Health Care Desert Dooms Florida Hospital’s Noncompete Clause

A large Florida county’s dearth of thoracic surgeons doomed a Tampa hospital’s effort to enforce a noncompete against its former doctor.

Hospitals trying to prevent employees from joining competitors need not just prove that there are other doctors of that specialty in a county, but must show that the doctor they want to keep out of operating rooms isn’t performing a needed service, a divided Second District Court of Appeal ruled Friday.

Surgeon Christopher Bariana “demonstrated at the hearing that there is no other physician in Pinellas County who is able to regularly perform his specialized procedures,” and without that ...