Texas Attorney General Opinion: M-870 Page: 2 of 7
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Hon. John A. Menefee, page 2
"2. Can the County place in its budget an
item 'for medical care and hospitalization of
sick prisoners in county jails' and levy a tax
therefor?
"3. In the event the answer to the question
number one (1) is no, does the liability for the
'medical bill lie with the McCamey County Hospital
District?"
Your letter relates that the area of Upton County i:
coextensive with the area of two hospital districts, the McCar
County Hospital District and the Rankin County Hospital Distr
each of these districts comprise a portion of Upton County.
Your letter, also, in regards to the factual situat
states that the indigent prisoner was taken by the Sheriff of
Upton County, who had him in his custody, to a doctor for an
examination, and that
".V ,. the doctor informed the sheriff that
the prisoner was suffering from a blockage of the
kidneys and that if he was not immediately removed
to a hospital having proper facilities, this man
would most likely die in his cell. The doctor
informed the sheriff that the Rankin County
Hospital District did not have the facilities
and would not admit him or accept him as a
patient. In the meantime. . (t)he sheriff
then called (another) doctor. . . and he was
informed that the McCamey County Hospital Dis-
trict did not have the facilities in the hospital
to treat this patient and that he would not be
able to admit him because of the lack of facilities
there for the proper treatment. Whereupon, the
sheriff made inquiries and was informed that the
Odessa Medical Center Hospital in Odessa, Texas
(located in Ector County) had the facilities and
would accept him. The sheriff of Upton County
secured an order from the County Judge of Upton
County to transfer the prisoner to the Odessa
Medical Center Hospital in Odessa."
You further state that the medical bill incurred
indigent prisoner at the Odessa hospital was approximately.4240-
(M-870)
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: M-870, text, May 25, 1971; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth270098/m1/2/: accessed June 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.