DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF News) — In a ruling that may cause legal ripples across the country a federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed by employees of a Houston hospital system who were suspended after they refused to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
In a scathing ruling, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes ridiculed the lead plaintiff’s contention that the vaccines are “experimental and dangerous”. Hughes said the claims are false and irrelevant. By law, he explained, Houston Methodist Hospital has the right to enforce its mandate.
The judge also called “reprehensible” the lawsuit’s comparison of the requirement to the forced medical experimentation of concentration camp prisoners by the Nazis during World War II.
On June 8 hospital system chief executive Marc Boom said 24,947 employees complied with the vaccination requirement. He explained that 285 other employees received medical or religious exemptions and 332 were deferred for pregnancy or other reasons. The rest, he explained, are subject to termination.
Following the ruling lead plaintiff Jennifer Bridges has initiated a Go-Fund-Me campaign and created a change.org petition. “This doesn’t surprise me,” she said. “Methodist is a very large company, and they are pretty well-protected in a lot of areas. We knew this was going to be a huge fight, and we are prepared to fight it.”
