McMorris v. Williamsport Hosp., Civ. No. 79-0438.

• Citation: 597 F. Supp. 899
• Decision Date: 25 September 1984
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 79-0438.
• Parties: David L. McMORRIS, M.D., Plaintiff, v. The WILLIAMSPORT HOSPITAL, et al., Defendants.
• Court: United States District Courts. 3th Circuit. United States District Court of Middle District of Pennsylvania

597 F. Supp. 899

David L. McMORRIS, M.D., Plaintiff, v. The WILLIAMSPORT HOSPITAL, et al., Defendants.

Civ. No. 79-0438.

United States District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania.

September 25, 1984.

Marc G. Tarlow, Markowitz & Seidensticker, P.C., York, Pa., for plaintiff.

Herbert C. Goldstein, Harrisburg, Pa., and G. David Rosenblum, Astor, Weiss & Newman, Philadelphia, Pa., for John V. Calce, M.D.

Joseph A. Torregrossa, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Philadelphia, Pa., for all other defendants.

David R. Bahl, McCormick, Reeder, Nicholas, Sarno, Bahl & Knecht, Williamsport, Pa., for Hosp.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

NEALON, Chief Judge.

INTRODUCTION

The plaintiff commenced the above-captioned civil action on April 10, 1979, naming the Williamsport Hospital, its Board of Trustees, certain of its officers, Dr. Judith Gouldin and Dr. John Calce as defendants. In this suit, the plaintiff challenges, on various grounds, the hospital's decision to replace him as director of its nuclear medicine department, to install Dr. Gouldin in his place and to accord to her the exclusive right to render official interpretations of nuclear scans and to use the rather sophisticated equipment needed to practice nuclear medicine. Some of the claims set forth in the original complaint have been eliminated by virtue of two Orders handed down by the court and a stipulation entered into by the parties. See Memorandum and Order dated October 15, 1982, Document 91 of the Record (granting defendants' motion for summary judgment on plaintiff's claim that the hospital breached his employment contract); Order dated July 26, 1982, Document 82 of the Record (dismissing plaintiff's civil rights claims); Stipulation dated December 27, 1982, Document 127 of the Record (withdrawing all claims advanced under Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1980, 15 U.S.C. § 2 (1976)). The claims remaining for the court's consideration are claims under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1 (1976), a breach of contract claim arising from the hospital's by-laws and a tort claim based upon alleged interference with the plaintiff's contract rights.

Presently before the court is a motion for summary judgment filed by the defendants. Summary judgment is "a drastic remedy," Tomalewski v. State Farm Life Ins. Co., 494 F.2d 882, 884 (3d Cir.1974); accord Ness v. Marshall, 660 F.2d 517, 519 (3d Cir.1981), and all doubts as to its propriety in a given case must be resolved against the moving party. See, e.g., United States ex rel. Jones v. Rundle, 453 F.2d 147, 150 (3d Cir.1971). As the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently stated, "summary judgment may only be granted if, upon a review of the materials properly before the court, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c), and viewing the evidence thus considered in a light most favorable to the non-moving party, the court is convinced that no genuine issue of material fact remains for trial and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Lang v. New York Life Ins. Co., 721 F.2d 118, 119 (3d Cir.1983) (citing Scott v. Plante, 532 F.2d 939, 945 (3d Cir.1976)). In addressing the instant motion, the court also has considered the general rule that the summary judgment device "should be used sparingly in complex antitrust litigation." Poller v. Columbia Broadcasting System, 368 U.S. 464, 473, 82 S.Ct. 486, 491, 7 L.Ed.2d 458 (1962); accord Cernuto, Inc. v. United Cabinet Corp., 595 F.2d 164, 165 & n. 2 (3d Cir.1979).

Nevertheless, these general rules should not be construed to preclude a court from entering summary judgment in an appropriate situation. Indeed, notwithstanding the caveat that summary judgment rarely should be entered in antitrust cases, Poller, 368 U.S. at 473, 82 S.Ct. at 491, a court is obligated to consider carefully a party's Rule 56 motion under the particular facts of the given case and must stand ready, even in antitrust litigation, to enter judgment if appropriate. First National Bank v. Cities Service, 391 U.S. 253, 288-90, 88 S.Ct. 1575, 1592-93, 20 L.Ed.2d 569 (1968); Harold Friedman, Inc. v. Kroger Co., 581 F.2d 1068, 1080 (3d Cir.1978). "While we recognize the importance of preserving litigants' rights to a trial on their claims, we are not prepared to extend those rights to the point of requiring that anyone who files an antitrust complaint setting forth a valid cause of action be entitled to a full-dress trial notwithstanding the absence of any significant probative evidence tending to support the complaint." First National Bank, 391 U.S. at 290, 88 S.Ct. at 1593. Hence, after a movant has produced evidence demonstrating his entitlement to summary judgment, the party resisting the motion must produce affidavits or other admissible materials containing specific facts demonstrating the existence of a genuine triable issue. Tripoli Co. v. Wella Corp., 425 F.2d 932 (3d Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 831, 91 S.Ct. 62, 27 L.Ed.2d 62 (1970); see also Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). A failure to do so will result in the entry of summary judgment. First National Bank, 391 U.S. at 289, 88 S.Ct. at 1592.

