Opinion ID: 3011431
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Switching Doctors as Irreparable Harm

Text: Plaintiffs urge a separate basis for finding irreparable harm. They point to the testimony of several plaintiffs who stated that they would have to switch health care providers, which they view, at least potentially, as an emotionally and medically risky move. They argue that this harmflows from the alleged fiduciary breach, and that a preliminary injunction is necessary to prevent it. Although they do not aver that any company executive ever promised anyone that they would never have to switch doctors, the plaintiffs contend that such a promise inhered in the general assurance that the overarching health plan structure would not change. There are two problems with this argument. First, the gravamen of the complaint is that the plaintiffs were promised that their insurance would be maintained, not that they would never have to switch physicians. Their harm is therefore insufficiently related to the complaint and does not deserve the benefits of protective measures that a preliminary injunction affords. Cf. John Leubsdorf, The Standard for Preliminary Injunctions, 91 Harv. L. Rev. 525, 541 (1978) (Not even all irreparable harm, but only irreparable harm to legal rights, should count.). Second, the hassle of switching doctors, although emotionally draining, is not the kind of irreparable harm contemplated by the preliminary injunction standard. In the rapidly changing world of health care, numerous plans have switched to managed care, requiring employees and other plan beneficiaries to change doctors. We are not prepared to hold, in the absence of a highly particularized and compelling demonstration of hardship, that irreparable harm flows from such a plan change simpliciter . There are many rearrangements--not just scrimping and saving rearrangements--that individuals involved in a legal battle must endure pending the conclusion of a suit, and very few will be without some anguish. As we have stated, injunctions will not be issued merely to allay the fears and apprehensions or to soothe the anxieties of the parties. Campbell Soup Co. v. ConAgra, Inc., 977 F.2d 86, 92 (3d Cir. 1992) (quoting Continental Group, Inc. v. Amoco Chemicals Corp., 614 F.2d 351, 359 (3d Cir. 1980)). 22 Because the plaintiffs have presented no evidence that the doctors available to them under the new plan are in any way inadequate, or that the mere transfer from one physician to another is medically risky for any individual plaintiff, we will not hold that a preliminary injunction is appropriate based on the change-of-physician argument. Moreover, if we were to recognize this argument for some plaintiffs, a fortiori this approach could not be generalized to all the plaintiffs.