Physician influence: applying Noerr-Pennington to the medical profession.

The medical profession, like any other form of business, subjects itself to potential antitrust liability when it engages in joint activity designed to affect trade relations. One type of joint activity used by the profession is the influencing of government bodies in order to attain anticompetitive results favorable to physicians. This kind of joint effort in the commercial world is to some extent protected from the antitrust laws by the Noerr-Pennington doctrine. It is not at all clear, however, to what degree this defense is available in the medical context. This Note will focus on the proper scope of the Noerr-Pennington defense in the context of five case studies of actual or potential medical antitrust cases. In each case, the potential antitrust violation is described in sufficient detail to highlight the significance of the NoerrPennington doctrine. This description is then followed by a discussion of the proper use of the Noerr-Pennington defense. Through analyzing the applicability of the Noerr-Pennington defense in each of the five cases, this Note will examine the constitutional basis underlying the doctrine, the judicially created exceptions, and the defense's limited application to the activities of quasi-public, self-regulatory medical organizations.