Doctors score limited win in power fight with managed care
Three New Jersey physicians have won the first victory in what is being hailed as a battle over whether doctors or managed care hospitals know what is best for patients.
A New Jersey Superior Court judge in Norristown refused Nov. 4 to dismiss a case brought by three physicians against Northwest Covenant Hospital in Denville, NJ, in a contract dispute over whether the doctors could be terminated without stated cause.
After deliberating more than two months, Judge Kenneth C. MacKenzie refused to dismiss the case based on the hospital’s contention that it was a private management dispute. (See story on the physicians’ lawsuit, Medical Ethics Advisor, December 1996, p. 141.)
The court ordered depositions to obtain evidence of the motives behind the contract and ruled that discovery was needed on allegations of fraudulent representations by hospital representatives when staff doctors voted on the medical staff bylaws. The court is also seeking to determine whether revocation of the doctors’ privileges violated New Jersey Department of Health regulations.
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