Wesley Medical Center v. City of Wichita, 57546

• Decision Date: 26 July 1985
• Docket Number: No. 57546,57546
• Citation: 237 Kan. 807,703 P.2d 818
• Parties: The WESLEY MEDICAL CENTER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. The CITY OF WICHITA, Kansas, Defendant-Appellant, and the Board of County Commissioners of the County of Sedgwick, Defendants/Appellees, and George E. Rainey, Defendant.
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

Page 818

703 P.2d 818

237 Kan. 807

The WESLEY MEDICAL CENTER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. The CITY OF WICHITA, Kansas, Defendant-Appellant and the Board of County Commissioners of the County of Sedgwick Defendants/Appellees and George E. Rainey, Defendant.

No. 57546.

Supreme Court of Kansas.

July 26, 1985.

Syllabus by the Court

1. A city is not responsible for the payment of medical expenses incurred by an indigent person who is arrested by city police and subsequently charged with a violation of state law and who, before being physically transferred to the county jail, is taken to a hospital for necessary medical treatment.

2. So long as an offender is arrested for violation of a state law and in due course is charged with a state crime and delivered to the county jail for confinement, the medical and other incidental expenses incurred as a consequence of and following his arrest, and until his transfer to such facility, are chargeable to the county.

3. A county's liability for charges and expenses for safekeeping and maintenance of the prisoner, including medical expenses, does not depend on which police agency happens to be called to the scene of the alleged crime or whether such expenses were incurred before or after he is placed in a county jail. The controlling factor is that the prisoner was arrested and subsequently charged with violation of a state law.

Douglas J. Moshier, Asst. City Atty., argued the cause and was on the brief, for defendant-appellant.

Michael L. North, of Boyer, Donaldson & Stewart, Wichita, argued the cause and was on the brief, for plaintiff-appellee, Wesley Medical Center.

Edward L. Keeley, of Crockett & Gripp, Wichita, argued the cause and was on the brief, for defendants/appellees, Bd. of County Com'rs of Sedgwick County.

PRAGER, Justice:

This is an action brought by Wesley Medical Center of Wichita to recover the value of medical expenses furnished by that hospital to George E. Rainey following a gun battle and Rainey's subsequent arrest by Wichita police officers. The defendants in the case were George E. Rainey, the City of Wichita, the Board of County Commissioners of Sedgwick County, and the Board of County Commissioners of Butler County. The district court found that Butler County was not liable for the medical services, and that judgment is not questioned on this appeal.

The controversy in the trial court and on this appeal is whether the City of Wichita or Sedgwick County is liable to Wesley Medical Center for the medical services it provided George E. Rainey. The case was submitted to the trial court on a stipulation of facts which may be summarized as follows: On July 11, 1981, in Butler County, the defendant, George E. Rainey, shot and killed a highway patrolman who had stopped him on the Kansas Turnpike. Rainey continued south on the turnpike and got off at the east Wichita exit. Word of the shooting reached the Wichita police before Rainey's arrival in Wichita. Shortly after entering the city limits, Rainey was stopped by Wichita police officers and a gun battle resulted. In the course of the gun battle, Rainey was seriously wounded. At the instance of the Wichita officers, an ambulance was dispatched to the scene. The emergency medical personnel on the ambulance then determined that Rainey would be transported to Wesley Medical Center for treatment of his wounds. On the trip to the hospital and for six days thereafter, until July 17, 1981, Rainey was under guard by Wichita police officers.

Defendant Rainey was charged with attempted first-degree murder in Sedgwick County. His first appearance before a magistrate in Sedgwick County took place on July 17, 1981, at the hospital. Rainey was guarded in the hospital by officers of the Sedgwick County sheriff's department from July 17, 1981, until July 31, 1981. Rainey was also under guard at times during that period by officers of the Butler County sheriff's department. On July 31, 1981, Rainey was released from the hospital and transferred to the Sedgwick County jail. After approximately one hour in the jail, he was released to the custody of the Butler County sheriff and taken to Butler County and jailed. Subsequently, he was arraigned, stood trial, and was convicted of the murder of a state highway patrolman. Rainey was returned to the Sedgwick County jail on December 29, 1981, for disposition of the felony charges pending against him in Sedgwick County District Court. These matters were concluded and he was sent to the Kansas State Penitentiary on January 12, 1982. It was undisputed that defendant Rainey was an indigent within the meaning of K.S.A. 22-4501 et seq. The claim for medical treatment supplied to defendant Rainey by Wesley Medical Center from July 11, 1981, to July 31, 1981, amounted to $19,071.66.

