A group of 117 employees is suing Houston Methodist over its COVID-19 vaccination mandate for workers, ABC News reported May 29.
Houston Methodist, which comprises an academic medical center and six community hospitals, rolled out its mandatory vaccination policy March 31, setting an April 15 deadline for managers to receive at least one dose or get an exemption. More than 99 percent of the management team complied by the deadline. By June 7, all about 26,000 employees are required to be vaccinated. However, employees can receive medical or religious exemptions or a deferral if they are pregnant.
Now, 117 Houston Methodist employees have filed a lawsuit, claiming that the mandate is illegal.
The lawsuit, filed May 28 in Montgomery County District Court in Texas, alleges the hospital is "illegally requiring its employees to be injected with an experimental vaccine as a condition of employment," according to ABC News. It specifically cites that the COVID-19 vaccines are authorized for emergency use by the FDA but have not been fully approved.
The employees allege that Houston Methodist is violating Texas public policy and the Nuremberg Code, a medical ethics code for human experimentation drafted in 1947 because of the Nuremberg trials at the end of World War II, according to the report.
The plaintiffs' attorney, Jared Woodfill, told ABC News the health system's mandate is meant "to promote its business and increase profits at the expense of other healthcare providers and their employees' health. Defendants advertise to the public that they 'require all employees and employed physicians to get a COVID-19 vaccine.' More clearly, defendants' employees are being forced to serve as human 'guinea pigs' to increase defendants' profits."
Houston Methodist said earlier this year that employees who do not comply with the vaccination mandate initially will have a discussion with their supervisor, then could face suspension followed by termination. The lawsuit seeks to prevent the health system from terminating unvaccinated workers.
Houston Methodist President and CEO Marc Boom, MD, shared a statement about the lawsuit with Becker's. As of May 28, he said 99 percent of Houston Methodist's employees have met the requirements for the vaccination mandate.
"We are extremely proud of our employees for doing the right thing and protecting our patients from this deadly virus," Dr. Boom said. "As healthcare workers, it is our sacred obligation to do whatever we can to protect our patients, who are the most vulnerable in our community. It is our duty and our privilege.
"It is unfortunate that the few remaining employees who refuse to get vaccinated and put our patients first are responding in this way. It is legal for healthcare institutions to mandate vaccines, as we have done with the flu vaccine since 2009. The COVID-19 vaccines have proven through rigorous trials to be very safe and very effective and are not experimental. More than 165 million people in the U.S. alone have received vaccines against COVID-19, and this has resulted in the lowest numbers of infections in our country and in the Houston region in more than a year. We proudly stand by our employees and our mission to protect our patients."