Hospitals Eye October Trial in Berkeley Co. Dispute

A two-year battle over hospitals planned for lower Berkeley County is heading to court this fall.

Trident Health System and Roper St. Francis Healthcare have been unable to settle dueling lawsuits over hospitals each have long-planned for the area.

At loggerheads since 2009 over their competing intentions, the hospitals issued a joint statement May 26 announcing that mediation had failed and that their dispute is now headed for the state's Administrative Law Court in Columbia.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environment Control approved both hospitals’ plans to build 50-bed hospitals within about a dozen miles from each other in Berkeley County.

Trident’s proposed hospital would effectively be an expansion of its existing Moncks Corner Medical Center, while Roper St. Francis’s new facility (rendering above) is planned for land it purchased at the Carnes Crossroads near Goose Creek.

Both hospitals have said they are responding to the highly anticipated growth of the area over the next several years, and both are expected to provide similar acute-care services.

Trident appealed DHEC’s’s decision to an administrative law court, arguing that if the two hospitals are built, both will operate at a loss and duplicate services.

Roper St. Francis disagreed, saying in a lawsuit against Trident that the population growth would enable both to make money. It also cited other similar counties that support two hospitals.

Both sides are expecting an October trial date. The court has no deadline for issuing a ruling, and that means whatever construction that ultimately takes place could be delayed for many months.

Following the joint statement, Roper CEO David L. Dunlap said his hospital "made a sincere effort to reach an agreement in mediation" and that he was "disappointed" the two sides could not come to terms.

"We remain optimistic that our position will prevail in the court system," Dunlap said. "We agree that the DHEC decision to approve both hospitals was correct, and we believe that the people in Berkeley County agree with that decision as well."

Trident CEO Todd Gallati also expressed disappointment in the turn of events, but said, “we look forward to presenting our case at trial”.

“We feel the location of our hospital best meets the needs of Berkeley County residents," Gallati said.