Following a 7.5 month deliberation, Bermuda‘s Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of Hamilton Medical Center (HMC) and Dr Jay Jay Soares. TheBermuda Health Council has been ordered to pay 75% of HMC‘sand Dr Soares’ reasonable legal costs of the Appeal and the Supreme Court action, hopefully bringing to an end Dr Soares’ five-year legal battle with the health watchdog over the right for HMC toprovide its patients with a high quality option for medical care.Initial estimates are that the total fees for the legal battle are well within the six figure range.
The case for Dr Soares and HMC was focused on questions of fairness. Those monitoring the developments will know that in 2019, the Health Council‘s appeal tribunal rejected HMC’s application for permission to provide certain diagnostic imaging services to patients who needed it under the Standard Health Benefit (SHB). The challenge to that decision was taken to the Supreme Court who ruled in favour of Dr Soares and the HMC. In part, the Supreme Court found that the Appeal tribunal was procedurally unfair. The Health Council appealed that Supreme Court decision to the Court of Appeal. During the period between the Supreme Court ruling and the hearing of the Appeal, Bermuda’s health regulator did not consider Dr Soares’ and HMC’s further application for permission to provide services under SHB made in June 2020. This decision was contrary to its own policy on SHB Applications and the Court of Appeal found that the Health Council had ‘…clearly delayed consideration…’ of the application.
The Court of Appeal upheld the Supreme Court’s ruling. The only issue left was the legal costs. The parties could not agree on costs so, the Court of Appeal determined the issue in favour of HMC and Dr Soares after considering written submissions and taking into account “… the subsequent, post- hearing fact that the [Health Council] when it finally came to consider [HMC/ Dr Soares’] application, approved it.” Mrs Justice Gloster found that “…the reality is that the [Health Council] spent far too long in considering [the HMC’s] original application and its further June 2020 SHB Application.”
Full details of the judgment can be found at: CivilAppealNo.7of2021BHeCvDrJayJaySoares_Anor(Costs)(8Ma__-1 – Adobe cloud storage.
HMC Medical Director, Dr Jay Jay Soares, says: “We appreciate the court’s decision to award legal costs to our business, reinforcing the principle that fairness must guide the actions of public institutions. We remain committed to serving the community and hope this outcome encourages the Health Council to reflect on its approach and work toward more equitable relations.”
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