LIBERTY COUNSEL CITES ILLINOIS HEALTH CARE RIGHT OF CONSCIENCE ACT IN DEMAND LETTER ON BEHALF OF NORTHSHORE EMPLOYEES
Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter to NorthShore University HealthSystem on behalf of 14 health care workers and numerous others who Liberty Counsel says “have been unlawfully discriminated against and denied religious exemptions from the COVID shot mandate.”
In their religious exemption requests, the health care workers that Liberty Counsel represents all included their sincerely held religious beliefs against abortion and the connection of all available COVID injections to aborted fetal cell lines. All three of the currently available COVID injections are produced by, derived from, manufactured with, tested on, developed with, or otherwise connected to or “associated” with aborted fetal cell lines, Liberty Counsel said.
NorthShore previously granted exemptions for some employees but then denied them in mid-September. Those denials were either without explanation or because the requests failed to meet some so-called “evidence-based criteria” that NorthShore never provided the employees in advance. NorthShore then only gave employees three business days to file an appeal without stating what was missing in the original application. In that appeal, NorthShore also apparently judged the validity of their religious beliefs by requiring them to include their entire vaccination history since the age of eighteen. However, NorthShore never requested employees to provide prior vaccine information in their initial exemption requests.
After denying these employees, NorthShore also changed its exemption form to include a warning that all religious objections based on “aborted fetal cell lines, stem cells, tissue or derivative materials will result in denials.” NorthShore is falsely deceptive in that form by stating that the COVID-19 injections have no link to aborted fetal cell lines and refuting the religious beliefs of health care workers who object to the undeniable connection of the injections to aborted fetal cell lines.
Illinois law dictates that employees at NorthShore University HealthSystem have the fundamental right to determine what medical care to accept and refuse. In fact, Illinois has a Health Care Right of Conscience Act that provides strong protection to all residents against discrimination based on health care choices. It states: “It shall be unlawful for any person, public or private institution, or public official to discriminate against any person in any manner, including but not limited to, licensing, hiring, promotion, or any other privileges, because of such person’s conscientious refusal to receive, obtain, accept or participate in any way in any particular form of health care services contrary to his or her conscience” (emphasis added).
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “NorthShore University Health System must obey state and federal law and grant reasonable accommodations to its employees whose sincere religious beliefs prohibit them from receiving these COVID shots. NorthShore must also revise its deceptive and unlawful religious exemption form.”
Your Conscience is all you need to site to get an exemption
(745 ILCS 70/1) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 5301) Sec. 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Health Care Right of Conscience Act.(Source: P.A. 90-246, eff. 1-1-98.)
(745 ILCS 70/2) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 5302) Sec. 2. Findings and policy. The General Assembly finds and declares that people and organizations hold different beliefs about whether certain health care services are morally acceptable.
It is the public policy of the State of Illinois to respect and protect the right of conscience of all persons who refuse to obtain, receive or accept, or who are engaged in, the delivery of, arrangement for, or payment of health care services and medical care whether acting individually, corporately, or in association with other persons; and to prohibit all forms of discrimination, disqualification, coercion, disability or imposition of liability upon such persons or entities by reason of their refusing to act contrary to their conscience or conscientious convictions in providing, paying for, or refusing to obtain, receive, accept, deliver, pay for, or arrange for the payment of health care services and medical care.
It is also the public policy of the State of Illinois to ensure that patients receive timely access to information and medically appropriate care.(Source: P.A. 99-690, eff. 1-1-17.)
