A North Carolina trial court has upheld the constitutionality of the state’s certificate-of-need laws, rejecting an ophthalmologist’s years-long legal challenge seeking to overturn it, The Carolina Journal reported Dec. 12.
Jay Singleton, MD, owner of Singleton Vision Center in New Bern, N.C., originally filed a lawsuit in April 2020, alleging that under current law, he can only perform an “incidental” amount of surgeries, as state planners “projected no need” for his services around New Bern.
Dr. Singleton’s case was first dismissed in Wake County Superior Court on June 11, 2021. On Oct. 18, 2024, the state Supreme Court issued an unsigned, unanimous four-page ruling that allowed Dr. Singleton to move forward with the case.
The judges ultimately rejected the argument that CON laws provide a monopoly and “exclusive emolument” to incumbent healthcare providers.
“While it is true that nine operating rooms in the Craven, Jones, Pamlico service area are owned by one provider CarolinaEast patients in the service area have access to a total of 80 operating rooms owned by nine different providers in the service areas bordering the Craven, Jones, Pamlico service area,” the order explained. “Competition is not stifled, and individuals are free to choose from any of those nine providers.”
“Considering the merits, Plaintiffs’ facial challenge to CON Law cannot overcome the high bar imposed by the presumption of constitutionally given to legislative acts,” the panel concluded, according to The Carolina Journal.
Dr. Singleton’s lawyer responded that the “three judge panel appears to have largely adopted the government’s legal theories, which remain as wrong today as they have always been. We look forward to taking this fight back to the North Carolina Supreme Court, which we expect will treat the CON law with the genuine skepticism it deserves under the North Carolina Constitution.”
Derek Hunter, the state specialty deputy attorney responded that the CON law does not block Dr. Singleton from performing procedures due to a loophole that differentiates an operating room from a “procedure room.” While surgeons need a CON to open an operating room, the law does not apply to a “procedure room,” Mr. Hunter contends, allowing Dr. Singleton to perform as many procedures as he’d like.
Dr. Singleton’s attorney labeled this as an “11th hour argument,” according to the report, the acceptance of which would prevent North Carolina judges from addressing the issue of whether CON violates the state’s constitutional ban on monopolies.
