The Hazards of Belief

robindch

Do we have a "persecution" thread?

Hospital nurses in Indiana fired in after refusing vaccines for "religious reasons":

http://news.yahoo.com/nurses-fired-refusing-flu-shot-224637902--abc-news-health.html

Yahoo News wrote:

An Indiana hospital has fired eight employees, including at least three veteran nurses, after they refused mandatory flu shots, stirring up controversy over which should come first: employee rights or patient safety. The hospital imposed mandatory vaccines, responding to rising concerns about the spread of influenza.

Ethel Hoover wore all black on her last day of work as a nurse in the critical care unit at Indiana University Health Goshen Hospital. She said she was in "mourning" because she would have been at the hospital 22 years in February, and she's only called out of work four or five times in her whole career , she said.
"This is my body. I have a right to refuse the flu vaccine," Hoover, 61, told ABCNews.com. "For 21 years, I have religiously not taken the flu vaccine, and now you're telling me that I believe in it."

More than 15,100 flu cases have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since Sept. 30, including 16 pediatric deaths. Indiana's flu activity level is considered high, according to the CDC, which last month announced that the flu season came a month earlier than usual.

When Hoover first heard about the mandate, she said she didn't realize officials would take it so seriously. She said she filed two medical exemptions, a religious exemption and two appeals, but they were all denied. The Dec. 15 flu shot deadline came and went. Hoover's last day of employment was Dec. 21. [...]

The hospital said in a statement that it implemented the mandate to promote patient safety based on recommendations from the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It announced the mandate in September. Of the hospital's 26,000 employees statewide, 95 percent complied. That means 1,300 employees did not comply, but only eight were fired. "IU Health's top priority is the health and wellbeing of our patients," said hospital spokeswoman Whitney Ertel. "Participation in the annual Influenza Patient Safety Program is a condition of employment with IU Health for the health and safety of the patients that we serve, and is therefore required."

The CDC recommends flu shots for everyone older than six months of age. Dr. William Schaffner, chair of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., said hospital patients are especially vulnerable to flu complications because their bodies are already weakened. "I cannot think of a reason for any health care professional to decline influenza immunization that's valid,"

[...]

Hotblack Desiato

I certainly wouldn't want to be treated by a healthcare 'professional' who thought their belief trumped infection control.

ShooterSF

Indeed. What if a surgeon suddenly decided their belief was that a deity created all beings equal and so refused to use soap?

GLaDOS

What part of her religion says not to take the flu vaccine?

Bannasidhe

ShooterSF wrote: »

Indeed. What if a surgeon suddenly decided their belief was that a deity created all beings equal and so refused to use soap?

Or an OB/GYN believed that a fetus' right to life trumped that of an existing person...

No, that's just going too far...

Newaglish

ScienceNerd wrote: »

What part of her religion says not to take the flu vaccine?

Yeah, I've never heard of that one before

seamus

Don't some religions have an issue with vaccines on the basis that they're derived from blood plasma and therefore are blood products?

GLaDOS

seamus wrote: »

Don't some religions have an issue with vaccines on the basis that they're derived from blood plasma and therefore are blood products?

JWs I suppose, but I wouldn't want one of them as my nurse anyway...

MrPudding

When she said she refused to take the vaccine "religiously" I thought she meant in the sense of consistently and without fail. Like I "religiously" watch Big Bang Theory.

Merriam-Webster wrote:

Definition of RELIGIOUS

1
: relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity <a religious person> <religious attitudes>

2
: of, relating to, or devoted to religious beliefs or observances <joined a religious order>

3
a : scrupulously and conscientiously faithful
b : fervent, zealous

MrP

Hotblack Desiato

Could one read Dawkin's books religiously? :pac:

I saw that in the story, wasn't sure if she didn't know what the word meant or if the journo didn't know, or maybe the subbie who wrote the headline. Or maybe all three.

