Nurse claims she was fired for supporting Trump

A Denver nurse has filed a lawsuit claiming she was fired from her former hospital for supporting President Trump in the 2016 election. 

The nurse reportedly discussed her support of Trump with a patient.

Lizzy Mathews, who had worked at Denver Health Medical Center for 27 years, filed the lawsuit on Jan. 11 with Denver’s U.S. District Court against Kelly Torres and Marc Fedo, the hospital’s nursing manager and director of acute nursing. 

The lawsuit demands that Mathews be rehired and receive back pay and punitive damages for emotional trauma after being fired over a political conversation with a patient, according to Fox News. 

Mathews, 65, was attending to the patient on Sept. 10, 2016, shortly before the general election, when the patient asked her who she thought would win. The nurse said she was hoping for Trump to win and that she was “praying for him.” 

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Mathews claims she received a call from the nursing manager three days after the conversation saying the patient, who was previously a high-ranking hospital employee, had complained. She was informed she was fired and ineligible for rehire at the hospital, according to the lawsuit.

The hospital reportedly gave Mathews multiple reasons for her firing, including that she did not work enough hours.

The lawsuit claims the firing “was motivated by Mrs. Mathews’ exercise of constitutionally protected conduct of association with her political views,” and that no other employees have been fired over political conversations at the hospital, which it claims are common among its employees. 

Mathews, who is Indian-American and attended nursing school in India, also claims in the lawsuit that her firing was an act of racial discrimination.

The filing claims Mathews’ supervisors “treated non-Asian/Indian employees more favorably, including but not limited to disparate discipline and with less scrutiny then that applied to Ms. Mathews that led to termination of her employment without eligibility for rehire based on race and national origin.” 

The hospital did not comment on the lawsuit to Fox News, but said in a statement that it “has a proud history of diversity and inclusiveness” and provides a welcoming environment to “staff members from a variety of backgrounds with a variety of beliefs.”