By Canadian Press

Hat doctor one of four who filed the request

Alberta justice dismisses doctors’ requests to be exempt from vaccine policy

Dec 17, 2021 | 2:49 PM

EDMONTON – An Alberta judge has dismissed an application by four doctors who wanted to be exempt from an Alberta Health Services requirement that all health-care workers be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice John Henderson says his decision is in the public interest because he does not want Albertans to question the rules the health provider has put in place to try to curb spread of the virus.

Dr. Gert Grobler, listed as a physician at HealthWORX Medical Clinic in Medicine Hat, is one of the doctors who made the request.

Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Nadr Jomha, Dr. Blaine Achen, chief of cardiac anesthesia at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, and physician Tyler May are the others who filed the request earlier this month.

Richard Secord, a lawyer with the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, represented the doctors and argued all four had built a natural immunity to COVID-19 after testing positive and recovering from the infection.

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Secord also argued that the doctors are facing termination, restrictions and disciplinary action for going against their employer.

The health agency twice delayed its deadline for health-care workers to get vaccinated before making Dec. 13 the final day to provide proof.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 16, 2021.

The Canadian Press