Fired Nurse Sues Catholic Hospital For Defamation

The San Antonio Express-News reports on a defamation lawsuit against a Catholic hospital that went to trial yesterday in a Bexar County (TX) trial court. Tammy Perez is a devout Catholic who was formerly employed as a nurse by Christus Santa Rosa Health System. She claims that the hospital defamed her in the process of firing her in retaliation for her reporting to officials of the Archdiocese that the hospital had performed an abortion. She prepped the patient for the procedure. The hospital says that the procedure at issue involved a miscarriage, while Perez claims that there had not been an ultrasound to determine if there was still a fetal heart beat. She says the patient told her she had not miscarried. The hospital says they fired Perez because she violated privacy laws by revealing medical information regarding the patient to a priest who was the archdiocesan administrator. Meanwhile, in response to a pre-trial motion, the court ruled that the question of whether an abortion in fact was performed will not be an issue at trial.