Court Opinion

ID: 9546529
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:31:38.835185+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:16:34.980032
License: Public Domain

STRUCKMEYER, Vice Chief Justice
(concurring in the result).
I concur with the opinion of Justice Hays insofar as it is concluded that it was error for the trial court to dismiss the defendant’s first amended complaint. However, I express reservations as to the reasons assigned for the reversal.
For the purpose of the decision at this stage of the proceedings, I accept the allegations of the complaint as true; first, that the Phelps Dodge Corporation, a New York corporation, operates and maintains the private hospital known as the Copper Queen Hospital in Bisbee, Arizona; second, that the emergency facilities of the Copper Queen Hospital were for the use and benefit of any individual seriously injured who required emergency care; and, third, that it was the practice of the Copper Queen Hospital to render emergency care to any member of the public who was seriously injured.
I approve of the statement in Wilmington General Hospital v. Manlove, 54 Del. 10, 174 A.2d 135 (1961), cited supra:
“. . . that liability on the part of a hospital may be predicated on the refusal of service to a patient in case of an unmistakable emergency, if the patient has relied upon a well-established custom of the hospital to render aid in such a case.” 174 A.2d at 140.
I have reservations as to that part of the opinion which predicates the decision on statutes of this State and the regulations of the State Health Department. This point was not raised in the lower court, was not the basis for decision there, nor was it briefed or argued here.
I express doubts as to whether constitutionally the State may impose the burden of emergency care to the general public upon a private corporation. I do not join in that portion of Justice Hays’ opinion holding the Phelps Dodge Corporation is obligated by law and administrative fiat to give emergency care to the general public, believing that question should await the time when it is directly presented for decision.
For this reason I concur in the result only.