Opinion No. (1999)

Dear Director Saffle,

¶ 0 This office has received your request for an official Opinion addressing, in effect, the following question:

Who has financial responsibility for medical expenses ofinmates incarcerated in the custody of the Oklahoma Department ofCorrections who are properly referred to private medicalproviders because the inmates were not admitted to the UniversityHospitals?

I

¶ 1 The State of Oklahoma has a constitutional "obligation to provide medical care for those whom it is punishing by incarceration." Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 104 (1976). The United States Supreme Court has…