Lawsuits are against hospitals in Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, that require a COVID-19 vaccine

Careers are at stake and nerves are starting to tremble over the vaccine mandates issued by the area hospitals three weeks ago.

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Lawsuit filed by hospital workers over vaccines

April Hoskins, a laboratory assistant in St. Elizabeth Edgewood, told us Wednesday that she loves her job, loves her patients, and hates the way this conflict has come this far.

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She didn’t expect it to come to this, but she has spoken to her family about it and is not giving in.

She’s out on Front Street now, suing her employer.

“I have a feeling that if you believe in something, you shouldn’t be afraid,” said Hoskins, who was free today but will be back tomorrow.

She is adamant and proud of the stance she and her colleagues take towards St. Elizabeth and other hospitals, which have partnered to declare that COVID-19 vaccination will be a condition of employment from October 1st.

“I actually got a text message from my supervisor today asking what I thought of the vaccination. And I just told her that I hadn’t made up my mind, ”she said.

To quote from lawsuits filed by Eric Deters & Associates on behalf of 27 plaintiffs: “When there was no vaccine, workers had to go to work. They were heroes. Now that there is a vaccine, they have to get the vaccine or get fired ”. Now they are ‘zeros’. “

Kelly Myer, who is not involved in the case, is an employment attorney at Freking Myers & Reul.

She explained that the law puts employers on a solid legal footing.

“You can’t force an employee to take the vaccine. But they can make employment conditional on an employee being vaccinated, ”Myer told us.

Hoskins has been dedicated to family practice and hospital oncology for 20 years. She said she lost a lot of sleep because of the hospital’s looming mandate.

“They trusted us all along that we would take care of these patients, unvaccinated, without the proper PPE. And now do you have to get her out of nowhere or get fired? Picture, “said Hoskins.

In the lawsuits, Eric Deters described the request as “a violation of human dignity and personal freedom” and said the hospitals are “causing health care workers to leave the field.”

The hospital mandate comes as cases of the delta variant increase and strain hospital capacities.

Citing ongoing litigation, the hospitals are not commenting on the situation.

Deters is demanding an injunction to prevent dismissals.

He also wants a jury.

Hoskins said she will not give in, remains unvaccinated and fully expects her release.

“It pains me that I won’t see my patients anymore. All because of a choice that St. Elizabeth and all these other hospitals in Area 275 and beyond have given us,” she said.

There has been a lot of talk on social media about hospital workers receiving unemployment benefits after being fired for failing to comply with a vaccination order.

But, as Myer explained, if you are fired for a valid reason, you are not eligible in Ohio and Kentucky.

She would expect the hospitals to have a valid reason to deny a condition of employment.

READ THE WHOLE STORY: Lawsuits Target Hospitals in Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, That Require a COVID-19 Vaccine

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