Request by Louisiana Hospital for Summary Judgment against Pro-Life Nurse "Denied"

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/may/09052203.html | Friday May 22, 2009 | By Hilary White

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Friday May 22, 2009

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Request by Louisiana Hospital for Summary Judgment against Pro-Life Nurse "Denied": State Supreme Court

By Hilary White

COVINGTON, Louisiana, (LifeSiteNews.com) - The case of a pro-life nurse in Louisiana will go to trial after four years of legal dispute. Nurse Toni Lemly contests being demoted in 2005 from her job at a Covington hospital for refusing to dispense the abortifacient 'morning after' abortion pill, Plan B. With a single-word refusal, "Denied," the Louisiana State Supreme Court refused to grant a request by the hospital to give a summary judgment against Lemly.

In 2005, attorneys with the public interest law firm the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed suit against the St. Tammany Parish Hospital (STPH) on behalf of Lemly, contesting that the hospital's actions violate the Louisiana Employment Discrimination Law.

Brian Arabie, a Lake Charles attorney who is allied with the ADF, said "The hospital acted unlawfully when it refused to make a reasonable accommodation for Ms. Lemly and instead terminated her fulltime position."

Lemly, a nurse with 23 years experience, had informed the hospital that she could not dispense the drug, that is known to in some cases cause an early term abortion, because of her religious beliefs. The hospital responded by reducing her from full-time to part-time staff, with a reduction in Lemly's income and loss of employee benefits.

A brief by the ADF also said that "The hospital declined several reasonable suggestions made by Lemly, a nurse for 23 years, that would have enabled the facility to continue administering the pill while allowing her to abstain from dispensing it herself."

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Louisiana Nurse Demoted for Not Distributing 'Morning After' Abortion Pill
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jan/07010806.html

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/may/09052203.html

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Saint Tammany Parish Hospital might sound like a Catholic Hospital, but it is a public hospital.

Counties are called "Parishes" in Louisiana, and Saint Tammany is one of the Parishes/Counties of Louisiana...

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Ping

[Jo Nuvark]

PRAISE GOD! Am I reading this correctly?

[ZULU]

“Lemly, a nurse with 23 years experience, had informed the hospital that she could not dispense the drug, that is known to in some cases cause an early term abortion, because of her religious beliefs. The hospital responded by reducing her from full-time to part-time staff, with a reduction in Lemly’s income and loss of employee benefits.”

This is religio9us discrimination!!!

Apparently this nurse follows the Hippocratic Oath more closely than many Doctors these days.

[freedumb2003]

>>Apparently this nurse follows the Hippocratic Oath more closely than many Doctors these days.

“Do No Harm” and “No Deadly Drug.”

I really hope she wins this. The effects across the country will be huge — in a positive way. The TOTUS-reading fuhrer’s administration has already said it is going to try to eliminate the practice of people following their religion.

[RebelTXRose]

Too bad Bush’s order allowing medical providers to refuse to participate in abortions came AFTER this dear lady was harmed. I know they have to use the law at the time, but, geesh, this is “off” “on” probably “off” under obama...

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

Your job or your conscience. That’s the awful choice the left gives us.