The Washington State Nurses Association filed a federal lawsuit against the MultiCare Health System on Thursday, protesting a new policy that requires nurses either to get flu shots this season or wear face masks while interacting with patients.

In its complaint, the nurses’ union asks for a federal injunction that would keep MultiCare from enforcing the mandatory policy on nurses at Tacoma General and Good Samaritan hospitals.

“MultiCare’s unilateral implementation of this policy blatantly ignores their legal obligation to bargain with the union,” said Anne Tan Piazza, the association’s assistant executive director of governmental affairs and operations.

MultiCare spokeswoman Susan Messier said Thursday that she was unable to comment on particulars of the nurses’ lawsuit because she had not yet had time to review it.

MultiCare’s vaccination policy, she said, applies to all MultiCare employees who will be within three feet of patients for five minutes or more.

“It’s a patient-safety policy,” Messier said. “It was established in the interest of patients. Their welfare is our top priority and whatever it entails to ensure that is what we will do.”

With swine flu cases on the rise, the issue of whether to require inoculations for health workers has become a contentious one around the world.

The issue requires balancing public safety with the individual rights of health workers, and so far there has been no remedy that has been satisfactory to all.

As the WSNA went to court, the Washington State Hospital Association was lobbying the state to require flu vaccinations for all health care workers.

The approaches are not as diverse as they appear, Piazza said.

“Any mandated policy needs to come from the federal government or the state government, not individual hospitals,” she said. “We absolutely encourage getting the shots, but we believe nurses should be allowed to make the determination for themselves.”

In Washington state, only the Seattle-based Virginia Mason Medical Center requires employees to get annual flu shots.

Tacoma’s Franciscan Health System takes a less direct approach.

There, flu shots remain optional, said Marion Ray, director of infection control, prevention and employee health. Shots are promoted and strongly encouraged, Ray said, and this year those who choose not to be vaccinated are being asked to sign a declination form and must watch an educational video distributed by the national Centers for Disease Control.

Last year, according to Franciscan spokesman Gale Robinette, 67 percent of the system’s 7,300 employees chose to get a seasonal flu shot.

Kim Armstrong, a registered nurse at MultiCare’s Tacoma General Hospital for the past 32 years, said she strongly supports the WSNA’s lawsuit.

“Personally, I feel as though I need to get a shot, and I will get the shot,” Armstrong said. “Also, I believe that in the United States of America, if people have objections to vaccination, they shouldn’t have to get them.”

Rob Carson: 253-597-8693

rob.carson@thenewstribune.com