Ex-chief of cardiac surgery at Doylestown Health mounts campaign to get his job back after refusing COVID vaccine
The former chief of cardiac surgery of Doylestown Health confirmed Tuesday he was fired from his position because he refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Dr. Joseph Auteri also served as medical director of Doylestown Health’s Woodall Center for Heart and Vascular Care until he said the hospital refused to provide him an exemption from vaccination.
In a post on the website GoFundMe, Auteri said he sought religious and medical exemptions from vaccination. He said he contracted COVID-19 and recovered from the virus after “two difficult weeks.”
“I was tested and have both antibodies, as well as t-cell immunity, which my personal physician describes as “robust natural immunity,” he wrote.
This news organization was not successful in reaching Doylestown Health for comment Tuesday.
Reached at his Buckingham home, Auteri confirmed that he was the author of the GoFundMe page, which states that he had been fired from the hospital. He recently started the campaign to raise money for a legal battle against his former employer.
Auteri declined further comment Tuesday.
Many area hospitals have mandated vaccines for COVID-19, as they do for other common viruses. Workers at Lower Bucks Hospital are not required to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Nearly $20,000 had been donated to Auteri’s fund as of Tuesday. After four days the campaign had 105 donors.