Jury sides with nurse fired for refusing to dispense 'morning-after' pills

By The Associated Press

05.29.02

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RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A federal jury has ordered a county public health clinic to pay $47,000 in damages to a born-again Christian nurse who was fired after she refused to give patients "morning-after" birth-control pills.

The decision by the eight-member jury was reached May 24 but announced yesterday. The jury awarded $19,000 in back pay and more than $28,000 in damages for emotional distress to 28-year-old Michelle Diaz, who believed that dispensing "morning-after" pills to patients violated her religious beliefs.

The jury found that firing Diaz violated her constitutional rights of free speech and freedom of religion.

"When that sperm and that egg meet, that was my child's life, and my life and your life," said Diaz, a mother of three. "And that is how every other life is going to begin. When that life starts, I cannot infringe on that. I won't be a part of ending that."

County officials plan to ask U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips to set aside the jury verdict. They argue that Diaz was still a probationary employee in June 1999 when clinic officials learned she was telling other nurses who worked at the Riverside Neighborhood Health Center that they would be required to perform abortions.

"She was fired because it was believed that the misinformation she was giving to these temporary nurses was done in an attempt to subvert the mission of the clinic, which was to provide those types of services to all patients who had requested it," said Bruce E. Disenhouse, an attorney who represented Riverside County.

Diaz denied those allegations.

Disenhouse said the clinic is the busiest of 10 public-health facilities in the county and has been unable to operate because of a shortage of nurses.

Kathy Kneer, president and chief executive of Sacramento-based Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, said the verdict may send the wrong message that the rights of a nurse are placed before the rights of a patient.

"She works in a clinic that provided family-planning services," Kneer said. "What's going to happen to those patients? Why do they have to give up their rights, particularly in a publicly funded institution?"

The federal government made morning-after pills widely available in 1999. Many doctors consider the pills an important method of reducing unplanned pregnancies. Anti-abortion groups believe the morning-after pill is a form of abortion because it acts to prevent a fertilized egg from growing.

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Nurse fired after refusing to dispense 'morning-after' pill sues California county
Lawsuit claims officials dismissed Michelle Diaz after she discussed her opposition to the emergency contraceptive with reporters.  12.08.00