"We're seeking the hospital to disgorge the revenues they made from the procedures," said one of five lawyers representing the plaintiffs. "This hospital saw this procedure as a potential profit center." The suit accuses the hospital of "unjust enrichment" and of violating the state's Unfair Trade Practices Act.

According to the suit, filed February 8, 2006, the hospital violated S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control regulations by performing therapeutic catheterizations without having an open-heart-surgery unit.

Hospitals that do therapeutic caths also must have open-heart-surgery units so patients can receive emergency surgery in the rare instances when life-threatening complications arise during a cath.

Caths are fairly common procedures that involve inserting a narrow, flexible tube into an large artery, guiding the tube to the heart, and repairing clogged arteries that nourish the heart with devices attached to the end of the tube.

Sometimes, however, complications occur during caths. For example, the tube can puncture an artery, leading to internal bleeding. Hilton Head's hospital "did not have the safety net of an open heart surgery unit until late 2002," although hundreds of therapeutic caths were done before that, according to the suit.

In fact, the lawsuit said, "on at least four occasions patients receiving therapeutic caths
at Hilton Head Regional Medical Center did require immediate open-heart surgery as a result of the procedure, and had to be rushed to another facility because (the hospital) did not have open-heart surgery capacity."

The hospital violated the state Unfair Trade Practices Act because it knew the therapeutic
caths were not allowed, the suit said, and the hospital was unjustly enriched because it
"received payments without disclosure of the unlawfulness" to the patients.