bet Indiana isn't the only one who does it either.
They tell people it's ok if you don't want your kids in their schools for the sake of their education but by the way...still have to play by our rules.

reply to post by Klassified

"They gotcha by the balls."

To a point.
That is what they like to think,but eventually enough will be enough.
I see it happening with my co-workers.
Piling more work on you while cutting back on employees.
In my industry,elevators,that usually results in someone dying.
news.yahoo.com...

Let me give another perspective. I am a nurse and I got my flu shot two months ago and have had no regrets and have not had any symptoms of the flu. It was my choice to get it and although the hospital I work for prefers for us to get the flu shot, it is not mandatory. I personally feel that I am being a more responsible nurse by protecting myself from the flu so I am not a carrier. And to add that I am protecting myself from my patients that are possible carriers because believe me, one out of every three patients has no problem coughing right in my face when I am giving them patient care! Ugh yes that makes me cringe! But I don't condone anyone who refuses to get it, I myself have worked in gloves, gown and a mask to create a barrier when not feeling well until I could get off from work. Part of the problem with not getting the shot though, is a person coming down with the flu can be contagious without knowing it and spread the virus before the actual symptoms appear, and by the time symptoms manifest the damage has already been done and they have infected others. In the case of this nurse in the OP that was fired, the right thing the hospital could have done was re-assign her for the winter to a position in which she didn't have direct patient contact. I feel this is the least they could have done for her considering how much she contributed to the care of the patients and her training of less experienced nurses. It's a real shame, and that hospital will lose substantially with the loss of her knowledge, not to mention the patients that will no longer benefit from her knowledge. Unfortunately, this is getting to be more and more common with the short sightedness of many hospital administrators and their lack of support to their own staff. I hope another hospital gives her a job and some respect.

nope....the point has not been made yet.....here...
the sheet that comes with the vaccine states that it has mercury in it....a fair amount for an accumulative poison......RIGHT ON THE INSTRUCTIONS....now....tell me

Just wait till vaccines have dormant nanomachines in them,if you become a non-compliant or non-conformant activate the machines to build a clot in an artery to cause a heart attack,stroke or death,then the machines disassemble themselves and become invisible to conventional medical imaging equipment voila result of autopsy natural causes.

No vaccines for this black duck.

What the story may not have included is that most employees who refuse the flu vaccine are given the option of wearing a mask in patient-care areas, in lieu of getting the vaccine. It may or may not have been the case. That's the recommendation by the CDC for health care workers who do not want the vaccine. It's reasonable.

Originally posted by Cosmic911
What the story may not have included is that most employees who refuse the flu vaccine are given the option of wearing a mask in patient-care areas, in lieu of getting the vaccine. It may or may not have been the case. That's the recommendation by the CDC for health care workers who do not want the vaccine. It's reasonable.

It's my understanding that masks were not an option in this case.

reply to post by justsaying

As a nurse, you should also know that the flu shot is a crap shoot at best.
If you choose to have one, that's your prerogative and hopefully it keeps you and your patients safe from the strain to which you might be exposed. It's commonly known via all medical journals that the flu vaccine is only roughly 30% effective against every flu bug out there and it changes every year. I grant you, 30% is better than nothing but for people who choose not to gamble with it, should their jobs be on the line?

Standard contagion precautions are enough to control the virus and I know you can't control the people who walk in without presenting symptoms but as a health care worker, you can be the end point for the virus. I've spent enough time around chemo patients to know how serious things like the flu can be. Gowns, gloves, wash, wash, and wash again. Change scrubs, wear the mask, ask others to wear masks.

The vaccination is only 30% at best. There are worse bugs out there.