South Australian Repealed Acts

This legislation has been repealed.

HOSPITALS ACT 1934 - SECT 47

47—Maintenance of patients in public hospitals

        (1)         After the coming into operation of the Hospitals Act Amendment Act 1959 the Governor may from time to time, on the recommendation of the director-general, by regulations, which he is hereby empowered to make, fix in respect of any public hospital—

            (a)         rates of payment whether daily, weekly or for any other period for the maintenance of patients in the hospital, which rates may vary according to all or any of the following circumstances, namely the accommodation and treatment provided for the patient, the nature of his illness or disability, the persons liable to pay for his maintenance in the hospital, and any other circumstances which the director-general deems it just to take into consideration;

        (a1)         a special rate to be charged in special circumstances for the maintenance of any individual patient;

            (b)         rates of payment which shall be payable for the treatment of persons as out-patients at the hospital;

            (c)         rates of payment which shall be payable in respect of medical supplies provided to persons from or at the hospital.

        (2)         If, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, any person is a patient in or is treated at, or is provided with any medical supplies from or at any public hospital, an amount in accord with the appropriate rate fixed pursuant to subsection (1), together with all other special costs and charges which may be incurred with respect to the said person, shall be a debt due to the Crown for which the following persons shall be jointly and severally liable:

        I         The person first mentioned:

        II         The spouse or domestic partner of the said person:

        III         If the said person is under the age of eighteen years, the father of the said person or, if the father is dead, the mother of the said person:

        IV         The children of the said person who were over eighteen years of age at the time the liability was incurred.

        (2a)         The director-general may remit the whole or any part of any amount payable under this section. The director-general may, in writing, authorise any person to exercise any of the powers conferred upon the director-general by this subsection. Any such authority may be of such general or limited application as is determined by the director-general and may be revoked at any time by the director-general. The power of remitting a part of the amount payable under this section may be exercised from time to time in respect of the same debt.

        (3)         When any person dies in any public hospital, any funeral expenses incurred in respect of that person by the Crown shall be recoverable in the same manner as any amount payable pursuant to subsection (2) is recoverable.

        (4)         All moneys payable under this section for the maintenance of any person shall accrue from day to day, and any amount payable pursuant to this section may, whether incurred before or after the commencement of this Act, be recovered by the director-general, either summarily upon the complaint of the director-general, or any person authorised in writing by him for the purpose, or by action in any court of competent jurisdiction by action at the suit of the director-general or any person authorised as aforesaid, and shall be payable to the director-general or to any person authorised in writing by him to receive the same. In any proceedings pursuant to this subsection, the averment that any place is a public hospital within the meaning of this section shall be deemed proved in the absence of proof to the contrary.

        (5)         When two or more persons are jointly and severally liable under this section for the same sum, they shall be entitled as against each other to such indemnity or contribution as is directed by the court.

        (6)         Nothing in this section shall take away or restrict the liability of any person for the maintenance of any other person under any other Act or law for the time being in force, or the power of any court to make any order under any such Act or law in respect of the maintenance of any person.

        (7)         The director-general may at any time make an agreement with any person that he will pay a fixed sum towards the payment of any amount payable pursuant to this section, and any sum so agreed to be paid shall constitute a debt payable to the Crown and recoverable in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section; and every such person is hereby empowered to reimburse himself for all moneys paid by him in pursuance of any such agreement out of any property of the person in respect of whom the said amount is payable coming into his hands, or otherwise to recover the same in accordance with the said provisions of this section.

        (8)         No such agreement shall take away or restrict any liability that would otherwise lie on the person making the same or on any other person in respect of the maintenance of the patient.

        (9)         This section shall apply to any moneys incurred as maintenance as aforesaid before the commencement of this Act only when the said amounts have been incurred after the twenty-third day of October, 1925.

        (10)         In this section—

"public hospital" means—

            (a)         the Royal Adelaide Hospital;

            (b)         any place declared to be a public hospital pursuant to The Hospitals Act 1867 or to section 5 of this Act;

            (c)         any other hospital which is under the management of the director-general.