Employee Rights

There is no proof of having a flu shot that it would help patient safety. I work in a hospital and they require all of us to have a flu shot too and if we refuse to have one we have to sign a paper stating we don't want one or we can't and have to have a letter from the doctor and we won't get fired because of that. Every hospital is different on how they run things though. I feel sorry for all those nurses getting fired over not having a flu shot that is not right at all. If i was those nurses i would be pursuing a lawsuit over the company or something or just forget it and get a job elsewhere, so not right.

Sorry I don't think anyone should have to get a mandatory shot. Getting a shot should be personal choice, not demanded. The flu shot barely ever works anyway. My father got it and right after was sick as a dog with guess what? THE FLU! Lol. It's a crock in my opinion. If I was a nurse there I would have been fired too because I do not believe the flu shot is good at all...

It says she's only called off 4-5 days in 22 years and that says volumes about refusing flu shots--she has a strong immune system because she refuses the flu shots. The immune system needs to be used in order to be strong. It's no wonder we have such an unhealthy population--all that constant hand washing, flu shots, staying out of crowds, disinfecting our houses and offices. What chance does our immune system have to work nowadays?! I'm on Ethel's side! She's probably 90% safer for her patients than those nurses who get flu shots and protect themselves from every germ and virus. If an errant bug comes along that no one's seen before, Ethel and those like her will likely get sick last. No one has a right to tell you that you have to have a flu shot. There are all kinds of consequences and tons of theories about its effects. Many doctors also think that it hastens Alzheimer's Disease. I can't understand why the hospital did not honor her applications for exemption, one of which was based on her religion. The one time I got a flu shot I got sick and swore never again. That was 25 years ago and I haven't had the flu once, not even when I cared for people who had it. Good luck to Nurse Hoover, I hope she sues them and wins.

Patient safety? Where is the proof that having a flu shot will improve patient safety? Some years they don't even get the right strain of flu in the shot anyway. I've had flu shots maybe 3 times in my life, and one of the three times I got a nasty case of the flu right after. Nice odds....

there you are.. havent seen you since before xmas here. Thats a terrible story. We had a problem like that a few years back in mexico. When that swine flu deal was here. A store fired 7 workers for wearing the masks.Wrong idea.... Take care there. Missed you...

I want to know if the nurses rufuse to take the flu shot for their health safety.Of course ,a employer have no right to lay off any employees without warrant ,and "refusing to take a flu shot "is much less warrant .Maybe it reveals from anther perspective that Human rights machanism of Indiana is really poor .

I heard about this. And I think there are some vocations you go into knowing you're going to have to do some things that you might not want to do, in order of safety. This is about more than the nurse, it's about other people and while I'm sorry they lost their jobs, they could have taken the flu shot and moved on. This isn't like being a teacher and not getting the flu shot. A nurse is around people who are susceptible to every illness. And if a doctor or nurse can't see that then maybe they should have chosen a different profession. I say that fully on the side of individual choices, but like I said, a nurse's job is about other people, not just themselves.

I think that really sucks. I don't get a flu shot. The last time I did I got so sick I could hardly stand myself. I felt sick all winter. I am not prone to get the flu though....and it should be a choice....

i think its terrible how they are making the medical proffesion do so many things they never had to before. a person needs to have their own rights as to what they do with their own body. like smoking. ive heard that lots of hospitals etc. , maybe even the law is saying if they find out you smoke you are fired. even heard they are testing blood!! thats just crazy

I've never had a flu shot and don't intend to as I am not convinced that they have saved lives or prevented people from getting flu. The nurses should not have been fired

That is crazy that nurses have gotten fired just because they didn't take the flu shot. Just because you take the flu shot does not mean you're not going to get the flu and just because you don't take the flu shot doesn't mean you're going to get it. I think that it should have been a personal choice of those nurses and not a demand. I have never taken the flu shot and I have never caught the flu. My mom once took the flu shot and right after she got sick with the flu. What's the point of taking the flu shot if you're going to catch it anyway. I never plan to take the flu shot, because their is no point in wasting your money on something you could or could not get.

Where's human rights there? Is that part of their job description, to get flu shots? I don't think so. The hospital should be sued for abuse of authority. Of course we have the right to refuse whatever it is people want to put inside our bodies.

