A 65-year-old nurse has sued Denver Health Medical Center saying she was fired for her support of President Donald Trump.
Lizzy Mathews of Lakewood also brought the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Denver against Kelly Torres, nursing manager, and Marc Fedo, director of acute nursing.
The lawsuit filed by Denver attorneys Francis Culkin and Karen Larson seeks her job back along with back pay and punitive damages for emotional pain and suffering.
Attempts to reach the hospital for comment were not immediately successful.
Mathews, who earned her nursing degree at the Hamidia Medical College Hospital in Bhopal, India, worked at Denver Health for 27 years. She augmented her education at the Front Range Community College, studying psychiatric nursing.
On Sept. 10, 2016, Mathews was tending a patient who had previously been a high-ranking hospital employee. The patient was watching election coverage and asked Mathews who she thought would win.
Mathews said Trump would win and she was “praying for him.†To that the patient replied, “Oh no, I don’t want him to be.â€
Three days later Torres called Mathews at home and said a patient had complained about her conversation about the election, the lawsuit said.
Torres asked, “Did you ask (the patient) to read the Bible?â€
Mathews denied that she did.
But Torres fired Mathews while they were on the phone and added that Mathews didn’t work enough hours. Fedo approved the termination and said Mathews was ineligible for rehire, the lawsuit says.
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/01/18/nurse-sues-denver-hospital-supports-trump/
