On 9 December 2011, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit unanimously affirmed a district court order that found the proposed acquisition of a for-profit hospital by a county hospital authority, and its potential subsequent lease to a private entity, immune from antitrust challenge under the state action doctrine. The Eleventh Circuit found that potential competitive effects from the acquisition of the only other acute care hospital in the county are legally irrelevant to the question of whether the county hospital authority is empowered to make the acquisition.