A group of physicians who provide radiation treatment to cancer patients has won a federal court injunction that blocks Queen’s Medical Center from closing its doors to them.
Pacific Radiation Oncology LLC (PRO) has accused Queens of antitrust activity and trying to win monopoly control of cancer radiation treatment after the recent closures of two Hawaii Medical Center hopsitals on Oahu.
“This was a power play by Queen’s when they realized, after the closing of HMC, that they were the only shop in town,” said PRO founder Dr. John Lederer.
“We were told our privileges would be denied unless we declined to practice at our competing facilities and became their employees,” Lederer said.
Queens had no comment on the dispute today but has denied the allegations brought by Lederer and PRO in a federal court lawsuit filed earlier this year.
U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi this week issued an injuction that temporarily allows PRO physicians continued access to Queens for radiation therapy of cancer patients.
Attorneys for Queens filed notice yesterday that they will appeal Kobayashi’s decision.
Lederer said in a news conference today that PRO intends to invest at least $6 million to develop two of its own state-of-the-art treatment facilities on Oahu.
One is projected to be up and running by the end of this year and the other by mid-2013, he said.