Woman refusing flu shot could lose job

A Grand Rapids health care worker could lose her job for refusing to get a seasonal flu shot.

Beginning this fall, the vaccination is a condition of employment at Spectrum Health, where Rachel Denherder works a part-time respiratory therapist. She told 24 Hour News 8 she is opposed for religious reasons.

"I was raised a Christian," the Spectrum Helen DeVos Children's Hospital employee said. "And it was my belief that I feel like God created us in his image. He created our body and created our immunity."

The Kent County woman said she does not want to put anything into her body she considers to be "toxic." And she said she's speaking on behalf of other Spectrum employees who don't want to be forced to get the shot -- not all for religious reasons -- but cannot speak out for fear of losing their income.

The wider medical community sees vaccines as life-saving. About 36,000 Americans die every year from the seasonal flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Protecting patients is why a Spectrum Health spokesman says the system is requiring all employees -- full- or part-time -- to get the shots. The change is coming in part because of the Infectious Diseases Society of America's support of universal flu vaccination of health care workers. Spectrum has and continues to require all workers to be vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella and chicken pox.

Denherder said she received her MMR vaccination as a child but once she began making her own life decisions, she decided not to receive any future vaccinations.

A letter was sent to employees stating that by Nov. 30, they have to get the flu shot to be compliant, Denherder said. The letter stated employees could sign a medical exemption waiver.

So she did, submitting it based on her religious beliefs "and the First Amendment of the Constitution," Denherder said. "I got an e-mail back from them saying, 'no,' they weren't going to accept that as a reason."

Does the hospital have the right to require the shots?

"They really do," Cooley Law School Associate Professor Curt Benson told 24 Hour News 8.

He has not seen the specific employment contract but said "most of these contracts say that we can change the policy at our discretion over a period of time."

Religious beliefs often conflict with laws and policies, Benson said, and in those cases, the interests must be weighed. In this case, it's one person's religious beliefs versus the concern of patient safety.

"Ultimately, the final arbiter, unfortunately for her, is the employer," he said. "They're going to say, 'We respect your beliefs, but responsibility to our patient is paramount and therefore, we're going to err on the side of our patient and not you.' "

Denherder says she and her husband are prepared for that possibility. She could be out of work by the end of the month.

"I didn't feel like I wanted to be bullied into getting a shot," she said. "It's a disappointment. I'm not sure if I'm ready to give up on my career. I love my job. I love what I do there. It brings me great joy, but I have to take a stand on what I believe in."