Former pediatric nurse Tawny Buettner gave a heartbreaking and powerful speech at San Diego Board of Supervisors meeting this week. After working as a nurse for over 12 years, Buettner was fired from the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit (CTICU) of a major children’s hospital in San Diego for refusing the COVID vaccine.
On October 1, 2021, Buettner was removed from the bedside because the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in San Diego County went into effect. Other hospitals accepted exemptions and allowed nurses to stay in their positions, but not Rady Children’s. Buettner tells KUSI News that Rady removed the unvaccinated nurses because they were too great a risk, even though they weren’t testing vaccinated people at the time. Then, they accepted religious exemptions for the booster shot, and allowed the nurses with religious exemptions to stay working bedside.
Buettner was placed on unpaid unprotected leave for six months, then officially terminated from her job on March 1, 2022.
She explained that she didn’t realize how much passion she had for being a nurse and saving children’s lives until it was taken from her.
Buettner specifically blames Supervisor Nathan Fletcher for pushing these failed policies that led to the loss of her career, and decided to tell him face-to-face during public hearing at the September 13th Board of Supervisors meeting.
“My name is Tawny Buettner… I came before you guys a year ago. I’m a nurse, or at least I was at Rady Children’s in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit. Until Nathan and his ‘misinformation pandemic [campaign]’ caused me to lose my job.”
I took care of those children who came in with myocarditis after the vaccine. And I talked to the doctors because I was a charge nurse saying, ‘WHY aren’t we reporting these to VAERS? WHO is going to report these to VAERS?’ It was an unspoken thing that we were not allowed to talk about openly on the unit.
I’ve worked for 13 years in this community, taking care of some of the sickest patients.
The day before I was taken away from my position, I was actively giving compressions to a child, pushing …, pushing calcium into his veins. To keep him alive. And we did. And he went home.
And yet I was ridiculed by those who were supposed to be my colleagues and my friends.
I am the face of your ‘misinformation campaign’ Nathan [Fletcher]”
I am the one who lost my career in Pediatric Cardiovascular ICU care. I took care of children who had COVID. I never got COVID at the hospital.… I tested twice a week, I wore my PPE… because I loved my job and I love this community.”
Absolutely heartbreaking.