On February 5, 1982, Wesley Medical Center filed this action against Rainey, Butler County, and Sedgwick County. After discovery and several hearings, Wesley Medical Center moved for leave to add the City of Wichita as a party defendant, which motion was granted. The basic dispute in the case was whether the City of Wichita or Sedgwick County was responsible for Rainey's medical expenses. On August 23, 1984, the case proceeded to trial upon facts stipulated or admitted by all the parties involved. The trial court held that the City of Wichita was liable for Rainey's medical expenses from July 11, 1981, to July 17, 1981, during which period Rainey was under guard by the Wichita police. The trial court held that Sedgwick County was liable for the medical expenses from July 17, 1981, to July 31, 1981, during which period Rainey was under guard by the Sedgwick County sheriff's office. The City of Wichita appealed and the case was transferred to the Supreme Court. Wesley Medical Center filed a cross-appeal.

The basic issue presented in the case is this: Is a city responsible for the payment of medical expenses incurred by an indigent person who is arrested by city police and subsequently charged with and convicted of a violation of state law, who before being physically transported to the county jail, is taken to a hospital for necessary medical treatment?

Before considering the specific issue presented, it would be helpful to review some of the basic legal principles which are applicable where a person, who is arrested by law enforcement officers or confined in a jail, requires medical services. It has long been the statutory law of Kansas that it is the duty of all keepers of jails and prisons to treat their prisoners with humanity. K.S.A. 19-1919, which specifically so provides, was enacted as a part of the General Statutes of 1868 in Chapter 53, Section 19. The later Kansas cases have consistently held that a prisoner's rights include entitlement to medical care at the governmental agency's expense, if the prisoner is indigent and no other source of funds is available. Levier v. State, 209 Kan. 442, 497 P.2d 265 (1972); Pfannenstiel v. Doerfler, 152 Kan. 479, 483, 105 P.2d 886 (1940); Dodge City Med. Center v. Board of Gray County Comm'rs, 6 Kan.App.2d 731, 634 P.2d 163 (1981); Mt. Carmel Medical Center v. Board of County Commissioners, 1 Kan.App.2d 374, 566 P.2d 384 (1977). It should be noted that several earlier Kansas cases held that a county is not bound to pay a physician for medical services rendered by him to prisoners in the county jail unless such services are authorized by the county. Hendricks v. Comm'rs of Chautauqua Co., 35 Kan. 483, 11 Pac. 450 (1886); County of Smith v. County of Osborne, 29 Kan.

Page 72

(1882); Roberts v. County of Pottawatomie, 10 Kan.

Page 29

(1872). The later cases, however, place a positive duty upon the county to furnish medical attention to a prisoner in custody who is in need of medical attention, if the prisoner is indigent and no other source of funds is available.

In Mt. Carmel Medical Center v. Board of County Commissioners, 1 Kan.App.2d 374, 566 P.2d 384, a county prisoner, in an attempt to escape from jail, jumped out of an unlocked window and dropped four stories to the ground, causing him to break a leg. A neighbor heard his screams and called the Oswego police. The police arrived and called an ambulance. The ambulance, a doctor, and a sheriff's deputy arrived at the scene. The doctor recommended hospitalization where orthopedic care was available. The deputy sheriff concurred with the decision to send the escapee to the hospital where he was provided medical treatment. It was held that the fact that the injured man was an escaped man when he received treatment was not determinative of the sheriff's responsibility to provide medical attention. The determinative factor was whether he was in custody when the decision was made to transport him to the hospital. The county was held liable for the medical care provided.

Dodge City Med. Center v. Board of Gray County Comm'rs, 6 Kan.App.2d 731, 634 P.2d 163, presents a factual situation comparable to that in the case now before us. In that case it was held that, where a suspect is apprehended in the commission of a felony, felled by an officer's gunshots, and taken to the hospital by the sheriff, the suspect is "in custody" while hospitalized, for the purpose of determining the county's liability for his medical expenses, even though he has not been formally arrested or kept under guard. In the present case, the City of Wichita and Sedgwick County agree that one of those two political subdivisions is responsible for the medical expenses incurred in the treatment of George E. Rainey. The dispute is over which entity is responsible for them.

In the state of Kansas, there are a number of cities that have no municipal jail facilities. It is quite customary for the city police of those cities to take city prisoners to the county jail for incarceration. For a number of years, this has been true in Sedgwick County where persons arrested by Wichita police officers are taken to the county jail. In 1963...