Hospital, Doctors Named in Suit
By: DANIELLE CAMILLI, Burlington County Times

Virtua and its associated cardiology group ignored patients' requests to be transferred to competitor Deborah Heart and Lung Center for treatment, telling them that the nonprofit hospital in Browns Mills was either closing, understaffed or providing poor quality care, a lawsuit filed Thursday claimed.

Deborah filed the suit against Virtua, the Evesham-based health system that includes two Burlington County hospitals, in Superior Court in Mount Holly. It also named the Cardiology Group, PA of Mount Laurel and several of its doctors as defendants. The suit alleged that none of Virtua's claims are true and outlined the cases of a dozen patients who said they had asked to be transferred and were refused.

Some were subsequently transferred to a Philadelphia hospital. The suit alleged that the Cardiology Group is affiliated with Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and "derives economic benefit from referring patients" there.

"Defendants have engaged in a campaign to divert patients away from Deborah by publishing false, disparaging and defamatory statements about Deborah to patients and their families and third parties," according to the suit filed by Anthony Argiropoulos of Sills Cummis and Gross in Princeton. Argiropoulos said Virtua and the doctors, who treat cardiac patients brought to Virtua's emergency rooms, took "overt, unlawful action ... by refusing to honor the rights and wishes of patients."

Virtua responded to the lawsuit by releasing a statement that its policy and practice are to honor patient requests."Virtua has only recently received the complaint and it would be premature to comment on specifics at this time," said the statement released by Peggy Leone, Virtua's director of communications.

New Jersey's Patient Bill of Rights mandates that patients be treated at the facility of their choosing. "If you wanted to be treated closer to home or at a hospital where your doctor is at, you have that right," Argiropoulos said. "It shouldn't be a fight or you shouldn't be made to feel uncomfortable making the request." He said Deborah learned from patients and physicians that Virtua was allegedly violating that provision.

The 12 cases documented in the lawsuit date from November 2007. In one case, a patient last January requested to be transferred to Deborah after being stabilized for chest pains at Virtua Memorial in Mount Holly.

The lawsuit alleged that the patient was told that Deborah was closing and would be turned away. He was told if he left he would do so against medical advice. The complaint states the patient was refused a wheelchair to leave and told that the ambulance would not take him to Deborah unless he paid hundreds of dollars in cash. "(His) spouse was forced to physically carry him out of the hospital bed ... and drive him to Deborah, where (he) was treated," the lawsuit says.

Other examples cite cases in which patients were allegedly told that Deborah was "laying off and understaffed" and had no beds, and that the 139-bed hospital had performed poorly in statewide assessment reports. According to the lawsuit, Deborah's risk-adjusted operative mortality rate is lower than the state average.

The lawsuit names Dr. James P. O'Neil, Dr. Charles M. Dennis, Dr. Ralph E. Russo and Dr. Mark T. Finch, all of the Cardiology Group. A call to the group's CEO was not returned late Monday afternoon.

Deborah is seeking to recover damages from Virtua for what it alleges is a loss of its patient relationships through the health system's "malicious" conduct.