Opinion ID: 2165857
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Harm to Doctor-Patient Relationships

Text: Finally, Baptist contends that the circuit court erred in finding that irreparable harm to doctor-patient relationships would result absent the issuance of the injunction. The circuit court determined that irreparable harm would result from the disruption of appellees' relationships with their patients and with referring physicians, and with appellees' ability to provide proper healthcare to their patients, to the detriment of the doctor-patient relationships. Baptist states that any disruption to patient relationships is minimal due to the relative infrequency of appellees' admissions to Baptist's hospitals, the availability of physicians in appellees' clinic without a conflict under the Policy to admit and treat those patients at Baptist, and the regular practice of appellees and other physicians in appellees' clinic caring for another's patients when they are otherwise unavailable nights, weekends, holidays, vacations, during illness, or incapacity. We disagree. As pointed out by appellees, while members of a practice group may occasionally cover for each other, physicians are not fungible as to their relationships with patients or their specialties of practice. The circuit court's finding concerning irreparable harm to doctor-patient relationships is not clearly erroneous. We hold that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that absent preliminary injunctive relief, the appellees would suffer irreparable harm.