Judge denies MUSC injunction against Trident Medical Hospital involving new cancer center

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A judge has denied an injunction by the Medical University of South Carolina that would have stopped Trident Medical Hospital from using what MUSC officials had called “proprietary information” in connection to a new cancer treatment center at Trident.

On Wednesday, the court ruled that MUSC did not sufficiently demonstrate irreparable harm would happen if a temporary injunction was not granted.

“While we are pleased with the court’s ruling, our focus has always been on providing exceptional care to head and neck cancer patients. Since last week, we’ve treated more than 75 head and neck patients,” read part of a statement released by officials with Trident Medical Center.

MUSC had also sought to stop six of its departing doctors from using, what they termed “confidential information,” to develop the cancer facility at Trident.

However, MUSC settled with the six doctors originally listed as defendants.

According to legal representation from both sides, the former staffers agreed to pay out any liquidated damages from broken contracts as well as destroy any documents in their possession created on the clock at MUSC.

Lawyers with MUSC claimed the doctors’ departure was part of a grander “scheme” to steal confidential information and help Trident create its own head and neck oncology department at MUSC’s expense.

All the physicians that had been named in the suit were part of MUSC’s HNO division which provided treatment for cancers located in the head and neck, a process which MUSC claimed Trident never had the capability to treat since they say they lacked the necessary information, facilities, and instruments for the complex surgeries, saying it would take them 8 to 10 years to develop the process.

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