Nurse: 'I was fired for refusing flu shot'

Nurses COVID

Published

What's not fair is medically fragile people being exposed to complications from a flu infection acquired from a caregiver.

It's not about you, folks. It's about the people in the beds.

The people in the beds wouldn't be exposed if the nurses were actually allowed to call out sick! Don't get me wrong I'm not condoning abuse of calling off, but my hospital has a very strict policy and even if you have a Dr. excuse it's not an excused absence. I have never had a flu shot in the 13 years that I have been in healthcare... never had the flu either. It's my constitutional right not to inject something into my body if I don't want it. Personally I think that the flu vaccine is a gimmick, and a crap shoot. The virus changes each year and who knows if the shot actually covers what's going around. Just another money making scheme from the drug companies if you ask me. Nope, I'll take my chances and follow good old fashion universal precautions, cause it hasn't failed me so far.

Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.

I work at a facility that has a similar policy. If we don't get a flu shot by the deadline (minus religious or health exemptions), then you are suspended for a week without pay, followed by termination. I don't like the policy, and have never worked somewhere before where it's been mandated. Nevertheless, I like my job, so I sucked it up and got my shot. I just wish I would have had a choice in the matter.

Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.

NOT THAT I CONDONE/RECOMMEND/LIKE false documentation but, when it comes to my rights, eh..........to heck with the rest of em.

At a hospital near me, they started to try the same iron fisted approach the OP and some others are talking about. IDK why, but they seemed to have an awful lot of nurses who didn't want to. None of them did either, and they did not lose their jobs. Its this simple:

Go to an immunization clinic (Drug store like Ekerd, one of the many that set up shop in Wal-Mart or other retailers), pay for the shot, get your paperwork, then turn it down. The people working there know what is up, will even offer a refund half the time, but almost never ask for the paperwork back.

At the hospital near me that was feeling its oats about making people get the shot, they ended up changing gears and taking a more "We strongly suggest getting the flu shot" attitude. Turns out too many people were so turned off by their iron fist approach, everyone called their bluff and said "No". Too many in fact. Still, the people who really didn't want it that feared for their job simply went to a clinic and paid for it but.........well...............

Okay, so we have a number of posters stating it is their right not to get a flu shot if they do not want to. I agree with this.

However, is it not also the hospital's right to require flu shots as a condition of continued employment?

Too often, I feel, we hear people shouting from the rooftops about rights when it benefits them. It is a two-way street.

What's not fair is medically fragile people being exposed to complications from a flu infection acquired from a caregiver.

It's not about you, folks. It's about the people in the beds.

The flu shot doesn't prevent me from passing on the flu. Given it only protects against certain strains, and even then, has only an estimated 70 percent effectiveness rate, the flu shot is by no means a catch all and should not be used as a solid-line protective measure for the patients, especially at the cost of the nurse's beliefs.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Rural, L&D, Postpartum.
Okay, so we have a number of posters stating it is their right not to get a flu shot if they do not want to. I agree with this.

However, is it not also the hospital's right to require flu shots as a condition of continued employment?

Too often, I feel, we hear people shouting from the rooftops about rights when it benefits them. It is a two-way street.

No... the hospital does not have a right to insist that I allow my body to be injected with a chemical combination of anything. For example, a hospital can't FORCE you to have a Hep B vaccination. You either sign to take it or sign to refuse it, or show that you titre positive for already having received it or whatever.

What the hospital CAN do is say that if you get the flu (or Hep B or whatever) and refused the vax then you can't hold them liable for your having contracted it.

Universal Precautions (or Standard Precautions or whatever we're calling them now) are the best prevention of transmission of any disease, including the flu. Wash your hands. Use common sense. If you're truly too sick to work, call out of work. If you're possibly contagious but able to work, wear a mask and work with your charge nurse to make sure you are assigned to less acute patients.

We are nurses. We know how disease is spread. Therefore, we know how to halt the spread of disease. This is not difficult, people, and nobody's civil liberties need to be violated.

