THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 21, 1996 TAG: 9609210244
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARIE JOYCE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 74 lines
Four cancer doctors who sued Sentara Health System have reached a compromise that will allow them to practice at the very edge of Hampton Roads, in Smithfield according to the doctors' attorney.
The doctors, who quit Sentara's doctors practice, had been held to a contract that forbids them from practicing within 25 miles of their Sentara offices for at least one year. That would have effectively put them in Williamsburg or North Carolina.
Instead, the oncologists have joined a local cancer practice, Hematology Oncology Consultants of Tidewater Ltd., that has just opened an office in Smithfield, about 20 miles from the Sentara offices, Gregory N. Stillman, their lawyer, said. After a year, the doctors will be allowed to resume seeing patients in South Hampton Roads.
The agreement allows the doctors and Sentara to avoid a trial, which was set to begin Monday, in which both sides had a lot to lose. But it also means the first case of this type in Hampton Roads won't get a public airing.
Because the settlement papers haven't been signed, Sentara officials declined to comment. ``It would be premature to discuss it at this time,'' said spokeswoman Patti Forrester.
Stillman said his clients had hoped to set a precedent in Hampton Roads and are somewhat disappointed that they won't. The doctors have also declined comment until the agreement is signed.
``Some of (the patients), I think, will be disappointed with this result,'' Stillman said. ``A settlement, by its definition, is a result that neither side is entirely satisfied with.''
The four doctors - Thomas D. Brown, Paul R. Conkling, J.R. Howard Jr. and Michael E. Lee - worked in a practice owned by Sentara. They were responsible for the care of about 1,500 patients, providing, among other things, chemical treatments for cancer. They left in mid-August to join the new practice.
But their employment contracts with Sentara contained a ``noncompete'' clause, which said three of the doctors could not practice within a 25-mile radius of their current offices for one year after leaving. Lee, the newest member of the group, was barred for two years. The doctors sued, claiming the restriction wasn't reasonable and would disrupt patients' treatment.
Noncompete clauses are common in many nonmedical businesses. They also are used by independent doctors' practices to prevent a partner from leaving and taking patients. But those involved say this was apparently the first local case between employed doctors and a large, full-service health care system such as Sentara.
Since leaving Sentara, the doctors have been practicing in North Carolina and Williamsburg. A temporary injunction requested by Sentara upheld the contract pending trial.
The doctors have said they felt they could do better work in a large group of oncologists. They will work to build a patient base at a new office in Smithfield. Conkling also will practice in North Carolina. The practice they joined has offices on Brambleton Avenue in Norfolk and First Colonial Road in Virginia Beach. In August 1997, they will be free to see patients at those offices.
Patients who don't want to stay with Sentara will have to drive to Smithfield to see their doctors, or get treated closer to home by one of the other doctors in the group.
Also part of the compromise: The length of time that Lee will be restricted shrank from two years to one year, putting him on a par with the other three doctors.
A lawsuit could have been damaging to both parties. The doctors faced huge legal bills. A provision in their employment contract said that if they sued and lost, they would have to pay Sentara's legal fees, Stillman said.
Sentara officials have said in the past that the case could hurt Sentara's ability to build and maintain the kind of all-inclusive networks it wants - networks that include doctors' practices, hospitals and insurance plans.
KEYWORDS: LAWSUIT SETTLEMENT SENTARA HEALTH SYSTEM
CANCER DOCTOR by CNB