BC Court Dismisses Doctor’s Challenge to Loss of Hospital Privileges Over COVID Vaccine Refusal

A health-care worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a UHN COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Toronto on Jan. 7, 2021. The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette

A B.C. doctor has had her appeal dismissed by the province’s Supreme Court after seeking a judicial review of a hospital authority’s decision to suspend her hospital privileges for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr. Theresa Szezepaniak was appealing a 2023 Hospital Appeal Board (HAB) decision that ruled the suspension of her hospital privileges by the Interior Health Authority (IHA) on Aug. 19, 2022, was justified due to non-compliance with public health orders.