Nurse Injured By COVID-19 Vaccine Heading To Trial Against Former Employer

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A nurse diagnosed with a COVID-19 vaccine injury is headed to trial in a case against her former employer.

Danielle Baker, 43, is trying to compel Ohio’s Hospice Inc. to pay worker’s compensation for her COVID-19 vaccine injury, suffered after she went to get vaccinated in June 2021 because she believed the company would mandate vaccination.

A state officer rejected the claim, finding that Baker did not show her injury came “in the course of and arising out of her employment” because Ohio’s Hospice had not yet mandated vaccination. The Ohio Industrial Commission refused to hear the appeal.

But a judge intervened in May, scheduling a trial date that sets up the possibility a jury could side with the nurse.

“It was a win,” Baker told The Epoch Times’ sister media NTD, recounting when she learned of the development. “I cried. We’ve been fighting this for a while.”

Baker hopes to receive a large award based on lost wages and medical bills.

New Developments

Baker said she knew Ohio’s Hospice would eventually mandate vaccination for employment—it did so in August 2021—and she did not want to lose her job, so she went to get Pfizer’s shot.

Baker quickly began experiencing symptoms such as severe back pain and went to the hospital. She eventually suffered loss of feeling in her extremities and was diagnosed with transverse myelitis, or spinal cord inflammation. Multiple doctors have assessed that the condition was caused by the vaccine.

Ohio’s Hospice Inc., which did not respond to requests for comment, has said in court filings that Baker’s complaint was barred by statutes of limitations and that she has failed to “declare an injurious event that occurred at work and/or a diagnosis for any such event that occurred at work.”

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, has also opposed the legal action, arguing no valid claim has been offered.

But Miami County Common Pleas Judge Jeannine Pratt disagreed, at least for now. The judge has scheduled a trial that would start on Jan. 31, 2024, if the case is not thrown out or settled.

Baker said she is not inclined to accept a settlement.

“Unless they give something that I can’t refuse I plan on taking it all the way,” Baker told NTD.

James Gardner, a lawyer representing the nurse, said via email that “most cases are resolved, but the diverse positions taken by the parties in this case might make settlement difficult.”

Nurse for 20 Years

Baker was a nurse for 20 years, primarily working in hospice care. She worked for 17 years at Ohio’s Hospice.

After suffering the vaccine injury, she went on short-term disability, which eventually turned into long-term disability.

Ohio’s Hospice ultimately said that there were no reasonable accommodations that could be made, so Baker was let go, though she was deemed eligible to rejoin the company at a later date.

Baker has continued receiving disability payments as she’s unable to work because of her symptoms.

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