Judge rules Boston Medical Center was within its rights to fire RN who refused Covid-19 shots

A federal judge today dismissed a lawsuit by a former Boston Medical Center registered nurse who sued the hospital after it fired her in October, 2021 for refusing to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

In her suit, filed in US District Court in Boston in 2022, Alexandria Melino said the refusal violated her religious-freedom rights and besides, the vaccines don't work.

In his ruling, Judge Richard Stearns said BMC's right to protect patients and other workers outweighed her First Amendment rights and that because she was a nurse who worked with patients, often "vulnerable individuals in critical condition who often relied on respirators," there was no safe accommodation the hospital could make.

A 1915 Supreme Court ruling - involving a Cambridge minister - allows for extraordinary measures during a public-health emergency.

Also, Stearns wrote, Melino's lawsuit took an FDA statement about what the vaccines protect against out of context: The FDA never said it would halt the spread of the virus, only that it would reduce the odds that a person who gets the shot would come down with the disease if they were still infected by the microorganism.

This is at least the second time this year that Stearns has tossed a lawsuit by a former BMC nurse, brought by Peter Vickery, an Amherst attorney who is one of a handful of lawyers in the state who took on such cases.

Vickery actually filed a request with Stearns this morning that he not schedule any hearings during a period next month when Vickery would be on vacation. Stearns's ruling made that issue moot.