City of Lomita v. County of Los Angeles

Opinion

KINGSLEY, Acting P. J.

Plaintiff cities appeal from an adverse judgment in an action to compel the County to pay for emergency ambulance service rendered to indigent residents of those cities.

1

The trial court held that no such duty existed; we reverse.

The two cities here involved,

2

and other cities in Los Angeles County (County), have contracts with the County whereby the County provides emergency ambulance service

3

to residents of the contracting cities and recovers from the cities the cost to the County of providing such service to indigent residents of the contracting cities. We hold that the County is statutorily liable to provide such emergency ambulance service to all

[673]

indigent residents

4

of the County, regardless of their residence and that, for that reason, the payment provisions of the contracts herein involved are void for lack of consideration.

It is now established that it is the statutory duty of a County to provide hospital and medical services to all indigent County residents.

(County of San Diego

v.

Viloria

(1969) 276 Cal.App.2d 350, 352-353 [80 Cal.Rptr. 869]; and cases there cited.) When an emergency occurs, anywhere in the county, which requires hospitalization, it necessarily follows that the duty to provide medical care includes the duty to provide emergency transportation from the place where the indigent is to the hospital where he can receive care. The cost of providing that service is, by statute, a proper county charge. (Gov. Code, § 29606; Health & Saf. Code, § 1444.)

The County takes refuge in certain other statutory provisions, which we do not regard as material to the sale issue in the case at bench.