Judge dismisses Provena's lawsuit against Sherman
By TOM MUSICK - tmusick@nwherald.com
ELGIN – A judge dismissed a lawsuit against Sherman Hospital on Thursday, clearing the way for a 255-bed facility to be built near Randall and Big Timber roads.
Provena St. Joseph Hospital filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court last summer to try to stop the $310 million project. In the lawsuit, Provena argued that Sherman’s proposed facility would include more beds and services than necessary for the region and would threaten Provena’s financial future.
Provena St. Joseph is about 3 miles from Sherman’s planned hospital. State health officials approved a $97 million expansion project for Provena three months before Sherman submitted plans for its hospital.
Judge Peter Flynn acknowledged some of Provena’s concerns, writing that its arguments were “not without force.” But Flynn said no evidence suggested that the Illinois Health Planning Facilities Board ignored relevant information when it granted Sherman Hospital a certificate of need in June 2006.
“Whether or not the Court agrees with the result, it appears that the Board did its job,” Flynn wrote.
Sherman officials have said the new hospital and emergency room would replace its existing medical facility on Center Street in Elgin. That campus would be renovated into an immediate-care center.
Workers already have started construction on the project, which will include a 65,000-square-foot hospital with a six-floor inpatient bed tower, private rooms, and an adjacent cancer-care center. The hospital could open as soon as 2009.
Provena officials said they would wait to determine their next step.
“Though we are disappointed in the court’s finding, it is clear from the decision that this was not a frivolous lawsuit as Sherman has suggested,” Provena’s chief executive officer, William Brown, wrote in an e-mail. “We will review our options while remaining focused on our own improvements and on providing the best care possible to the communities we serve.”
