Case Name: D. H. PRICHARD et al., Trustees of the Northeast Mississippi Hospital, and Ralph Smith, Administrator v. Dr. Webster CLEVELAND, Jr., et al.
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 1975-05-19
Citations: 314 So. 2d 729
Docket Number: No. 48021
Parties: D. H. PRICHARD et al., Trustees of the Northeast Mississippi Hospital, and Ralph Smith, Administrator v. Dr. Webster CLEVELAND, Jr., et al.
Judges: Before GILLESPIE, ROBERTSON and SUGG, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 314
Pages: 729–734

Head Matter:
D. H. PRICHARD et al., Trustees of the Northeast Mississippi Hospital, and Ralph Smith, Administrator v. Dr. Webster CLEVELAND, Jr., et al.
No. 48021.
Supreme Court of Mississippi.
May 19, 1975.
Rehearing Denied July 14, 1975.
Thomas D. Keenum, Sr., Booneville, for appellants.
Riddick & McCoy, Jackson, for appel-lees.
Before GILLESPIE, ROBERTSON and SUGG, JJ.

Opinion:
ROBERTSON, Justice.
D. H. Prichard, Jack M. Dubard, Donald Franks, J. W. Henson, Jr., and Douglas Jumper, Members of the Board of Trustees for the Northeast Mississippi Hospital, and Ralph Smith, Administrator of the Hospital, appeal from a decree of the Chancery Court of Prentiss County enjoining them from leasing a part of the hospital facilities (formerly used as nurses' quarters) to Dr. R. M. Brown, a general surgeon engaged in the private practice of medicine.
In their amended bill of complaint, Dr. Webster Cleveland, Jr., Dr. Paul C. Ellzey, Dr. S. C. Galloway, and Dr. Joseph L. Hurst, averred that they are private practicing physicians in the City of Booneville, Mississippi, that they own a diagnostic and treatment facility known as The Medical Clinic, which they constructed and equipped with their own private funds and which they maintain and operate with their own private funds. They averred also that they are taxpayers of both the City of Booneville and Prentiss County, and that their taxes go to retire bonds which were issued and sold and the proceeds used "to build, maintain, renovate and enlarge the Northeast Mississippi Hospital and other parts of the Hospital property, specifically the Nurses' Home."
They further stated that they brought this suit "in their own behalf and in behalf of all other taxpayers similarly situated who are invited to join this action." They charged that the defendants expended $4,766.82 of public funds in renovating and converting about one-third of the space in the nurses' home to private office facilities which they leased for $300 a month to Dr. R. M. Brown for the private practice of medicine. They further charged that this expenditure was for an object not authorized by law, and that the Board of Trustees and Administrator did not have statutory authority to lease this space to Dr. Brown for the private practice of medicine.
Complainants prayed that the defendants be enjoined from leasing to Dr. Brown and "from providing office space of any kind or nature whatsoever for private practicing physicians in the City of Booneville, Pren-tiss County, Mississippi." The letter of April 21, 1972, from D. H. Prichard, President of the Board of Trustees of Northeast Mississippi Hospital, to the attorney for the complainants is attached as an exhibit to the Amended Bill of Complaint. Among other things, President Prichard wrote:
"After a thorough consideration of the substance of your letter and a careful re view of the facts relating to the matter, the board is of the unanimous opinion that there is complete justification for the action taken and can find no valid reason for a reversal of any action in question.
"The Board of Trustees also wishes to advise that the same type of repair and remodeling will be carried out on the remainder of the building in question to accommodate two new general practitioners who are expected to locate here on July 1, 1972. It is further anticipated that a third physician will join them in December and there is a strong possibility that another surgeon will also locate here by the end of this year."
Prichard went on to explain in the letter that the hospital facilities had been greatly expanded over the years, that there was a real shortage of qualified physicians and surgeons in the City of Booneville and Prentiss County because proper office space was not available, that the nurses' home had ceased to be used by the hospital nurses, and that the Board felt that it was their duty and responsibility to do all they could to encourage qualified physicians and surgeons to locate in the City of Boone-ville and Prentiss County so that the hospital facilities could be used to the fullest extent.
Dr. Paul Ellzey testified that when the complainants took in Dr. Galloway he vacated his office space within 150 to 200 yards of the hospital, that the complainants had been paying $225 per month rent for this office space since July 1, 1971, that they had not been able to rent out this space and it was still available for rent.
The community hospital is a special creature of the Legislature. Mississippi Code Annotated Section 41-13-15 (Supp. 1974), provides in part:
"Any county, city, town, supervisors district, judicial district or election district of a county, separately or jointly with one or more other counties, cities, towns, supervisors districts, judicial districts or election districts of the same or other counties, may acquire and hold real estate for a hospital, nurses' home, health center, health department, diagnostic or treatment center, rehabilitation facility, nursing home and related facilities and thereon establish, erect, build, construct, remodel, add to, equip, operate and maintain community hospitals, nurses' homes, health centers, health departments, diagnostic or treatment centers, rehabilitation facilities, nursing homes and related facilities within the limits of any such political subdivision or parts thereof." (Emphasis added).
The Northeast Mississippi Hospital is a community hospital jointly owned by Pren-tiss County and the City of Booneville. It is operated by a five-member Board of Trustees, three of whom are appointed by the Board of Supervisors of Prentiss County, and two of whom are appointed by the municipal authorities of the City of Booneville, all done in strict accord with the provisions of Section 41-13-31.
Neither the owners nor the operators of the Northeast Mississippi Hospital had authority, under the law (Section 41-13-15) to expend public funds to convert a portion of the nurses' home to private office facilities for lease to a doctor engaged in the private practice of medicine.
The Legislature amended Section 41-13-15 in 1972, 1973 . and 1974 to provide that certain specific counties and municipalities within those counties:
"[M]ay acquire and hold real estate for doctors' offices and related health care facilities and thereon establish, construct, remodel, add to, equip, operate and maintain doctors' offices and related health care facilities and may lease same the said doctors' offices to doctors on hospital staff at a fair market value."
While we are not called upon in the case at bar to decide the constitution ality of the amendments of Section 41-13-15, we do note that Prentiss County was not one of the counties added. Therefore, Prentiss County does not have authority under Mississippi Code Annotated Section 41-13-15 (Supp.1974), to convert hospital nurses' quarters into private doctor's offices and to lease these converted facilities to a doctor engaged in private practice. The Board of Trustees and the Administrator of the Hospital thus used public funds for an object not authorized by law. The complainants, as taxpayers, had standing to bring this suit and the chancellor was correct in enjoining the defendants from leasing office space in the converted nurses' quarters to Dr. Brown for the private practice of medicine for his own individual gain. Saxon v. Harvey, 190 So.2d 901 (Miss. 1966).
We can sympathize with the Board of Trustees and the Administrator of the Northeast Mississippi Hospital in their peculiar problem of trying to secure a sufficient number of qualified physicians and surgeons for the Prentiss County area, but the remedy must be provided by the Legislature ; it cannot be provided by the Courts. It is the duty and responsibility of the Courts to construe and interpret the law, not to make it.
The decree of the Chancery Court is affirmed.
Affirmed.
This case was considered by a conference of the Judges en banc.
All Justices concur except GILLESPIE, C. J., and RODGERS, P. J., who dissent.