More than a dozen medical professionals and other witnesses took the stand in federal court this week to urge a judge to overturn portions of House Bill 702, the Montana law that broadly prohibits workplace vaccine mandates and discrimination based on vaccine status.
The bench trial, held in Missoula before U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy, is intended to decide whether the high-profile law can be enforced in hospitals, physician offices and other health care settings. The legal challenge has been working its way through the court system for over a year.
Plaintiffs include the Montana Medical Association, the Montana Nurses Association, Providence St. Patrick Hospital, doctors offices and immunocompromised patients. In court filings and testimony, they have argued HB 702 conflicts with federal requirements and health care providers’ duty to generally provide safe environments for patients and staff.
Additionally, plaintiffs say the law violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. and Montana constitutions by arbitrarily providing long-term care, assisted living and nursing homes more leniency than other health care settings treating similar patients. The elderly and immunocompromised patients who reside in the exempted facilities, plaintiffs argue, also routinely seek treatment in hospitals, outpatient clinics and private physicians’ offices.
In his opening statement on Monday, attorney Raph Graybill summarized HB 702 as a law that “sabotages public health” and...
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