A self-described pagan fired from her nursing job at Boston Medical Center has sued the hospital over her termination for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
Amy Munroe of Hamilton, Massachusetts, had worked as a nurse at BMC for 23 years before her firing, according to a Nov. 15 lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Boston.
The veteran nurse said she’d “had COVID very recently and the immune system that Mother Nature provided me with got me through it,” according to a religious exemption request she filed with the hospital. Taking “a genetic therapy treatment that I am extremely fearful of,” she wrote, “goes completely against beliefs that I have held most of my life.”
Ms. Munroe said she has decided “to rely on Mother Nature for natural remedies to heal my ailments … Mother Nature will get me through them, or she won’t,” she wrote. “When my time is up and she comes for me, I will go without fear,” she added.
According to the lawsuit, Boston Medical Center “simply denied [the] request, initially on the mistaken assumption she is Catholic and objected to the products because they use fetal cells derived from abortion.”
Upon learning Ms. Munroe considers herself a pagan, BMC denied the request again and said she needed to be vaccinated to keep her job. When Ms. Munroe refused, the suit states, she was fired.
According to the complaint, Ms. Munroe also asserted her “natural immunity” as a defense against the virus.
The complaint also alleges BMC “failed to reasonably accommodate” Ms. Munroe’s “sincerely held religious observance, practice and beliefs” in violation of both federal and Massachusetts law.
The suit seeks back pay and continued salary, as well as damages, costs and “reasonable attorney’s fees.”
Attorney Peter Vickery, representing Ms. Munroe, said the hospital has not yet responded in court.
Boston Medical Center’s media relations team did not immediately respond to a Washington Times request for comment.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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