This is the Urbandale office building from which four Iowa pathologists launched a new business, Goldfinch Laboratories. (Photo via Google Earth)
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit alleging a group of central Iowa pathologists conspired to maintain a monopoly at the expense of patients.
The lawsuit was one of three involving allegations of unfair competition, harassment, retaliation and discrimination among central Iowa pathologists.
The suit was filed in May 2024 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa by four pathologists who last year established Goldfinch Laboratory of Urbandale – physicians Tiffani Milless, Caitlin Halverson, Renee Ellerbroek and Jared Abbott.
The four sued their previous employers, Iowa Pathology Associates of Des Moines and Regional Laboratory Consultants, alleging the two companies tried to suppress competition for pathology services in central Iowa and maintain a monopoly, all in violation of state and federal law.
Each of the companies provides dermatopathology and other pathology services for patients in central Iowa whose physicians require laboratory services that provide medical diagnoses from biological specimens.