Deborah accuses Virtua of slander

The bad blood between hospitals competing for patients in South Jersey has gotten worse.

In February, Cooper Health System sued Virtua Health over "top docs" ads that Cooper said were untrue.

Now Deborah Heart & Lung Center has entered the legal fray. Its lawsuit alleges that Virtua Memorial Hospital Burlington County and a group of cardiologists who practice there disparaged Deborah in an effort to keep heart patients, who tend to be a lucrative lot, from transferring there.

The complaint, filed last month in Burlington County, accuses Virtua and the four doctors, who work for The Cardiology Group P.A., of unfair competition, slander, and "scare tactics." In several instances, it said doctors told patients in Virtua's emergency department that they could not transfer to Deborah because it was full when, in fact, it was not.

The complaint, which is based on information the patients gave Deborah, says one patient, who wanted to transfer to Deborah, was refused a wheelchair. The patient's spouse then carried the patient out of the hospital. Other patients were told Deborah was having financial problems, on the verge of closing, or that its "work has slipped recently." Deborah says none of those statements was true.

Some patients were encouraged to transfer to Philadelphia's Penn Presbyterian Medical Center instead of to Deborah, the suit says. It says the cardiologists are affiliated with Presbyterian, which is not named as a defendant. Virtua doctors can do some heart procedures but do not perform open-heart surgery.

Twelve unnamed patients are listed in the complaint. Anthony Argiropoulos, Deborah's attorney, said more people had called to report similar behavior since news of the suit was published this week.

A Virtua spokesman said the health system would not comment yesterday, but planned to issue a news release today. The doctors named in the complaint - James P. O'Neil, Charles M. Dennis, Ralph E. Russo III, and Mark T. Finch - did not return a phone call to their office. Nor did Presbyterian.

Deborah spokeswoman Donna McArdle said Deborah was concerned about patients who were discouraged from using the hospital they wanted. "Many New Jersey hospitals have been fighting the drain of patients over the state line," she said. The hospital supports legislation that would require doctors who refer patients out of state to disclose their financial ties with the receiving hospital.

Argiropoulos said the doctors at Virtua had been warned about their disparaging statements, which began in 2007, but that the behavior did not stop.