GLaDOS

It says she filed 'a religious exemption', so you would think it has to do with her actual religious beliefs.

Nodin

News Just In - God's Name Is Om

Hotblack Desiato

^ Beat ya to it in the Interesting Stuff thread

Often something could fit in more than one of the stickies (Interesting/Hazards/Scandals) and it's a bit of a toss-up which one to pick. Some things could fit in all three...

Sarky

ninja900 wrote: »

Some things could fit in all three...

Heh heh heh... Bueno.

[-0-]

You say.....God says.

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/293688_10151350365725155_305715216_n.jpg

PopePalpatine

Inb4 philo says "That's out of context!"

Links234

Lawyer For Anti-Gay Alliance Found Guilty Of Making Child Porn

G.K.

Just coming on to post that. Words fail me, it's absolutely disgusting.

Gbear

Links234 wrote: »

Lawyer For Anti-Gay Alliance Found Guilty Of Making Child Porn

I'd love to see a statistical analysis of people who do sexual moralising being sex offenders. There definitely seems to be a correlation.

Bannasidhe

Just saying...

Hotblack Desiato

Ahh maybe he was just a cultural catholic... :pac:


Anyone else having trouble seeing some embedded images lately? That image wouldn't load until I replied to the post to get the image URL and then pasted it into its own tab. Happened on another thread yesterday.

Obliq

Same here, only it wouldn't load even when I did that. Maybe it's the image itself that's the problem?

Galvasean

Gbear wrote: »

I'd love to see a statistical analysis of people who do sexual moralising being sex offenders. There definitely seems to be a correlation.

I have often wondered this. The whole, "doth protest too much" angle comes to mind. That said, maybe it's just easier to notice when it's so glaringly hypocritical.

DB21

ninja900 wrote: »

Ahh maybe he was just a cultural catholic... :pac:

Well, he had a bit of a problem with the whole "Thou shalt not kill" thing.

biko

Egyptian court sentences Christian family to 15 years for converting from Islam.
Quite lenient as the proper punishment according to Sharia is death.

Egyptian President, Mohamed Morsi, who was elected to the office in June, 2012, created the new law. Under the new constitution, Christianity is limited as “religious freedom has to be understood within the boundaries of Sharia.”

http://www.inquisitr.com/484213/christian-family-sentenced-to-15-years-for-converting-from-islam/

pauldla

“religious freedom has to be understood within the boundaries of Sharia.”

Orwellian. :mad:

legspin

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http://www.ksta.de/politik/erzbistum-koeln-katholische-klinik-weist-vergewaltigte-ab,15187246,21481786.html

Poor translation but I think the jist is a woman was refused treatment at a catholic hospital in Cologne after being raped.

MrPudding

legspin wrote: »

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http://www.ksta.de/politik/erzbistum-koeln-katholische-klinik-weist-vergewaltigte-ab,15187246,21481786.html

Poor translation but I think the jist is a woman was refused treatment at a catholic hospital in Cologne after being raped.

Here it is in English, properly translated.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/catholic-church-counters-claim-its-hospitals-turned-rape-victim-away-a-878215.html

MrP

Gordon

Apparently a single prayer isn't enough for god to listen to or action, it takes a much larger number, like the 'We the People' USA government petition system.

Saw this on my Facebook timeline:

Prayers for Baylee wrote:

Baylee's new goal 30,000 prayers warriors. Make her smile and like our page. We need LOTs of prayers. She has a very rare immune disorder called nk cell deficiency. Life expectancy is unknown. there is no cure or treatment. Only GOD can heal her. Thts why we need lots of prayers.

141,633 people like this.
394,846 shares

How many prayers does it take exactly for God to heal someone these days? Also, if only god can heal her, why is she going to hospital?

FouxDaFaFa

^^

I suppose whatever gives the parents comfort in what must be a pretty horrendous time...

Makes me uncomfortable that they would plaster the child all over the internet though, especially when it's not for a practical reason like if they needed help with costs.