SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A nurse who refused to wear a surgical mask after receiving an exemption from a mandatory flu vaccination was fired for violating her hospital's policy.
Carla
Brock, a board-certified holistic nurse who has worked 11 years at Cox
South Hospital here, said she is speaking out because she believes her
hospital's new requirement to wear a mask if a staffer opts out of the
flu vaccine amounts to a scarlet letter. CoxHealth, which owns four
hospitals in southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas, says it simply
is putting the patient first.
MORE: Flu season turning out to be harsh
"I love my job, and I loved the
people I worked with," the pre-admissions nurse said. But "I have
spiritual and religious reasons to not have those toxins in my body."
Mandated
flu shots already are part of a national debate that pits employee
rights against what some say is patient safety. Most recently, in
December, an Indiana hospital fired eight employees who refused to get flu shots, according to ABC News.
Brock's
situation adds another layer to the debate. This is the first year that
CoxHealth employees are required either to get the vaccination or
produce paperwork showing an exemption, according to Stacy Fender, media
relations coordinator for CoxHealth. In the past, flu shots were
strongly recommended.
In early September, Brock sought and was
granted a religious exemption although she admits she's more "spiritual"
than "religious."
"We jumped through the hoops," she said. "We did all the right things."
But
CoxHealth's new policy also requires employees who receive an exemption
to wear a surgical mask while working, which Brock did starting Dec.
31.
Plenty of people are fighting against the flu vaccine requirement. Brock is fighting against the mask requirement.
"It's obviously punitive," she said. "It's obviously coercive."
Brock believes the masks are meant to intimidate and humiliate those
who seek an exemption so they will conform and get the shot rather than
stand out.
"The 'scarlet letter' word keeps coming up," she said.
Brock
also believes that there is no evidence that the mask policy is
effective and noted that hospital visitors don't have to wear them.
"If that's the case, Cox should have every single person who walks in the door wear a mask," she said.
Patients
awaiting surgery were taken aback when Brock would enter the room
wearing a mask, fearing something was wrong, she said. That forced her
to explain the situation and in the process divulge more about herself
than she wanted to.
"I felt like I was violating my own privacy," she said.
Brock
also said the masks made it difficult for her to breathe and gave her
headaches. She started pulling the mask away from her face but
eventually just took it off when she was in the room with one patient.
"I told him, 'I'm sorry. I'm not contagious. I just can't do my job with this on,' " she said.
Throughout the past week, Brock sent messages detailing her objections to her managers.
On Friday, an employee relations manager told her she needed to
provide medical documents to substantiate her condition if she thought
she had a medical condition that prevented her from wearing the mask.
This past weekend, Brock said she met with others, including the minister who provided documentation of her religious exemption.
She
doesn't have a medical condition, she said. In fact, her preference for
holistic health means she doesn't even have a primary-care physician.
On Monday, she presented a letter saying that she would not wear the
mask and was terminated.
"It is a Cox standard and becoming a
national standard from Colorado, where it is a state mandate for
non-vaccinated healthcare workers," her corrective action memo read.
Brock is most frustrated because she thought she had no options.
"I've tried to communicate a different viewpoint, but there's been no willingness to reconsider," she said.
MORE: Are you spreading the flu?
In
more than a decade of working for CoxHealth, Brock had faced
disciplinary action only one other time, she said, when she acquired her
mother's lab results with her mom's permission but without following
protocol. She felt that situation was handled appropriately.
Fender,
the CoxHealth spokeswoman, said the hospital does not comment on
individual personnel issues but did offer an explanation of the
hospital's mask policy.
"The logic behind it is that you can
spread the flu before you have symptoms of it," Fender said. "The way
you spread the flu is through your upper respiratory system, so the mask
contains that."
Fender said that 99% of CoxHealth's employees are vaccinated.
"Our
policy is similar to hundreds if not thousands of health systems across
the country," she said. "Our first priority has to be the patients."
Another
area hospital, Mercy Hospital Springfield, started requiring its
employees get a vaccination or wear a mask in 2010. A representative
Monday said she was not aware of any employee push-backs against Mercy's
mask policy.
Brock is not alone in her feelings about the masks. Staff members at hospitals in Worchester, Mass., and Boston have complained about the masks as more health care providers have made them a requirement, according to media reports.
But
at least one decision following dissent has given Brock hope. In
December 2011, the University of Missouri Health Care network backed off
its mask requirement.
"We reviewed national guidelines and
determined it wasn't clear if this procedure would actually improve
patient or staff safety," spokeswoman Mary Jenkins told The Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune in 2011.
Brock
said her husband is supportive of her decision, although the
termination will create some hardships for them. As a side business, she
teaches holistic health classes, including one called "The Danger of
Vaccines."
Brock is not yet sure if she will take legal action.
"If I have legal rights, I want to exercise them," she said. "I want to at least consider it."
Thomas Gounley, Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader