A Christian doctor who claimed she was fired from a Michigan hospital for raising concerns about workplace policies related to transgender patients scored a massive payout in her legal fight against her former workplace.
Physician assistant Valerie Kloosterman will be paid $410,000 in damages and fees after reaching a settlement with University of Michigan Health–West, her representation from the First Liberty Institute said Wednesday.
Kloosterman was allegedly fired in August 2021 after seeking to be exempted from referring patients for transgender surgical procedures or referring to individuals as 'they' on religious grounds.
'All I wanted to do was provide the best care possible to my patients without being forced to violate my Christian beliefs,' Kloosterman said in a statement after the settlement.
She said the new policy ensured that 'providers of faith' and employees in the hospital system would receive religious accommodations.
This would supposedly ensure that 'they can provide excellent care consistent with their medical judgment, because all patients are created in the image of God.'
Kloosterman's representation said the new guidelines would allow employees to not perform or assist with gender transition treatments if it violated their faith.
Additionally, hospital employees 'will not be required to use pronouns in a way that violates their sincerely–held religious belief or conscience.'
After the settlement was reached, Kloosterman said that she had only been looking to 'provide the best care possible to my patients without being forced to violate my Christian beliefs'
Kloosterman alleged University of Michigan Health-West fired her in August 2021 after she sought religious exemptions related to workplace policies concerning transgender patients
'Title VII prohibits employers from discriminating against and punishing employees for their faith,' Kayla Toney, counsel at First Liberty, said in a statement.
She called Kloosterman 'an exceptional physician assistant who cares for each of her patients.'
'Employers cannot drive out people like Valerie just because of their sincere religious beliefs,' Toney added.
Kloosterman's attorneys said she decided to sue in order 'to vindicate her constitutional rights and to protect other healthcare providers and employees from similar discrimination.'
Her representation claimed that the settlement 'vindicates' Kloosterman's 'stellar record.'
Kloosterman had worked as a physician assistant at the Michigan hospital for 17 years before being fired.
She filed a lawsuit in October 2022, claiming that hospital officials had summoned her to a meeting to call her 'evil' and a 'liar' while criticizing her religious beliefs.
Kloosterman, who worked at the hospital for 17 years, previously testified that she had treated gay and lesbian patients 'without any complaints'
In her testimony, Kloosterman said that hospital official had told her 'using a patient's name instead of preferred pronouns would lead them to suicide, and I would be the cause'
Testifying in front of the Trump–formed Religious Liberty Commission in March, Kloosterman said a hospital official had told her she could not bring her Bible into work.
The healthcare worker appeared to get emotional and have to choke back tears as she spoke.
Kloosterman claimed that she noted how she had treated gay and lesbian patients for years 'without any complaints,' but that the official rejected her explanation.
She added that she offered to use patients' names instead of their pronouns in order 'to respect their wishes.'
But in response, she alleged the official told her that 'using a patient's name instead of preferred pronouns would lead them to suicide, and I would be the cause.'
Kloosterman testified that she had since found a different healthcare job.
'To this day, I continue serving patients of all backgrounds motivated by my Christian faith,' she told the Religious Liberty Commission.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the University of Michigan Health system and First Liberty Institute, which represented Kloosterman, for comment.
