Federal authorities are investigating a major health system in Michigan on allegations the organization fired an employee who wished to avoid calling patients by their preferred pronouns and participating in procedures related to “sex trait modification.”
The employee had allegedly requested accommodations to refrain from participating in those practices, which she opposed due to her religious beliefs, according to a press release issued Friday by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights.
The agency did not identify the health system involved in the probe.
“OCR is committed to enforcing Federal conscience laws in health care,” Paula M. Stannard, OCR director, said in a statement. “Health care workers should be able to practice both their professions and their faith.”
Conscience protection statutes, collectively known as the “Church amendments,” ensure that individuals, health care entities and providers are safe from discrimination in health care by government or government-funded entities based on the exercise of religious beliefs or moral convictions, the release states.
Federal officials will investigate whether the employee was fired for exercising her federally protected rights by requesting to use only pronouns that align with patients’ sex and to not assist in procedures affecting patients’ sex traits.
HHS said this investigation is the third during Donald Trump’s current term as president centered around determining an entity’s compliance with laws that safeguard health care professionals’ conscience rights.
“Today’s announcement is part of a larger effort to strengthen enforcement of laws protecting conscience and religious exercise,” the agency said in the release.
mreinhart@detroitnews.com