Local News Former Tufts doctor sues for $6 million after being fired for refusing COVID shot The doctor claims she was unlawfully fired because of her religious beliefs. Signage for Tufts Medical Center in Boston.
A former Tufts Medical Center doctor is suing the hospital for $6 million, claiming it wrongfully fired her for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine because of her religious beliefs.
In a complaint filed in Suffolk Superior Court on Tuesday, Dr. Theresa Gabana seeks damages for discrimination and wrongful termination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which caused her a “significant loss of her future earnings and retirement.”
“I believe Dr. Gabana has a very strong case,” wrote Richard Chambers Jr., Dr. Gabana’s lawyer, in an email to Boston.com. “She was entitled to a religious exemption by law.”
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Dr. Gabana worked as an emergency room physician for 29 years until she was fired on Dec. 5, 2021, at the age of 61.
After the state determined that the COVID-19 pandemic was no longer a state of emergency, Tufts Medical Center implemented its own mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy on Aug. 10, 2021.
The hospital informed employees that the new requirement, barring an approved religious or medical exemption, would take effect on Oct. 18, 2021.
On Sept. 3, 2021, Dr. Gabana submitted her request for a religious exemption.
Dr. Gabana wrote that the current COVID-19 vaccines were “developed with or tested upon aborted fetal cell lines” and “the sanctity of human life, including the unborn, is a major tenet of my faith. Using this vaccine is a violation of my faith.”
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Researchers in the United States reproduced cells initially obtained from elective abortions in the 1970s and 1980s while developing some COVID-19 vaccines, according to the National Institute of Health.
But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, none of the three COVID-19 vaccines approved for authorization in the United States contain aborted fetal cells.
While the lawsuit does not indicate Gabana’s specific denomination, Pope Francis and many other Catholic leaders have stated that COVID-19 vaccines are morally acceptable. Researchers have also used historical fetal cell lines to develop vaccines for hepatitis A, rubella, and rabies.
The hospital declined to comment on ongoing litigation. However, a statement said, “The COVID-19 vaccine has been a vital tool in reducing the risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19, with its effectiveness supported by the vaccine mandates imposed on the hospitals and both the state and federal level.”
The hospital terminated Dr. Gabana soon after denying her claim for a religious exemption and after she refused to be vaccinated.
The lawsuit claims the denial caused Dr. Gabana “extreme anguish, an enormous amount of stress, anxiety, sleepless nights, and deep, unrelenting sadness as she realized she would have to choose between her sincerely held religious beliefs and a job she loved.”
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Dr. Gabana was unable to secure another job in her field and “suffered great financial harm and extreme stress,” the lawsuit said.
Her termination resulted in “lost wages, lost pension, lost benefits, costs related to survival without income, as well as extreme and severe emotional stress to her and her family.”
Under Title VII, it is unlawful for an employer to refuse to hire or discharge a person because of their religion. An employer must “reasonably accommodate” an employee’s religious practice unless that accommodation would impose “undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business.”
The lawsuit said accommodations were in place since the pandemic started and did not cause undue hardship, because COVID-19 vaccines do not necessarily prevent a person from contracting or spreading the disease.
In August, a federal appeals court judge ruled in favor of a former office manager at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Milton. The plaintiff, Amanda Bazinet, was also fired in 2021 for refusing to take the vaccine on religious grounds. Chambers also represented Bazinet.
Since Bazinet’s case had the same facts and claims, Chambers believes Dr. Gabana has “a strong case.”
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Former Tufts doctor sues for $6 million after being fired for refusing COVID shot
