Court rules fired Upstate Hospital Worker entitled Benefits

A state appeals court has ruled that a former Upstate hospital worker who refused to take a required flu shot is entitled to receive unemployment benefits. The South Carolina Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that Pamela Crowe’s refusal to get a flu shot was reasonable under her circumstances. The court says her 2010 firing from AnMed Health in Anderson entitled her to collect unemployment. Crowe’s 19-year-old daughter Nicole became ill after a flu shot in 2001. Her doctor says the multiple sclerosis she developed could have been related to the shot. Nicole died in 2007 from complications related to medication she took for her condition. Crowe’s physician told her there could be a genetic reason for the rare flu shot reaction. Crowe worked as a benefits coordinator, a position that did not require direct contact with a patient.