(745 ILCS 70/3) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 5303) Sec. 3. Definitions. As used in this Act, unless the context clearly otherwise requires: (a) “Health care” means any phase of patient care, including but not limited to, testing; diagnosis; prognosis; ancillary research; instructions; family planning, counselling, referrals, or any other advice in connection with the use or procurement of contraceptives and sterilization or abortion procedures; medication; surgery or other care or treatment rendered by a physician or physicians, nurses, paraprofessionals or health care facility, intended for the physical, emotional, and mental well-being of persons; or an abortion as defined by the Reproductive Health Act; (b) “Physician” means any person who is licensed by the State of Illinois under the Medical Practice Act of 1987; (c) “Health care personnel” means any nurse, nurses’ aide, medical school student, professional, paraprofessional or any other person who furnishes, or assists in the furnishing of, health care services; (d) “Health care facility” means any public or private hospital, clinic, center, medical school, medical training institution, laboratory or diagnostic facility, physician’s office, infirmary, dispensary, ambulatory surgical treatment center or other institution or location wherein health care services are provided to any person, including physician organizations and associations, networks, joint ventures, and all other combinations of those organizations;
(e) “Conscience” means a sincerely held set of moral convictions arising from belief in and relation to God, or which, though not so derived, arises from a place in the life of its possessor parallel to that filled by God among adherents to religious faiths;
(f) “Health care payer” means a health maintenance organization, insurance company, management services organization, or any other entity that pays for or arranges for the payment of any health care or medical care service, procedure, or product; and (g) “Undue delay” means unreasonable delay that causes impairment of the patient’s health. The above definitions include not only the traditional combinations and forms of these persons and organizations but also all new and emerging forms and combinations of these persons and organizations.(Source: P.A. 101-13, eff. 6-12-19.)
(745 ILCS 70/4) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 5304) Sec. 4. Liability. No physician or health care personnel shall be civilly or criminally liable to any person, estate, public or private entity or public official by reason of his or her refusal to perform, assist, counsel, suggest, recommend, refer or participate in any way in any particular form of health care service which is contrary to the conscience of such physician or health care personnel.(Source: P.A. 90-246, eff. 1-1-98.)
(745 ILCS 70/5) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 5305) Sec. 5. Discrimination. It shall be unlawful for any person, public or private institution, or public official to discriminate against any person in any manner, including but not limited to, licensing, hiring, promotion, transfer, staff appointment, hospital, managed care entity, or any other privileges, because of such person’s conscientious refusal to receive, obtain, accept, perform, assist, counsel, suggest, recommend, refer or participate in any way in any particular form of health care services contrary to his or her conscience.(Source: P.A. 90-246, eff. 1-1-98.)
(745 ILCS 70/6) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 5306) Sec. 6. Duty of physicians and other health care personnel. Nothing in this Act shall relieve a physician from any duty, which may exist under any laws concerning current standards of medical practice or care, to inform his or her patient of the patient’s condition, prognosis, legal treatment options, and risks and benefits of treatment options, provided, however, that such physician shall be under no duty to perform, assist, counsel, suggest, recommend, refer or participate in any way in any form of medical practice or health care service that is contrary to his or her conscience. Nothing in this Act shall be construed so as to relieve a physician or other health care personnel from obligations under the law of providing emergency medical care.(Source: P.A. 99-690, eff. 1-1-17.)
(745 ILCS 70/6.1) Sec. 6.1. Access to care and information protocols. All health care facilities shall adopt written access to care and information protocols that are designed to ensure that conscience-based objections do not cause impairment of patients’ health and that explain how conscience-based objections will be addressed in a timely manner to facilitate patient health care services. The protections of Sections 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 of this Act only apply if conscience-based refusals occur in accordance with these protocols. These protocols must, at a minimum, address the following: (1) The health care facility, physician, or health care personnel shall inform a patient of the patient’s condition, prognosis, legal treatment options, and risks and benefits of the treatment options in a timely manner, consistent with current standards of medical practice or care. (2) When a health care facility, physician, or health care personnel is unable to permit, perform, or participate in a health care service that is a diagnostic or treatment option requested by a patient because the health care service is contrary to the conscience of the health care facility, physician, or health care personnel, then the patient shall either be provided the requested health care service by others in the facility or be notified that the health care will not be provided and be referred, transferred, or given information in accordance with paragraph (3). (3) If requested by the patient or the legal representative of the patient, the health care facility, physician, or health care personnel shall: (i) refer the patient to, or (ii) transfer the patient to, or (iii) provide in writing information to the patient about other health care providers who they reasonably believe may offer the health care service the health care facility, physician, or health personnel refuses to permit, perform, or participate in because of a conscience-based objection. (4) If requested by the patient or the legal representative of the patient, the health care facility, physician, or health care personnel shall provide copies of medical records to the patient or to another health care professional or health care facility designated by the patient in accordance with Illinois law, without undue delay.(Source: P.A. 99-690, eff. 1-1-17.)
