Outside oncologists who use the Queen’s Medical Center facilities to administer radiation treatment and related services to their cancer patients will continue to do so, under a temporary restraining order issued Friday by a federal judge.
The order was in response to a new hospital policy that restricts use of its oncology radiation facilities to employee physicians.
However, the restraining order does not block the policy, which was to take effect Wednesday.
With the closing of Hawaii Medical Center hospitals in Liliha and Ewa Beach in January and December, respectively, Queen’s is the only facility on Oahu with an operating room approved for radiation oncology by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi said she issued the order to prevent interrupting patient care provided by Pacific Radiation Oncology physicians who are suing to block the new policy at Queen’s.
PRO physicians have two patients who are already being treated at Queen’s and have identified at least nine others who will need radiation treatment provided at Queen’s.
The order is in effect until Feb. 15, when Kobayashi will hear arguments for a longer inunction.
One of the issues Kobayashi considered for the order and which she will consider for an inunction is the likelihood that PRO will prevail in its lawsuit. She said Friday PRO is not likely to prevail based on the documented evidence both sides have so far presented.
Queen’s’ board of directors approved a resolution dated Aug. 29 stating that only doctors employed by Queen’s will be allowed to use the hospital’s radiation oncology services. The resolution says the purpose of the new policy is improve patient satisfaction, quality and continuity of care and to prevent the transferring of patients to other facilities for no medical reason or patient request.
The new policy was to take effect Feb. 1.
After adopting the resolution, the hospital offered the six physicians of PRO jobs at Queen’s. The PRO physicians said they turned down the job offers because Queen’s also required them to stop providing services at competing facilities and to relinquish any ownership or financial arrangement with any other hospital, ambulatory service center, clinic, facility or other entity that provides radiation oncology services.
