DATE: Monday, September 15, 1997            TAG: 9709150066

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: Kennan Newbold 

LENGTH: 53 lines

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO. . . THE DOCTORS WHO SUED SENTARA?

In August 1996, four oncologists from Sentara Medical Group became the first in Hampton Roads to sue a large, full-service health care company to get out of an employment contract. The doctors - Thomas D. Brown, Paul R. Conkling, J. Randy Howard Jr. and Michael E. Lee - wanted to form their own group but were banned from practicing medicine in South Hampton Roads until this past August.

The boys are back in town.

Actually, Conkling, Howard and Lee are back. Brown has moved on to Houston, where he is the assistant chief of medicine at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, one of the biggest in the country.

The other three are thriving in Hampton Roads.

Much to their delight, there are no obvious hard feelings between the doctors and the medical group they left more than a year ago when they decided to leave Sentara to work in a smaller system. They sued, unsuccessfully, to void a no-compete clause that kept them from practicing within 25 miles of their old offices.

``There's no great animosity,'' Howard said late last week. ``There's nothing to be upset about.''

The three really don't have time to be upset. During the year they couldn't practice in Hampton Roads, they built up substantial practices in Franklin and Elizabeth City, which they still attend to.

But nowadays, the commute isn't as bad.

``When we worked there every day, we put a lot of mileage on our cars,'' Howard said. Now they take turns visiting Elizabeth City three times a week and Franklin once a week.

In addition, they've opened offices in Portsmouth and Chesapeake and work with some of their old partners from the Hematology Oncology Consultants of Tidewater.

But now they have a new name: Mid-Atlantic Consultants Hematology Oncology.

``The letters spell macho.'' Howard pointed out - purely a coincidence, he added.

The three joined doctors Robert Burger, Edward George, Thomas Alberico, Michael Steinberg and Michael Owens on Aug. 9 when they returned to the area and formed their own professional corporation.

``It's only been a month, but we're very happy with how things are going,'' Howard said. ``We call all the shots and make our own decisions.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot file

Doctors, clockwise from bottom left, J. Randy Howard Jr., Paul R.

Conkling, Thomas D. Brown and Michael E. Lee left Sentara in August

1996. Since then, Brown has moved on to Houston. The others have

returned to Hampton Roads.

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