(745 ILCS 70/6.2) Sec. 6.2. Permissible acts related to access to care and information protocols. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent a health care facility from requiring that physicians or health care personnel working in the facility comply with access to care and information protocols that comply with the provisions of this Act.(Source: P.A. 99-690, eff. 1-1-17.)
(745 ILCS 70/7) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 5307) Sec. 7. Discrimination by employers or institutions. It shall be unlawful for any public or private employer, entity, agency, institution, official or person, including but not limited to, a medical, nursing or other medical training institution, to deny admission because of, to place any reference in its application form concerning, to orally question about, to impose any burdens in terms or conditions of employment on, or to otherwise discriminate against, any applicant, in terms of employment, admission to or participation in any programs for which the applicant is eligible, or to discriminate in relation thereto, in any other manner, on account of the applicant’s refusal to receive, obtain, accept, perform, counsel, suggest, recommend, refer, assist or participate in any way in any forms of health care services contrary to his or her conscience.(Source: P.A. 90-246, eff. 1-1-98.)
(745 ILCS 70/8) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 5308) Sec. 8. Denial of aid or benefits. It shall be unlawful for any public official, guardian, agency, institution or entity to deny any form of aid, assistance or benefits, or to condition the reception in any way of any form of aid, assistance or benefits, or in any other manner to coerce, disqualify or discriminate against any person, otherwise entitled to such aid, assistance or benefits, because that person refuses to obtain, receive, accept, perform, assist, counsel, suggest, recommend, refer or participate in any way in any form of health care services contrary to his or her conscience.(Source: P.A. 90-246, eff. 1-1-98.)
(745 ILCS 70/9) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 5309) Sec. 9. Liability. No person, association, or corporation, which owns, operates, supervises, or manages a health care facility shall be civilly or criminally liable to any person, estate, or public or private entity by reason of refusal of the health care facility to permit or provide any particular form of health care service which violates the facility’s conscience as documented in its ethical guidelines, mission statement, constitution, bylaws, articles of incorporation, regulations, or other governing documents. Nothing in this Act shall be construed so as to relieve a physician, health care personnel, or a health care facility from obligations under the law of providing emergency medical care.(Source: P.A. 99-690, eff. 1-1-17.)
(745 ILCS 70/10) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 5310) Sec. 10. Discrimination against facility. It shall be unlawful for any person, public or private institution or public official to discriminate against any person, association or corporation attempting to establish a new health care facility or operating an existing health care facility, in any manner, including but not limited to, denial, deprivation or disqualification in licensing, granting of authorizations, aids, assistance, benefits, medical staff or any other privileges, and granting authorization to expand, improve, or create any health care facility, by reason of the refusal of such person, association or corporation planning, proposing or operating a health care facility, to permit or perform any particular form of health care service which violates the health care facility’s conscience as documented in its existing or proposed ethical guidelines, mission statement, constitution, bylaws, articles of incorporation, regulations, or other governing documents.(Source: P.A. 90-246, eff. 1-1-98.)
(745 ILCS 70/11) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 5311) Sec. 11. Denial of aid or benefit to a facility. It shall be unlawful for any public official, agency, institution or entity to deny any form of aid, assistance, grants or benefits; or in any other manner to coerce, disqualify or discriminate against any person, association or corporation attempting to establish a new health care facility or operating an existing health care facility which otherwise would be entitled to the aid, assistance, grant or benefit because the existing or proposed health care facility refuses to perform, assist, counsel, suggest, recommend, refer or participate in any way in any form of health care services contrary to the health care facility’s conscience as documented in its existing or proposed ethical guidelines, mission statement, constitution, bylaws, articles of incorporation, regulations, or other governing documents.(Source: P.A. 90-246, eff. 1-1-98.)
