Lee County Medical Center restraining order hearing set for Tuesday
Fulton Superior Court to decide on Dougherty County’s request for a restraining order
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By Jennifer Parks
LEESBURG — Lee County Commission Vice Chairman Billy Mathis informed The Albany Herald on Wednesday afternoon that a hearing in Fulton County Superior Court concerning the restraining order petitioned by Dougherty County in regards to Lee County Medical Center has been scheduled for Tuesday.
Mathis said the hearing is set to take place at 1 p.m.
The injunction, filed April 25, asks the court to order Lee County to halt all construction work on the planned site for the 60-bed facility until the court rules on a lawsuit filed April 18. Dougherty County asked for an expedited decision of the temporary restraining order petition.
Robert Rozier, the attorney representing Dougherty County, filed suit against the Georgia Department of Community Health, DCH Commissioner Frank Berry and Executive Director of Heath Planning Rachel King on April 18 asking for declaratory judgment and a writ on mandamus that a “DCH regulation that lacks any authority and seeks mandamus to compel the commissioner to enforce the certificate of need laws as enacted by the General Assembly.”
The DCH approved Lee County’s certificate of need on Nov. 15, 2017. Dougherty has made the argument that DCH did not properly apply the CON law when approving the CON for the Lee County hospital, and that filing the suit was part of a process of Dougherty exhausting all legal remedies in order for their voice to be heard.
Mathis indicated to The Herald at the time the restraining order motion was filed that the Lee Commission was looking to file a countersuit against Dougherty.
The Georgia Certificate of Need Appeal Panel dismissed the appeals Dougherty County officials and the Georgia Alliance of Community Health had requested to move their opposition forward on the grounds that they did not have the standing to oppose the CON granted for the Lee hospital. Dougherty and GACH responded by filing lawsuits.
GACH has dropped its lawsuit. The only opposing entity to the CON deemed to have standing was Crisp Regional Hospital, which dropped its appeal last month.
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