A nurse at Englewood Health in New Jersey has filed a lawsuit alleging she was suspended without pay after raising concerns about a doctor who allegedly celebrated the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
Lexi Kuenzle, 33, claims in her suit filed in Bergen County Superior Court that she was told by a union rep to “find another job” after reporting the surgeon’s remarks to hospital management. According to the complaint, Kuenzle confronted the doctor after he allegedly said Kirk “had it coming” following the pundit’s fatal shooting earlier this month.
Kuenzle alleges that after she reported the incident, hospital administrators placed her on unpaid suspension and instructed her to seek employment elsewhere. The lawsuit accuses Englewood Health of retaliation and creating a hostile work environment.
Englewood Health did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by the New York Post.
Kirk, a prominent conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed at a public event in Arizona on September 7. His death has sparked heated reactions across the political spectrum, with calls for accountability over public comments celebrating or welcoming his death.
Kuenzle’s lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for lost wages, emotional distress, and reputational harm. She alleges that the hospital’s actions violated whistleblower protection laws and her rights as an employee.
The incident follows the firing of an employee at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Georgia. Although the hospital did not state details of the comments or the employee, they made an announcement following widespread online reports of a pediatric nurse’s highly offensive social media posts specifically insulting Kirk’s bereaved children and his mother.
“This type of rhetoric is not acceptable for Children’s employees and violates our social media policy,” a spokesperson for Children’s said in a statement.
While the healthcare industry is not alone in having extremist employees behaving in such a manner following the shocking murder of Kirk, it will worry many patients that trusted professionals include those who have reacted in such a way to a political assassination of the popular Christian.