THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- Thousands of patients may have to search for new doctors amid a feud between doctors and a Conroe medical clinic.
Twenty-four doctors are suing Sadler Clinic over a clause in their contracts. Three of the doctors were recently fired from Sadler Clinic; the rest resigned. They are all now facing a counter lawsuit.
At issue is a contract they all signed years ago that could keep them from practicing medicine in Montgomery County anytime soon.
Dr. Joel Kerschenbaum was fired after a 29-year practice at Sadler Clinic.
“Management and I disagreed significantly over medical care issues and medical practices,” he said.
Citing similar differences, another 21 doctors decided to follow their colleagues out the door, resigning from their positions at Saddler's within a matter of weeks.
But a clause in their contracts is making it difficult for those doctors to set up shop elsewhere. It bars them from competing with Sadler Clinic by working anywhere within a 22-mile radius for the next year and a half.
"The tens of thousands of patients who have seen these doctors for years would lose their doctor," said Chris Hanslick, the doctors’ attorney.
The attorneys for Sadler Clinic are fighting back.
In legal documents, the clinic responded: "Make no mistake about it, these doctors are motivated purely by lucre, and not a lick by the patients for whom they express concern.”
The clinic's attorneys called the mass exodus of doctors "a conspiracy" to deal their employers "a fatal blow" after a disagreement over pay. The clinic says it has e-mails from the doctors proving that they conspired to try to put it out of business. They have asked the court for any restitution they may be owed.
Meanwhile, Kershenbaum's patients, noting the empty parking spaces, now describe his old office as a ghost town.
The doctor says he never wanted to hurt Sadler Clinic.
“Hurting someone else doesn't make me a better person,” he said.
Instead, he said, he wants to help the patients who still need him.
Kerschenbaum’s voice cracks with emotion as he reads the letters his patients have sent him.
"We were so shocked and saddened by your departure from Sadler's," one woman wrote.