(745 ILCS 70/11.2) Sec. 11.2. Liability of health care payer. No health care payer and no person, association, or corporation that owns, operates, supervises, or manages a health care payer shall be civilly or criminally liable to any person, estate, or public or private entity by reason of refusal of the health care payer to pay for or arrange for the payment of any particular form of health care services that violate the health care payer’s conscience as documented in its ethical guidelines, mission statement, constitution, bylaws, articles of incorporation, regulations, or other governing documents.(Source: P.A. 90-246, eff. 1-1-98.)
(745 ILCS 70/11.3) Sec. 11.3. Discrimination against health care payer in licensing. It shall be unlawful for any person, public or private institution, or public official to discriminate against any person, association, or corporation (i) attempting to establish a new health care payer or (ii) operating an existing health care payer, in any manner, including but not limited to, denial, deprivation, or disqualification in licensing; granting of authorizations, aids, assistance, benefits, or any other privileges; and granting authorization to expand, improve, or create any health care payer, because the person, association, or corporation planning, proposing, or operating a health care payer refuses to pay for or arrange for the payment of any particular form of health care services that violates the health care payer’s conscience as documented in the existing or proposed ethical guidelines, mission statement, constitution, bylaws, articles of incorporation, regulations or other governing documents.(Source: P.A. 90-246, eff. 1-1-98.)
(745 ILCS 70/11.4) Sec. 11.4. Denial of aid or benefits to health care payer for refusal to participate in certain health care. It shall be unlawful for any public official, agency, institution, or entity to deny any form of aid, assistance, grants, or benefits; or in any other manner to coerce, disqualify, or discriminate against any person, association, or corporation attempting to establish a new health care payer or operating an existing health care payer that otherwise would be entitled to the aid, assistance, grant, or benefit because the existing or proposed health care payer refuses to pay for, arrange for the payment of, or participate in any way in any form of health care services contrary to the health care payer’s conscience as documented in its existing or proposed ethical guidelines, mission statement, constitution, bylaws, articles of incorporation, regulations, or other governing documents.(Source: P.A. 90-246, eff. 1-1-98.)
(745 ILCS 70/12) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 5312) Sec. 12. Actions; damages. Any person, association, corporation, entity or health care facility injured by any public or private person, association, agency, entity or corporation by reason of any action prohibited by this Act may commence a suit therefor, and shall recover threefold the actual damages, including pain and suffering, sustained by such person, association, corporation, entity or health care facility, the costs of the suit and reasonable attorney’s fees; but in no case shall recovery be less than $2,500 for each violation in addition to costs of the suit and reasonable attorney’s fees. These damage remedies shall be cumulative, and not exclusive of other remedies afforded under any other state or federal law.(Source: P.A. 90-246, eff. 1-1-98.)
(745 ILCS 70/13) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 5313) Sec. 13. Liability for refusal to provide certain health care. Nothing in this Act shall be construed as excusing any person, public or private institution, or public official from liability for refusal to permit or provide a particular form of health care service if: (a) the person, public or private institution or public official has entered into a contract specifically to provide that particular form of health care service; or (b) the person, public or private institution or public official has accepted federal or state funds for the sole purpose of, and specifically conditioned upon, permitting or providing that particular form of health care service.(Source: P.A. 90-246, eff. 1-1-98.)
(745 ILCS 70/14) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 5314) Sec. 14. Supersedes other Acts. This Act shall supersede all other Acts or parts of Acts to the extent that any Acts or parts of Acts are inconsistent with the terms or operation of this Act.(Source: P.A. 90-246, eff. 1-1-98.)
