Sick and In Need of Help, But No Healthcare Workers in Sight - The Law Office of Irnise F. Williams, LLC

Since the start of the pandemic almost two years ago, nearly 1 in 5 healthcare workers have quit their jobs. Workers have cited COVID-19, poor pay, and burnout as the top reasons for resignation and more recently–termination. As vaccines for COVID-19 have become more readily available and are shown to protect against the original virus and the new Delta variant, many employers and government officials have mandated that their employees make a choice: get the vaccine or get a new job.The former Governor of New York issued a statewide mandate requiring all hospital and long-term care facility workers to receive at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by September 27, 2021. As a response to this mandate, some workers sought a religious exemption to prevent them from choosing between their faith and their job. I discussed the liability implications on Instagram and things got a little heated on both sides.

Religious exemptions were granted to almost 16,000 New York state healthcare workers before a court vacated the temporary injunction for the exemption. This means that the court decided the exemption was no longer sound and workers are not allowed to use religion as a basis for not receiving the vaccine in order to keep their jobs. This is not isolated to just the state of New York. Healthcare workers across the country are facing a similar dilemma–personal autonomy or job security.

On the other hand, there are places–like the state of Iowa–that allow for those who have been discharged from work due to refusal of the vaccine to qualify for unemployment benefits (in the event they are discharged from their job). An employee who is seeking exemption in Iowa needs to only prove medical or religious exemption. More recently in Alabama, the state Senate voted in favor of a bill that will allow employees to claim a medical or religious exemption against taking the vaccine. The bill will move to the House of Representatives and looks likely to become law in the near future.

There are real life implications stemming from this issue. Employers who are mandating the vaccine, especially not-for-profit organizations, are losing their workers (especially nurses) at alarming rates. This is causing an increase in utilizing more staffing agencies to provide relief, but this comes at a significant cost. The high price these organizations pay for temporary workers means their profitability plummets in the long run. Because they don’t have the staff to perform elective surgeries or other costly procedures, it’s likely that these organizations are going to see ramifications of the staffing issue for years to come.

Sick and In Need of Help, But No Healthcare Workers in Sight

We can expect to see more unionization of healthcare workers due to the conditions they have faced during the pandemic and beyond. A wise organization would take an internal look at their infrastructure, policies, and procedures to see what they change in order to attract and retain staff. The top priority of any healthcare organization should always be patient care, but patient care has seemed to take a backseat in the name of profit.Healthcare workers aren’t the only ones suffering because of the vaccine mandate–patients are getting the short end of the stick too. In 2020, many hospitals, clinics, and the like were triaging for patients who had ailments that were not related to COVID. This meant setting up a temporary clinic in a parking lot, going off-site to provide care, and an increased use in telehealth services. The surge of COVID didn’t stop the emergence of other illnesses though. As hospitals were filled to the brink with the most critical of patients, many people were turned away due to their condition not being “serious enough.” Some patients were transferred to other facilities that could accommodate them but for the most part, many were left to figure out what to do next. With the numerous advancements in technology, no one should ever feel like they have nowhere to turn for medical care. Marginalized people and communities were and continue to be most affected by the lack of care available to them.

The question now is where do we go from here? Where does your state stand in the vaccination exemption debate? What can we do to improve care for patients while being mindful of the wellbeing of healthcare providers and workers?

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Sources:
https://www.cnn.com
https://www.fiercehealthcare.com
https://www.natlawreview.com
https://wvua23.com
https://morningconsult.com
https://www.healthleadersmedia.com
https://www.aamc.org