Texas doctor fired for using leftover Covid-19 vaccine doses sues county for discrimination

[SheltieLover]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/22/us/texas-doctor-covid-vaccine-lawsuit/index.html

(CNN)A Texas public health doctor fired earlier this year for using leftover doses of Covid-19 vaccine on eligible individuals is suing Harris County for $1 million, saying he was fired for giving "the vaccine to too many individuals with 'Indian' sounding names."

Dr. Hasan Gokal was charged with theft by a public servant but a Harris County grand jury declined to indict him, according to Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg's office.

More at link.

[markie]

1. I'm sure we all remember this...

they were seen as heroes...

"Oregon health workers administer Covid-19 vaccines in snowstorm to stranded motorists"

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/oregon-health-workers-administer-vaccines-snowstorm-stranded-motorists-n1256054

[SheltieLover]

7. Yup!

Who knows how many lives he & other docs saved by using up.vials!

[MustLoveBeagles]

2. I hope he wins

[SheltieLover]

8. Be too, Beagles!

[Skittles]

3. I cannot see that he did anything wrong

good luck to him

[SheltieLover]

9. I don't either!

They should have commended him!

[Hekate]

4. I remember this & it was just ripe for a lawsuit. Best of luck, Dr Gokal! nt

[babylonsister]

5. Dr. Hasan Goka should be getting an award, but reward works. nt

[SheltieLover]

10. Absolutely!

[bucolic_frolic]

6. This doctor should be a lawyer too

He really understands what's going on in Texas

[SheltieLover]

11. Yup!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

12. Too many 'Indian' names?

I'm thinking names like Running Elk, Lost Beaver, Hunts With a Bow. Those kind of Indian names?

Okay, I'm being deliberately silly, but if the alternative was letting the doses go to waste, no one should give a flying fuck who the doctor gave those doses to. Well, I suppose wanting them to be human is a reasonable criterion.

[IronLionZion]

13. Harris County has tons of South Asian people

it's pretty normal that he would want to give the remaining 10 doses in a vial to whoever wanted them, and happens to know a lot of brown people since he's brown. A pandemic health care worker shortage is hardly the time to be firing doctors for getting people vaccinated, regardless of the circumstances.

If he were selling it to the highest bidder or something, that would be a very different story. There was some of that on law and order organized crime.

[TexasTowelie]

14. Adding another article from local news media:

Exonerated Doctor Accused Of Stealing Vaccines Sues Harris County For Over $1 Million


Dr. Hasan Gokal was fired by Harris County Public Health for allegedly stealing COVID-19 vaccine doses in December. But after he was found to have committed no crime by a local judge, a county grand jury and the Texas Medical Board, Gokal — a Pakistani immigrant — has now sued Harris County and the county health department for supposedly firing him with racist intent.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday seeking more than $1 million in damages, Gokal and his attorney Joe Ahmad argue that Gokal acted within his duty as physician and per the recommendations of the state health department in making sure extra, opened doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine wouldn’t go to waste one night in late December 2020. According to Gokal’s legal team, county public health officials wrongfully fired him for not “equitably” distributing those vaccine doses which they claimed he’d stolen.

Gokal’s superiors “declared that Dr. Gokal did not ‘equitably’ distribute the vaccine and that Dr. Gokal gave the vaccine to too many individuals with ‘Indian’ sounding names,” before firing him, the lawsuit claims.

“I think when they saw a South Asian physician who gave it to other South Asians, they had been scrambling to come up with a reason to justify taking action against him,” Ahmad told the Houston Press.

Read more: https://www.houstonpress.com/news/doctor-accused-of-vaccine-theft-sues-harris-county-for-over-1-million-11967767

[WA-03 Democrat]

15. Thanks

If I were Harris County I would settle as soon as possible. $1m is beyond fair for disgracing a doctor who was doing the right thing. Good on him!

[uponit7771]

17. Yep, especially if he can prove they said that about south Asians

[LetMyPeopleVote]

16. This Doctor was trying to save vaccine that was gong to be wasted

I hope that this doctor wins his lawsuit

[Renew Deal]

18. I know of lots of doctors and pharmacists that did the same exact thing

They called anyone they knew that could take the excess vaccines. The only thing that could be considered unfair about it was that they were eligible for a 2nd shot before they were eligible for their first.