Litigation
If You Lead With Your Heart, You Had Better Have a Backup Plan
We successfully defended the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the Secretary of Health, and the Deputy Secretary of Quality Assurance in an action filed in the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court by four hospitals in western Pennsylvania that sought to perform angioplasty services despite the lack of on-site heart surgical backup centers. Relying upon specific language in the 2005 General Appropriation Act, the petitioning hospitals moved the Commonwealth Court to order the Department to comply with the legislative directive and allow the hospitals to perform the angioplasty services notwithstanding that existing Department regulations prohibit such services absent an on-site surgical backup. Agreeing with the Department’s position, the Commonwealth Court held that language in the 2005 General Appropriation Act on which the petitioning hospitals relied violated Article III, Section 11 of the Pennsylvania Constitution and, as such, was an unconstitutional nullity. The Court thus denied the hospitals’ request for an order of mandamus and allowed the Department of Health to enforce its existing regulations. Tad LeVan, Monica Rebuck and Shanon Levin handled the matter for the firm.