Judge won’t stop
deal between Kauai
hospital and private lab

By Anthony Sommer
Kauai correspondent

LIHUE -- A judge has refused to issue an injunction blocking a multimillion-dollar contract between Kauai's Wilcox Hospital and Diagnostic Laboratory Services while a lawsuit challenging the pact goes forward.

The state's only two contract medical laboratories are locked in a legal battle over which will provide medical tests to almost the entire population of Kauai.

Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii, losing bidder, sued Wilcox and competitor Diagnostic Laboratory Services, claiming the hospital officials leaked information about its bid to Diagnostic Laboratory Services to allow it to come in with a lower bid. The lawsuit contends the hospital violated a secrecy agreement, which hospital officials vehemently have denied.

After hearing testimony from executives of both labs and the hospital two weeks ago, Circuit Court Judge George Masuoka this week refused to grant an injunction, although the lawsuit will continue.

Wilcox officials said Diagnostic Laboratory will start providing the services later this year.

Wilcox had previously done its own lab work. Wilcox laboratory employees will be hired by Diagnostic Laboratory Services.

Terms of the contract have not been made public. Last year, Wilcox and its chain of local clinics billed patients and their insurance companies about $5 million for lab work.