The parties have developed the record substantially, having engaged in extensive discovery during the course of this five-year-old case. The court has carefully reviewed the record in conjunction with the parties' legal arguments and the standard of review discussed supra. For the reasons set forth below, the court will grant the defendants' motion for summary judgment on all claims except for the plaintiff's claim that the defendants have engaged in an unlawful tying arrangement violative of Section 1 of the Sherman Act.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

In the practice of nuclear medicine, radioactive materials are used to diagnose and treat certain illnesses. Unknown before World War II, this medical specialty has become an important diagnostic and therapeutic tool. In therapeutic nuclear medicine, radioisotopes are used to destroy abnormal growths. In diagnostic nuclear medicine, two basic approaches are available. These are called the "in vivo" and the "in vitro" procedures.

When a doctor uses the "in vivo" approach, a radionuclide is introduced into the patient's system through injection or ingestion. Using various machines, the physician creates images of the patient or the affected body part at a key point in time following the introduction of the radioactive material. Because these radionuclides have unique properties, it is important for the practitioner to produce the image, or series of images, at the proper moment or moments during the procedure. The physician later interprets the image and arrives at a diagnosis.

In the "in vitro" diagnostic procedure, the physician does not introduce radioactive materials into the patient's body. Rather, a specimen, usually a blood sample, is extracted from the patient. After subjecting the specimen to radionuclides, the physician compares the result with that obtained from tests involving normal or control specimens. See generally Deposition of George L. Jackson, M.D., dated November 9, 1983 Vol. I at 57-60, Document 256 of the Record; Deposition of David L. McMorris, M.D., dated November 18, 1980 to November 21, 1980 hereinafter cited as First McMorris Deposition at 13-26, Document 262 of the Record.

In 1960, The Williamsport Hospital began to offer services in nuclear medicine. The plaintiff, who possessed staff privileges at the facility since 1958, served as the primary practitioner of nuclear medicine at the hospital from the time that these services were first offered. The plaintiff and his covering physician were designated as authorized users of radionuclides on the original license filed by the hospital with the Atomic Energy Commission.

Through the years, the plaintiff divided his time and energy between the hospital's nuclear medicine department and his own practice of internal medicine. It appears that the plaintiff eventually was required to concentrate a steadily increasing amount of effort in the area of nuclear medicine. As he stated during his deposition:

In 1960 we got some basic equipment and got the basic procedures that were then available and I made these studies known to the staff and then performed those studies and as the field of nuclear medicine developed we added on more sophisticated equipment through the same application and developed more sophisticated studies. I was available all the time and, in fact, at the outset I performed as a technician and a secretary, a transporter of isotopes from the air field; did the procedures and reported them. As time went along this grew and I adjusted my schedule to meet the demand, both in terms of my office practice and what other things had to be decreased, such as going off the staff at Divine Providence Hospital because of the increased responsibilities.

First McMorris Deposition at 124. The plaintiff estimates that by the early to mid-1970's, he had been spending between 60 and 70 percent of his time practicing nuclear medicine. Id. at 124-25.

Eventually, it became apparent that the plaintiff would need assistance of some kind in order to continue providing quality care in both the hospital's nuclear medicine department and his own practice of internal medicine. See, e.g., Letter from Plaintiff to Clive Waxman, Jr., President of Williamsport Hospital, (April 19, 1972), Appendix to the Hospital Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment hereinafter cited as Defendants' Appendix at 130a, Document 222 of the Record (plaintiff stated that because of an increasing workload in the department, "it became necessary for consideration to be given for full-time coverage ... by a professional man.").

In 1972 and 1973, the plaintiff and various members of the hospital administration attempted to arrive at a solution to the problem regarding appropriate coverage in the nuclear medicine department. The plaintiff believed that the department "would require full attention" but thought that nuclear...