Fired Houston Doctor Sues Harris County After Acquitted by Grand Jury

On Sep 22, 2021

Dr. Hasan Gokal was fired in January for giving away 10 COVID-19 vaccine doses that were due to expire.
The Harris County District Attorney charged Gokal with theft but a grand jury acquitted him in June.
Gokal is now suing Harris County for more than $1 million for discrimination.
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A Houston doctor who was accused of stealing COVID-19 vaccine doses and later acquitted by a grand jury is now suing Harris County in Texas for discrimination for more than $1 million.

Last December, Dr. Hasan Gokal was working with Harris County Public Health at their first vaccination site. At the end of a shift, Gokal tried to find eligible people for leftover doses of the Moderna vaccine that would have expired and went door-to-door to administer shots.

Gokal was accused of violating protocols and fired. District Attorney Kim Ogg also filed theft charges against him.

Harris County Public Health also reached out to the Texas Medical Board to initiate an investigation for unethical behavior which was dismissed in March. Gokal was unable to work until that investigation was complete.

In June, a grand jury acquitted Gokal of the charges.

Gokal told Insider it was soon after the charges were dropped that he began thinking about suing the county, but it wasn’t until about a month ago that he seriously discussed it with a lawyer.

He said while he was relieved the case against him has been dropped, the past nine months weighed heavily on him and his family and hopes the suit will bring him justice.

“The first few months of this was rough, not being able to do a job. Not sure if my career is over. What’s going to happen with the criminal charges and so on and so forth. Anybody in that level of stress and degree of uncertainty in life is going to be impacted by that uncertainty,” Gokal said. “It was felt throughout my family. The kids are young and you can see the stress on them. My wife, certainly her condition got worse through all the stress.”

Gokal added that he’s also hoping to ensure this doesn’t happen again: “You’re talking about a physician who does what a physician does, and you suddenly turn it into a criminal issue. That shouldn’t happen to anybody…