Fight over Sherman hospital going another round

Provena St. Joseph Hospital Tuesday afternoon sought once again to halt construction of a new Sherman Hospital on Elgin's west side.

Provena attorneys filed an appeal seeking to overturn a recent circuit court ruling that allowed rival Sherman to proceed with its $310 million hospital at Randall and Big Timber roads.

The appeal also seeks to reverse decisions by the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board to approve Sherman's application.

"This was a decision made only after great thought and with an understanding that such a challenge would be questioned by those in our community who support Sherman's proposal," St. Joseph President and CEO William Brown wrote in an internal memo. "We chose this course based on the law and a belief that the Sherman proposal failed to meet the test needed for approval."

A Cook County judge on July 5 dismissed the suit St. Joe's filed in 2006 against Sherman, noting there was no legal basis for overturning the state board's ruling.

"The court cannot say that the board's determination ... was arbitrary, capricious or against the manifest weight of the evidence," Circuit Judge Peter Flynn wrote in his decision earlier this month. "Whether or not the court agrees with the result, it appears that the board did its job."

St. Joe sees a window of opportunity in the judge's ruling.

"(Flynn) said that he did not have the authority to intervene in this matter, despite acknowledging the force of Provena's arguments and noting that the state's decision was 'troubling' and 'may in the end prove dubious,'" Brown wrote. "It is for those reasons that we intend to appeal this decision."

Sherman officials say they are unhappy with the decision to appeal, but believe the appellate court will uphold the planning board's ruling.

"We are certainly disappointed that Provena chose this course of action," Sherman spokeswoman Christine Priester said. "Both institutions have missions to care for our community. Instead of being in the courtroom, we should be in the hospital rooms."

Sherman's new, 255-bed facility already is under construction at Big Timber and Randall roads in Elgin.

It's scheduled to open in December 2009.

The planning board on three occasions has backed the new hospital -- and Sherman officials say there's nothing new in the appeal to warrant a reversal.

"The judge's decision, as well as the planning board's, was very carefully crafted over the course of a year," Priester said. "You can go through the courts. You can do what you want. But we believe the judge's decision will be upheld."

That's not how St. Joe's officials see things.

In the original lawsuit, they argued the new facility, which is only 3.4 miles from their own, would cost them millions in lost revenue and result in an excess of hospital beds on Elgin's west side.

They also said the planning board's decision didn't make sense given the same board only three months before had approved St. Joe's own $97 million expansion.

The judge didn't disagree, but in his ruling he said state law doesn't protect competitors unless the quality of patient health care is at risk.

"It must establish that what happens to St. Joseph will translate directly into harm to patient care," Flynn wrote. "That would seem to require something akin to a showing that Sherman's (permit) will drive St. Joseph out of business."