Protest Rabbi Tamara Miller's firing by GWU Hospital for complaining of salary discrimination

As reported by the Washington Post and Washington Jewish Week, Rabbi Tamara Miller was fired by George Washington University Hospital (GWUH) for posting a personal essay to the Washington Post "On Faith" blog about the shooting of Holocaust Memorial Museum guard Stephen Johns by white supremacist James von Brunn. The reason: Rabbi Miller's post allegedly violated hospital rules about patient privacy and Federal law under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Rabbi Miller replies that she was expressing her deep-felt beliefs in the post, revealed no personal or family information beyond general information that had already appeared widely in the press, and that the hospital was in reality using the supposed privacy rule violation as a pretext to fire her. The real reason she was fired, Rabbi Miller believes, is that she had made a complaint in 2007 after learning that her annual salary was $20-30K less than male directors of spiritual care at other local health-care facilities.

Rabbi Miller joined GWUH in 2001 as its first professional chaplain and built the spiritual care department from nothing to 12 part-time chaplains. After she made her complaint and her request for a salary increase was denied, her performance reviews suddenly went from excellent to unsatisfactory, and she was reprimanded for "inattention to duties or unsatisfactory job performance" (which she denies).

For more background, links to articles about the case, links to the HIPAA regulations, video of a TV interview Rabbi Miller gave after the firing, and a commentary in verse on the firing's unfairness, go to http://newsericks.com/Physician-Heal-Thyself.

If you agree that Rabbi Miller's firing was unfair, sign this petition and email GW Hospital's CEO by clicking on the button below.

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