System denied new trial in Ore. antitrust case

A federal judge refused to grant a new trial to six-hospital PeaceHealth, Bellevue, Wash., which was found guilty of attempting to monopolize hospital services in Lane County, Ore. The jury awarded the plaintiff, 106-bed McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center, Springfield, Ore., $16.2 million in damages in October 2003. U.S. District Judge Ancer Haggerty in Eugene, Ore., has yet to rule on McKenzie-Willamette's requests that PeaceHealth be ordered to divest its physician group, regularly report on its managed-care contracts and end its alleged anticompetitive behavior. PeaceHealth spokesman Brian Terrett said the system would not decide whether to appeal the jury's ruling to a federal court until Haggerty decides on PeaceHealth's requests for injunctive relief. -- by Mark Taylor