Michigan Health terminated physician assistant for religious beliefs, lawyer says: 'Serious injustice'

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Lawyers for a Michigan physician assistant who claims she was wrongfully terminated because of her religious objections to transgender surgeries sent a letter of complaint to her former employer this week demanding her reinstatement.

Valerie Kloosterman, a Christian who worked 17 years as a physician assistant for Michigan Health, was allegedly terminated in 2021 by University of Michigan Health-West (UMH-West) after she sought religious accommodation that would prevent her from having to use transgender pronouns or refer patients for transgender surgical procedures and drugs.

"I think the reason why we took this case is there was a real injustice that was committed here," Jordan Pratt, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, told Fox News Digital. "We have an extremely conscientious, caring, diligent healthcare worker who has served for 17 years, and her mother and her grandmother before her served in the same [University of Michigan] healthcare system."

Pratt's Plano, Texas-based First Liberty Institute sent a demand letter to UMH-West on Monday, claiming the nonprofit health system not only wrongfully fired Kloosterman because of her religious convictions, but also denigrated her faith.

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Photo of nurse tending to sick patient. (Martin Barraud via Getty Images)

Kloosterman was fired, according to the letter, because in 2021 she had been required "to complete a training module that contained statements concerning sexual orientation and gender identity that her Christian faith prohibited her from affirming."

"She could not complete the training unless she checked boxes that affirmed the statements," the letter said. "There was no option within the training for her to explain her position or request a religious accommodation."

"Before firing Ms. Kloosterman, Michigan Health blatantly denigrated her religious beliefs, attempted to compel her to speak against her conscience and make referrals for medical services that violate her conscience, discriminated against her for her religious beliefs, and refused to reasonably accommodate her religious beliefs," the letter also claimed.

Pratt told Fox News Digital that his client "was great at her job," having received "stellar performance reviews" for her performance.

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Cropped shot of a surgeon passing his colleague a pair of scissors.

"And she's also extremely honest and forthright," he said. "She didn't have to go to her employer and let them know that there was a potential issue. Realize that in 17 years, she had never even been asked by a patient for a referral for these sorts of medical procedures, nor had she ever been asked to use different pronouns."

"She could have just kept silent, check the boxes and gone on with life," Pratt continued. "Instead, she was honest, she sought a religious accommodation, she very respectfully explained the basis for both her religious conscientious objections and her medical objections to these procedures. And Michigan Health rewarded her with a termination for all of that."

"So for all the 17 years of service, where she was praised for her ethics and her treatment of patients, for her proactiveness and her forthrightness in seeking an accommodation, Michigan Health — which proclaims everywhere that it's so diverse and inclusive — denigrates her religious beliefs, mocks her religious beliefs and then fires her. That's a pretty serious injustice, and it violates both federal and state law," he said.

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UMH-West announced earlier this year that it had been dubbed a "top performer for LGBTQ+ healthcare equity" by the Human Rights Campaign, a leading LGBT activist group.

A protester holds the trans flag and snaps in solidarity with other speakers, during a demonstration at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, on June 25, 2021. (Stephen Zenner/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

"Our mission requires us to relentlessly advance health for West Michigan — and there is no room in that mission to exclude anyone," UMH-West CEO Dr. Peter Hahn said in the announcement. "I’m proud of our team’s commitment to inclusion as one of our core values and their enthusiasm to keep building on our progress."

Pratt said they have asked the University of Michigan healthcare system to respond no later than next week, after which they are prepared to take further legal action if they fail to receive a favorable response.

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"University of Michigan Health-West is committed to providing appropriate medical treatment to all patients and respects the religious beliefs of its employees," told Fox News Digital in a statement. "Our organization does not discuss personnel issues and as such, has no further comment."