Elisabeth Halligan, RN

No... the hospital does not have a right to insist that I allow my body to be injected with a chemical combination of anything. For example, a hospital can't FORCE you to have a Hep B vaccination. You either sign to take it or sign to refuse it, or show that you titre positive for already having received it or whatever.

What the hospital CAN do is say that if you get the flu (or Hep B or whatever) and refused the vax then you can't hold them liable for your having contracted it.

Universal Precautions (or Standard Precautions or whatever we're calling them now) are the best prevention of transmission of any disease, including the flu. Wash your hands. Use common sense. If you're truly too sick to work, call out of work. If you're possibly contagious but able to work, wear a mask and work with your charge nurse to make sure you are assigned to less acute patients.

We are nurses. We know how disease is spread. Therefore, we know how to halt the spread of disease. This is not difficult, people, and nobody's civil liberties need to be violated.

Elisabeth Halligan, RN

Respectfully, the hospital is not forcing you to do anything. They are making a voluntary action a condition of employment. Unless case law or legal precedent can be provided, I will stand by my assertion that an employer is well within its legal rights to require certain things as conditions of employment.

The flu shot is high recommended by the hospitals in my area. Once you got the shot, you got a sticker for your badge. If you did not want the shot, you signed acknowledging you would be required to wear a mask at work from the moment you entered the hospital until you left. Caught without the mask and no proof of the flu vaccination, you could be subject to disciplinary action which could lead up to termination.

We've already got some flu patients in the ICU and several on the floors. This isn't a joke when it comes to protecting ourselves, our co-workers and the patients. I appreciate everyone's right to do what they want with their own bodies but there are times when you have to take the necessary precautions whether it is a mask or a flu shot.

Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.
This is a heavy handed catholic "faith based" hospital system in my backyard...so sad.

Major health systems across the US have have adopted mandatory vaccination programs. Patients/customers should not be aquiring 'health care facility related infections" due to staff having communicable diseases.

Penn Health System policy: http://www.vaccineethics.org/files/Penn_Influenza_Policy_1.pdf

POLICY

Requires influenza immunization on an annual basis for all personnel working/volunteering within a Penn Medicine facility.

SCOPE

This policy applies to all Penn Medicine faculty and staff as well as all contracted clinical personnel, students/trainees in clinical setting, clinical research personnel, and volunteers.

Same reason why preemployment screening done for TB, vaccination titers.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Rural, L&D, Postpartum.
Respectfully, the hospital is not forcing you to do anything. They are making a voluntary action a condition of employment. Unless case law or legal precedent can be provided, I will stand by my assertion that an employer is well within its legal rights to require certain things as conditions of employment.

Not after the fact, they can't! If it isn't a condition of employment when you are hired then they are opening themselves to massive wrongful termination suits by trying to force it in later. (Yes, even in "at will" employment.) And I wouldn't agree to any employment situation that made me open to having to accept whatever chemical they wanted injected in to me at any time as a condition of employment.

Again, people are not thinking here. There are far more reliable means to protecting our patients than the flu shot. And none of them force a person to accept a foreign substance injected into their body.

Elisabeth Halligan, RN

I understand the arguments on both sides but all things considered, it seems to be a very slippery slope to start on. If the courts have to decide this, it will be interesting because depending on where one lives, a court may be liberal or conservative. Liberal courts tend to favor employee rights, conservative courts seem to lean toward favoring the employer. It's a tough call.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Rural, L&D, Postpartum.
Major health systems across the US have have adopted mandatory vaccination programs. Patients/customers should not be aquiring 'health care facility related infections" due to staff having communicable disease.

Then maybe staff should be washing their hands and following universal precautions. Otherwise, any number of the other strains of the flu NOT protected against by that year's shot can still be communicate to the patients.

Not to mention all of the germs carried around by equipment and clothing of staff members. Frankly, any one physician stethoscope is far more likely to carry germs than any number of nursing staff who are properly following universal precautions.

Elisabeth Halligan, RN

+ Add a Comment