Dr. Joseph Auteri was fired for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine
Former cardiovascular surgeon raising funds to sue hospital over vaccine mandate
December 29, 2021
by John R. Fischer, Senior Reporter
A former cardiovascular surgeon who was fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine is trying to raise funds to take on the hospital that let him go.
Dr. Joseph Auteri served as the chief of cardiovascular surgery at Doylestown Hospital and medical director of Doylestown Health's Woodall Center for Heart and Vascular Care. He claimed to have natural immunity from a previous bout with COVID-19 and requested religious and medical exemptions to the vaccine mandate, but both were denied, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
In response to his firing, Auteri set up a GoFundMe that as of 4 p.m. last Wednesday had accumulated more than $29,200 from 174 donors. “I declined the vaccine, and was promptly terminated, despite all that we’ve accomplished together. I feel what they did to me and other healthcare workers was wrong,” he wrote on his campaign page, “Help Joe Auteri fight this injustice”.
Following “two difficult weeks” with the disease, Auteri says he gained antibodies and t-cell immunity and that his personal physician describes his condition as “robust natural immunity,” according to the Courier Times.
He is looking to take the Bucks County hospital to court over its mandate and his termination.
Hospital spokesperson Allyson Gilmore told The Philadelphia Inquirer that hospital administrators are “aware of the GoFundMe campaign” and that Auteri “misrepresents" the circumstances behind his firing. She declined to elaborate due to Auteri’s plans to sue the hospital but added that his funding was for “baseless legal action” and that he was one of the “most highly-compensated employed physicians” at Doylestown Hospital before he was terminated.
The hospital has fired less than 10 employees who refused to comply with its mandate, which requires either vaccination or an approved religious or medical exemption. It has granted exemptions to 96 employees.
The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services mandated in November that healthcare organizations must require employees to get vaccinated by January 4 in order to continue to receive money from the Medicare and Medicaid programs. But federal circuit courts have temporarily suspended the rule to review lawsuits brought by several states against it.
Most healthcare systems in the Philadelphia area already had vaccine mandates in place. Doylestown Hospital issued its own in October and required that employees be vaccinated or obtain an exemption by October. The outcome of the CMS cases is unlikely to have any bearing on those rules, according to Dorit Reiss, a professor at UC Hastings College of Law who specializes in vaccine law. “Employers historically have the right to set workplace requirements,” she told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Hospitals in Philadelphia have reported high rates of vaccinations and have not indicated a desire to change their vaccine mandates. This includes Doylestown, according to Gilmore. “This requirement is an extension of our organization’s belief that following the science is the most effective way to serve our community,” Gilmore said in a statement.
A number of providers in southwestern Pennsylvania have rescinded their policies, however, following legal challenges brought against the federal mandate. In late November, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against the rule that caused 10 of 12 healthcare systems that initially agreed to comply with it to back off. Among them were Butler, Conemaugh, Excela, Penn Highlands, St. Claire Medical System and Washington health systems, according to news affiliate, WESA.
One institution in particular that said it would not require the vaccine without the mandate was the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. “We will comply with whatever mandate exists, and we will continue our activities that encourage and try to increase vaccination,” said UPMC chief medical officer Dr. Don Yealy at a news conference earlier this month.
Dr. Joseph Auteri served as the chief of cardiovascular surgery at Doylestown Hospital and medical director of Doylestown Health's Woodall Center for Heart and Vascular Care. He claimed to have natural immunity from a previous bout with COVID-19 and requested religious and medical exemptions to the vaccine mandate, but both were denied, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
In response to his firing, Auteri set up a GoFundMe that as of 4 p.m. last Wednesday had accumulated more than $29,200 from 174 donors. “I declined the vaccine, and was promptly terminated, despite all that we’ve accomplished together. I feel what they did to me and other healthcare workers was wrong,” he wrote on his campaign page, “Help Joe Auteri fight this injustice”.
Following “two difficult weeks” with the disease, Auteri says he gained antibodies and t-cell immunity and that his personal physician describes his condition as “robust natural immunity,” according to the Courier Times.
He is looking to take the Bucks County hospital to court over its mandate and his termination.
Hospital spokesperson Allyson Gilmore told The Philadelphia Inquirer that hospital administrators are “aware of the GoFundMe campaign” and that Auteri “misrepresents" the circumstances behind his firing. She declined to elaborate due to Auteri’s plans to sue the hospital but added that his funding was for “baseless legal action” and that he was one of the “most highly-compensated employed physicians” at Doylestown Hospital before he was terminated.
The hospital has fired less than 10 employees who refused to comply with its mandate, which requires either vaccination or an approved religious or medical exemption. It has granted exemptions to 96 employees.
The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services mandated in November that healthcare organizations must require employees to get vaccinated by January 4 in order to continue to receive money from the Medicare and Medicaid programs. But federal circuit courts have temporarily suspended the rule to review lawsuits brought by several states against it.
Most healthcare systems in the Philadelphia area already had vaccine mandates in place. Doylestown Hospital issued its own in October and required that employees be vaccinated or obtain an exemption by October. The outcome of the CMS cases is unlikely to have any bearing on those rules, according to Dorit Reiss, a professor at UC Hastings College of Law who specializes in vaccine law. “Employers historically have the right to set workplace requirements,” she told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Hospitals in Philadelphia have reported high rates of vaccinations and have not indicated a desire to change their vaccine mandates. This includes Doylestown, according to Gilmore. “This requirement is an extension of our organization’s belief that following the science is the most effective way to serve our community,” Gilmore said in a statement.
A number of providers in southwestern Pennsylvania have rescinded their policies, however, following legal challenges brought against the federal mandate. In late November, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against the rule that caused 10 of 12 healthcare systems that initially agreed to comply with it to back off. Among them were Butler, Conemaugh, Excela, Penn Highlands, St. Claire Medical System and Washington health systems, according to news affiliate, WESA.
One institution in particular that said it would not require the vaccine without the mandate was the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. “We will comply with whatever mandate exists, and we will continue our activities that encourage and try to increase vaccination,” said UPMC chief medical officer Dr. Don Yealy at a news conference earlier this month.