Opinion ID: 1632186
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Creation of a Hospital Lien

Text: Section 35-11-370, Ala.Code 1975, provides:  Any person, firm, hospital authority or corporation operating a hospital in this state shall have a lien for all reasonable charges for hospital care, treatment and maintenance of an injured person who entered such hospital within one week after receiving such injuries, upon any and all actions, claims, counterclaims and demands accruing to the person to whom such care, treatment or maintenance was furnished, or accruing to the legal representatives of such person, and upon all judgments, settlements and settlement agreements entered into by virtue thereof on account of injuries giving rise to such actions, claims, counterclaims, demands, judgments, settlements or settlement agreements and which necessitated such hospital care, subject, however, to any attorney's lien. (Emphasis added.) [S]ection [XX-XX-XXX] was intended to give hospitals and other health care providers an automatic lien for the reasonable value of their services. Ex parte Infinity Southern Ins. Co., 737 So.2d 463, 464 (Ala. 1999) (citing Guin v. Carraway Methodist Med. Ctr., 583 So.2d 1317, 1319 (Ala.1991)). The Gann parties do not dispute that the hospitals have a valid lien for the reasonable charges the hospitals incurred on Patricia's behalf. Gann parties' brief at 36. This Court has previously noted that a hospital lien does not attach to the proceeds of a wrongful-death claim, Jones v. DCH Health Care Auth., 621 So.2d 1322, 1324 (Ala.1993); however, under § 35-11-370 the hospitals' statutory liens attached to the personal-injury claims filed on Patricia's behalf. [8] The Gann parties admit that the hospitals' liens were automatic, but they argue that the liens were not perfected. Gann Parties' brief at 36.