Photo: Lawler/GoFundMe
A former nurse from Boca Raton is appealing the state's decision to suspend her nursing license following comments made about the White House press secretary on social media.
Alexis "Lexie" Lawler was a labor and delivery nurse when she put out a video, saying that she wished severe injuries on Karoline Leavitt during childbirth. Her employer fired her after the uproar and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier later announced that Lawler had lost her license.
In her appeal, Lawler is asking an appeals court to overturn the state's emergency suspension, arguing that her off-duty comments are protected political speech.
The filing seeks to void the Florida Department of Health’s January 28th emergency suspension order or limit it so she would be barred only from working in labor and delivery rather than from all nursing practices.
Lawler is not challenging her hospital's decision to fire her, acknowledging that as a private, at-will employer, the hospital had the right to terminate her. But the filing argues that losing her nursing license and ability to make a living is an excessive and unlawful response to speech that occurred outside the workplace and had no connection to patient care.