The whole idea behind a flu shot is that your body will make antibodies agains a flu. What kind of flu is not always sure since the shot is made of a flu months ago. Like we all know a virus can change very quickly (that is why we still have flues all over the world). That is exactly what happens, the virus does change. Also proved by now is that the flu shot is not working that great at all as "they" always claimed. It's also useless to give in many cases since it is an attack on the health (you do NOT get the antibodies but the illness). Also it's proved that the older you get the more antibodies you already have inside you. So if you are 61 there is a way smaller chance you get the flu as when you are 3 or 14 or 20 years old. Safety of the patients have nothing to do with the flu shot. Since it's the patients who can make the nurses and doctors sick, not the other way round. And if it comes to that, most hospitals are far from hygenic. A good place to catch illnesses.

I think it should be personal choice. When I worked in a retirement home they forced us to get them. I got it and got even sicker, for weeks. I can;t see how working sick will benefit the residents.

It is a double-edged sword, so to speak. I have never had a flu shot in my life and don't plan to. I use a lot of preventative measures for getting sick. On the other hand, nurses are exposed to germs all the time and could easily catch something. If they get sick they risk getting someone else sick, or lose hours for being off sick. It's the nature of the profession, I guess. Health professionals are well educated in the pros and cons of inoculations but they also have personal opinions. Then again, there is the law. Our health care system... or at least our schools insist that our children have all their shots. I got letters from the school saying they didn't have updated records for my child and if I didn't provide them with proof of proper inoculations then they will be removed from school. It's really not fair. There was a big hoopla about the HPV preventive inoculation, especially in the Catholic schools. My children go to Catholic schools and they were giving the shots for free in grade school. I did not give permission for my daughter to have the shot. I was not the only parent who did this. I read up on this injection and decided against it. It's a person's right to refuse inoculations, but there are consequences. They're not just protecting you but others as well.

I listen to Alex Jones on You tube and heard sbout this. I have heard that the flu shot makes it easier to get the flu. It also increases you getting altzeimers. I stopped taking it because I did not want to get dementia. Also nurses usually wear masks around patients who are in danger of infections. I know because my father was in and out of hospitals and when my husband. Got ALs And even though he was at home, when the nurse came to give him the shots of morphine, she always wore a mask. So do you want nurses to get their intelligence decreased by getting flu shots that have mercury in them to protrct. The patients? Would not the patients be in greater danger from a nurse who csn no longer distinguish between a small L and a one in s medicine bottle?

I don't get the flu shot because I don't get the flu. One of my uncles several years ago got the flu shot at the behest of his doctor, and got the flu within days. My uncle refused to ever get the shot again, and he lived to 90. It's always a gamble which flus the shot will protect against in any given year, and often they choose wrongly. I really don't think it should be a mandatory condition of any job, health care workers included.

That is plain wrong..I never bothered getting a flu shot before because I rarely get sick, but once I saw what the flu shot has in it, I will NEVER knowingly get a flu shot..

in my opinion there is only the company's point of view, not what we think it makes sense. Unfortunately, companes with their internal policies can have do whatever they want, because their lawyers know very well how to turn any reasonable oposition to their rules, to a "firing" ground. One can never win specially when a big company is invlved. I personally, don't take those flu shots because I heard of so many people getting even sicker after the shot than as having a regular cold, no flu shots.

I heard about this on the news and I do believe the nurses might have a lawsuit for the hospital. They should not be forced to have a flu shot. It's like any other shot. They should have to sign a waiver stating the flu shot was offered but they declined to get the shot. Twenty two years is a long time to work for some place and then to be fired over something so trivial. Hospitals of all places should understand that people have their rights and when you get the flu shot you are actually getting the flu injected into you and your body is supposedly suppose to build antibodies to fight the flu. That line of thinking is bull! When you introduce foreign substances in your body, the natural reaction is to fight the infection off, but if your body has to many diseases and infections to fight off you can get sick. I know I had the flu shot once, and the one time I got sick is the time I had the flu shot. I refuse to get the flu shot every year. Just because someone has the flu doesn't mean they are necessarily going to spread the flu. Proper handwashing is the best defense against contracting any illness.