Dykes v. Board of County Commissioners

Citations

• 86 Kan. 697
• 121 P. 1112
• 1912 Kan. LEXIS 367

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Contagious Diseases — Services of Private Physician — Petition — Demurrer. The physician attending upon a family, several members of which were sick, believing the malady, to be diphtheria, the health officer believing otherwise, called in consultation the plaintiff (the health officer being invited but failing to attend) who diagnosed the cases and found the patients suffering from diphtheria. The plaintiff quarantined the family, administered antitoxin and gave general instructions for the treatment and isolation of the cases and of the family and for the protection of the public against the spread of the disease. The county has a poor farm, but one with no facilities or conveniences for isolating or quarantining persons • suffering from contagious or infectious diseases. He presented his bill for $15, alleged to be a reasonable compensation, to the county board, who refused to pay. Held, that as the pleading showed that the services were performed upon the request of the attending physician, who had no authority to bind the county, and failed to show refusal or inability on the part of the afflicted family to pay, a cause of action was not stated.</p> <p>•2. OVERSEER of Poor — Mayor—Physician—Employment — Compensation. A county having a poor farm with no facilities or conveniences for operating upon or caring for persons without friends or money, suffering from catalepsy, appendicitis or broken collar bone, is liable for the reasonable valu.e of services and treatment afforded such persons, not inhabitants, upon the order of the mayor or the acting mayor of a city of the third class within such county.</p> <p>3. - Same. Under section 5561 of the General Statutes of 1909, the mayor or acting mayor of a city of the third class is deemed to be an overseer of the poor, with power in cases of emergency to bind the county by granting or ordering such temporary relief for a person, not an inhabitant, lying sick, or in distress, withou