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Community Hospital Group4/5/2005
r. More is financial in nature, that Dr. More received offers to practice in hospitals outside the thirty-mile radius but turned them down, and that he did not even seek to gain employment at one of the many New York hospitals located outside of the restricted area.
JFK disagrees with Dr. More that enforcement of the covenant will result in harm to the public. JFK claims that Dr. More is not restricted from treating patients, rather he is restricted only from treating patients within the restricted area. While some patients would be inconvenienced with having to travel a longer distance to receive treatment from Dr. More, other patients would receive the benefit of traveling a shorter distance. JFK asserts that Dr. More's statements regarding a shortage of neurosurgeons in the restricted area are conclusory and have not been supported by any empirical or statistical evidence. Moreover, JFK contends that Dr. More falsely assumes without any evidential support that his services are in greater demand within a thirty-mile radius of JFK, as opposed to counties such as Bergen, Mercer, or others in this State, located outside of the thirty-mile radius. JFK also points out that Dr. More expressly admitted under oath that there were five institutions in addition to JFK within the thirty-mile radius that provided extensive neurosurgical care and each had a sufficient number of neurosurgeons. Further, JFK notes that there are a sufficient number of neurosurgeons within the restricted area who could provide emergency coverage to Somerset even if those doctors had to provide simultaneous on-call coverage to another hospital.
JFK argues that the Appellate Division correctly applied Karlin, and that Dr. More and Somerset have failed to provide any compelling reason why this Court should overrule Karlin.
JFK notes that neither the AMA Ethical Guidelines, nor New Jersey statutes, nor the regulations of the State Board of Medical Examiners prohibit restrictive covenants in physician employment contracts. According to JFK, the reasonableness test espoused in Karlin is consistent with the AMA's guidelines for restrictive covenants.
JFK also argues that the thirty-mile restrictive covenant is necessary to protect its relationships with its referral sources who refer patients for specialized care in neurosurgical and neurological sub-specialties. Moreover, JFK claims that as a non-profit teaching hospital, it relies heavily upon the revenue generated by patient services to support its clinical teaching and research development efforts.
D. Amicus Curiae
1. Medical Society of New Jersey, Union County Medical Society, Somerset County Medical Society, and MiddleseX County Medical Society
The Medical Society of New Jersey (MSNJ) is a large organization of physicians in New Jersey. The Union, Somerset, and Middlesex County Medical Societies are component societies of MSNJ. MSNJ's mission is to "promote the quality of New Jersey health care and health services for all citizens of the state through leadership and assistance to its physician members." MSNJ acknowledges that restrictive covenants within the medical profession are commonplace in physician-to-physician situations and serve the legitimate purpose of encouraging investment in new physicians while protecting the established physicians who hire them. The MSNJ also claims that this Court's holding in Karlin is consistent with the AMA's policy on restrictive covenants. MSNJ argues, however, that the restrictive covenant in this case is disruptive of patient care and should not be enforced.
MSNJ asserts that both the temporal and geographic scope of the restraints imposed are grossly ex
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