Employees object to mandatory inoculation \ States have passed laws requiring it

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http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/0547/051123_news_flu.php

 

 

Shot for Flu—Or You're Through

Virginia Mason employees object to mandatory inoculation.

 

by Roger Downey

 

 

If you work for Seattle's Virginia Mason Medical Center and you don't

want to get a flu shot, on New Year's Day you won't be working for

Virginia Mason. Or so states an internal message to staff dated Aug.

23. The hospital's intranet has been buzzing ever since with messages

between employees who object to flu inoculation on personal,

religious, or medical grounds. There doesn't seem to be much the

employees can do about it, either. They've asked the American Civil

Liberties Union to intervene, but it seems that Washington is

something called a " will-to-work " state, which means that if you don't

want to comply with an employer's work rules, you can always leave,

can't you?

 

Virginia Mason's nurses are exceptions to the general fiat. Last year,

they refused the hospital's demand to shoot up or leave by pointing

out that the order was in violation of their contract. Virginia Mason

Vice President Patti Crome says that discussions with the nurses are

" ongoing " this year. Washington State Nurses Association spokesperson

Anne Tan Piazza says that's not strictly accurate: " What they are

doing is challenging in court the NLRB's decision on our behalf, " she

said, referring to the National Labor Relations Board. Tan Piazza

emphasizes that nurses are strongly in favor of vaccination. " What we

are not in favor of is a policy of 'get vaccinated or get fired.' We

think education is better than coercion every time. "

 

Issuers of the policy defend it as simply the right thing to do. Tens

of thousands of people die of influenza every winter, shots are an

effective way of reducing flu's spread, and hospitals are particularly

prone to epidemic infection because of the age and vulnerability of

patients. Virginia Mason's average age is 68, and many have impaired

immune systems. Objectors to the policy point out that only a small

percentage of employees are ever in close contact with patients and

that a steady stream of visitors renders moot any protection shots

might give.

 

Virginia Mason administrators admit that they took legal counsel

before issuing their edict. Although national authorities like the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention only " strongly recommend "

flu inoculations for health care workers, seven states have recently

passed laws requiring it, though they allow employees to opt out by

signing an " informed declination. "

 

Virginia Mason is offering no such out. Its official notice to the

staff states that those objecting to the policy may file a written

explanation of their views and discuss their grounds with hospital

authorities. Employees say that they've been told that that's not

enough—that they're also required to get a statement from their

personal physician, who can issue a pass only in a case where " prior

medical conditions " exist. To prove the latter, objectors would have

to open their private medical records to inspection. That is supposed

to be against the law.

 

Speaking of law: It's being suggested that Virginia Mason is at least

as concerned about patient litigation as it is about patient safety.

Nobody has successfully sued a hospital for an infection acquired in

one, but with deadly bugs like Staphylococcus aureus becoming

perennial residents in the nation's houses of healing, it's only a

matter of time until someone does. With a blanket inoculation policy,

hospitals like Virginia Mason would be able to claim that whoever gave

the patient influenza, it wasn't someone on the team.

 

rdowney