Everett, Wash.
Published: Saturday, August 25, 2007

Unions' hospital lawsuit rejected

A judge dismisses the case, which leaves the Everett hospital free to continue its expansion.

By Sharon Salyer, Herald writer

 EVERETT — A lawsuit by labor and consumer groups challenging the state's approval of a $500 million expansion project at Providence Everett Medical Center was dismissed Friday by a Thurston County Superior Court judge.

"We're very pleased with that decision," said Dave Brooks, the hospital's chief operating officer. "It lets us continue to proceed with planning to serve the community."

The Everett hospital plans to build a 12-story, 700,000-square-foot building that would provide space for more than 400 hospital beds and a major expansion of its emergency room. A 1,000-car parking garage is already under construction.

The new building will be adjacent to the hospital's Colby Avenue campus on land bordered by 13th Street, Oakes Avenue and 14th Street in north Everett. It is scheduled to open in 2011.

The legal challenge to the hospital's project was based on assertions that the state Department of Health didn't adequately consider the financial impact the project would have on consumers.

The hospital said the project was needed to respond to current and anticipated future demand for medical services.

The groups disputing the state agency's approval of the project include the Washington Community Action Network, Service Employees International Union Local 1199 Northwest, the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21.

Ele Hamburger, an attorney for the labor and consumer groups, said the judge's ruling was disappointing. "Quite frankly, I think it's incorrect," she said.

The ruling could raise obstacles for consumer and health-care groups who wish to participate in review of medical projects, she said. Such projects can affect both access to and the cost of medical care, she added.

Hamburger said it's too early to know what their next step might be. The group has 14 days to decide whether to ask Thurston County Superior Court Judge Anne Hirsch to reconsider her ruling, she said.

The lawsuit was filed earlier this year after the state Health Department turned down a request by the same groups to reconsider its approval of the Everett hospital's $500 million expansion project.

Despite the lawsuit, work has begun on the first step in the project, a $29 million parking garage. It is scheduled to open next summer, Brooks said. It's twice the size of the current garage, which can hold 500 cars.

Planning continues on the design of the hospital's new 12-story building, which Brooks called one of the biggest construction projects now under way in the state.

In addition to having more than 400 medical beds, it will house the hospital's emergency department, operating rooms, diagnostic imaging services, radiology services and heart institute.



Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA