4 Ind. App. 191 | Ind. Ct. App. | 1892
The appellant filed a claim before the Board of Commissioners of Pike county in the nature of an account for medical services rendered a prisoner in the county jail of said county. At a regular session of the board of commissioners of said county, the claim was rejected and disallowed, from which order, in rejecting and disallowing said claim, an appeal was taken to the Pike Circuit Court.
Counsel for the appellee contend that the amended complaint was bad under section 5764, R. S. 1881, which provides that it is the duty of the board of county commissioners to “ contract with one or more skilful physicians, having knowledge of surgery, to attend upon all prisoners confined in jail, or paupers in the county asylum, and may also con
The duty is, therefore, clearly imposed upon the secretary of such county board of health thus, appointed to render the medical and surgical services required by prisoners in the county jail, for which he is to be compensated out of the county treasury, as determined upon by the board of county commissioners. There is no provision in the statute requiring such services to be rendered by any other person than the secretary of the county board of health, and it is not made the duty of the township trustee, as overseer of the poor, under sections 5764, 6066 and 6072, R. S. 1881, as claimed by the appellee, although the trustee may have been present when the emergency arose for the medical aid, to-provide medical assistance to prisoners in the county jail. The .statute only confers upon overseers of the poor, in certain cases, the power to employ medical or surgical services required by paupers within their jurisdiction. The claim for medical services, rendered in the case before us, does not come within the provisions of the statute relating to the employment of medical or surgical services for paupers; and, therefore, what may be done by overseers of the poor in their respective jurisdictions, in relation to the employment of medical and surgical services for paupers, does not, in any way, affect the validity of the appellant’s claim.
But we must decide whether the amended complaint stated a cause of action against the appellee, under the allegations therein contained, under the duty imposed by section 4993, swpra.
The case made, by the amended complaint is a very strong
As we have seen, it was the duty of the secretary of the board of health to render such medical and surgical skill as was required by said prisoner, and it is alleged his presence and attendance could not, by reason of his being so far distant from the jail, be procured in time to save the prisoner’s life. Under this emergency what was the duty of the jailer having the prisoner in charge? and what v^ere the duty and liability of the county in such cases under the provisions of section 4993, supra¶
Among the enumerated duties of the sheriff by section 5868, R. S. 1881, is that he shall take care of the jail and the prisoners therein, and by section 6118, R. S. 1881, it is provided that the sheriff of the county, by himself or deputy, shall keep the jail and shall be responsible for the manner in which the same is kept * * and he shall provide proper meat, drink, and fuel for prisoners.”
In the case before us it was the duty of Smith, the jailer in charge of the prisoner and acting for the sheriff, to summon a competent physician under the existing emergency to treat the prisoner, and thereby save his life, if such could be done. It would have been inexcusable neglect on the part
The question, therefore, is where the appellee, in the appointment of a secretary of the board of health, had failed in such appointment to meet the emergency alleged in the amended complaint, and, by reason of the existing emergency, the jailer in charge of the prisoner employed the appellant, as is alleged, to save his life, was the appellee liable to the appellant for the medical services rendered, there being no demand for compensation beyond the actual and existing emergency? We can not believe that the law intended where a man was in jail, and in need of medical service under the emergency existing in this case, where the board of county commissioners had appointed a secretary of the board of health, whose duty it was in such cases to render such medical assistance, but whose residence was so remote from the county jail that he could not be procured in time to render the aid needed, that the prisoner should be left to suffer and perhaps die, and that the county would not be liable for the services thus rendered by a physician under the employment of the jailer having the prisoner in charge.
The decisions by the Supreme Court, in certain cases where the township trustee had employed a physician to treat the poor, sustain the view that we have taken of the liability of the appellee in the case before us. In Board, etc., v. Seaton, 90 Ind. 158, it was held that the trustee might employ a physician in a case where the county physician lived so far distant from the sick person as to be unable to give the sick person the attention required. It was held in Conner v. Board, etc., 57 Ind. 15, that, where the county physician abandoned his contract, the trustee might employ another physician. The decision in Board, etc., v. Ritter, 90 Ind. 362, affirms that there are cases in which the township
The cause is reversed, with instructions to overrule the demurrer to the amended complaint, and for further proceeding in accordance with this opinion, at the costs of the appellee.