Former Tennessee vaccine official settles defamation case versus state, collects this much
A former state vaccine official fired after advocating for teens to get vaccinated during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic will receive a $150,000 payout from the state in exchange for dropping a federal defamation lawsuit.
Dr. Michelle Fiscus, who was fired in 2021, claimed in her federal lawsuit that state officials made "false, stigmatizing, and defamatory statements" against her and questioned her "character for honesty and morality" — part of an alleged smear campaign.
Court records show that both sides agreed on Tuesday to dismiss the case.
Fiscus declined to comment about the settlement. She is now the chief medical officer for the Association for Immunization Managers, a Maryland-based non-profit organization that advocates for immunization efforts.
Representatives from the Tennessee Department of Health and the state's Attorney General's Office also would not comment on the case when reached on Friday.
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The suit named then-Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey and Chief Medical Officer Tim Jones as defendants. It claimed that state officials made false statements about her job performance and also included a claim that someone mailed her a dog muzzle in such a way as to make it look like she mailed it to herself as a way to gain public sympathy.
After court-mandated mediation, both sides announced this spring they reached a tentative agreement to settle the case.
Frank Gluck is the health care reporter for The Tennessean. He can be reached at fgluck@tennessean.com. Follow him on X at @FrankGluck.
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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Former TN vaccine official settles lawsuit against state for $150K
