Montana Attorney General Opinion 16-166

Opinion No. 166. Highway Commission - Employees- Member of Highway Commission as Physician for-Industrial Accident In- surance - Public Officials - Doctors and Physicians. HELD: Public officials, including a member of the State Highway Com- mission, so long as they hold pub~c office, may not render services as a physician or surgeon to injured em- ployees of the State Highway Com- mission and collect for such services from the Industrial Accident Fund. September 6, 1935. State Highway Commission The Capitol You have submitted the following for the opinion of this office: "Chairman Harry J. McGregor of the Highway Commission, who, as you know, is also a practicing phy- sician and surgeon of Great Falls, has requested that we secure your written opinion on the following question. "All of our employees are insured with the Industrial Accident Board. Quite frequently accidents occur in the Great Falls territory to individ- uals in our employ who are covered by this Industrial Accident Insur- ance. Dr. McGregor is, of course, not a regular salaried official of the State but receives $10.00 per diem and expenses only while engaged in business pertaining to the Highway Commission. He would like to know whether or not the nature of his po- sition with the State of Montana is such as to prevent him from caring for cases, which are referred to him as a physician, of our employees who have been injured in some way in connection with their duties while working for us, and from receiving for such services as he may render in cases of this nature the custom- ary fees which are paid by the In- dustrial Accident Board to physi- cians who render services to that Board." Section 444, R. C. M. 1921, provides:· "Members of the legislative assembly, state, county, city, town, or township officers, must not be interested in any contract made by them in their of- ficial capacity, or by any body or board of which they are members." Under the provisions of the Work- men's Compensation Act (Chapter 213, Part III, Political Code, R. C. M. 1921) the State Industrial Accident Board has contracted with the State Highway Commission to insure the employees of the commission, under the terms of "Plan 3" of said Act, Section 2917, as amended by Chapter 170 OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 177, Laws of Montana, 1929, which is as follows: "During the first six months after the happening of the injury, the em- ployer or insurer or the board, as the case may be, shall furnish rea- sonable medical, surgical and hospi- tal service and medicines when needed, not exceeding in amount the sum of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), unless the employee shall refuse to allow them to be fur- nished, and unless such employee is under a hospital contract, as pro- vided in Section 2907 of this act." Under this section it is the duty of the Highway Commission to furnish reasonable services by a physician or surgeon to the injured workmen, and, if it fails to do so, such services may be furnished by the Industrial Acci- dent Board. (See also Section 2906, R. C. M. 1921.) In either event, Section 444, quoted above, prohibits any state official from having any indirect, as well as direct, interest in contracts made by him in his official capacity and it is our opinion, under the statutory pro- visions quoted above, that Dr. Mc- Gregor may not render services as a physician and surgeon to injured em- ployees of the State Highway Com- mission and collect for such services from the Industrial Accident Fund, as long as Dr. McGregor is a member of the commission. This we believe to be consonant with principles of sound public policy. (See Opinions No. 133 and 183, Volume 15, Opinions of At- torney General.) "A people can have no higher pub- lic interest, except the preservation of their liberties, than integrity in the administration of their government in all its departments. It is there- fore a principle of the common law that it will not lend its aid to enforce a contract to do an act which tends to corrupt or contaminate, by im- proper and sinister influences, the integrity of our social or political in- stitutions. Public officers should act from high consideration of public duty, and hence every agreement whose tendency or object is to sully the purity or mislead the judgments of those to whom the high trust is confided is condemned by the courts. The officer may be an executive, ad- ministrative, legislative, or judicial officer. The principle is the same in either case." (13 C. J. 429.)