Montana Attorney General Opinion 15-507

Opinion No. 507 County Commissioners-Relief-Poor -Emergency OpeJ-ations, Liability for. HELD: The county is liable to a physician who performs an emergency o11eration where the facts show that delay to first obtain authority from the county officials would have caused extreme suffering and probably endan- ger the life of the patient. April 10, 1934. Supplementing our opinion No. 497, dated March 13, 1934, relative to the duty of the board of county commis- sioners to care for the poor, you will note the fact that the statutes vest in the county board liberal discretionary powers in all such matters. No hard and fast rule can be laid down. It is for the board, in its sound discretion to determine .the merits of each case. (Jones V. Cooney, 81 Mont. 340). OPI~IO~S OF THE ATTORXEY GE~ERAL 347 In "esting such discretionary power in the county board we do not think it was the intent of the legislature that the board should draw fine dis- tinctions at the expense of human suf- fering nor employ technicalities of the law to evade its duty. The obligation of a county to care for the poor is purely statutory, there heing no obligation to do so at common law. Court decisions are, of course, based upon the statutes, hut the gen- eral trend of courts may be gathered from the following decisioni'. ] n Board of Commissioners of Ottr- field County v. Enid Springs Sanitari- um, 244 Pac. 426, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma held a physiCian lIlay hold the county liable for emergency at- tendance on a pauper although the phy- sician acted without the request or consent of the officials. See also Board ,'. Dowdy, 270 Pac. 836. In Newcomer v .. Tefferson Tp., Tipton County, 181 Ind. 1, lOR N. R 843, the court held the township liable for med- ical attendance rendered a pauper in an emergency case where there was no opportunity to communicate with the overseer of the poor. See also Board Y. Dennebrink, 8f) Pac. 7, 15 Wyo. 342. In Redwood County '1'. City of Minne- apOliS, 148 N. ,V. 46H, a woman work- ing as a domestic in Hedwood County was injured, and required immediate medical attention which was furnished by the county. She had formerly been cared for by Hennepin County as a feeble minded person but at the time of her injury she was caring for herself, working in Redwood County, but with no means to pay for medical services. The court upheld Redwood County's claim against Minneapolis for the care and medical attention to deceased, and for her burial expenses. It also held tha t such temporary relief need not be given by the county physician. We think Phillips county is liahle to the physician who performed the emer- gency opera tion if the facts show tha t delay in order to first obtain the au- thority of the county officials would have caused extreme suffering or prob- ably endangered the life of the sick persons. The board must, in the exer- cise of its discretion, determine each applica tion for relief upon the facts and c:ircumstances surrounding it.