Caton v. Board of County Commissioners

The opinion of the, court was delivered by

Johnston, C. J.:

This case involves the question whether a ■county is liable for the cost of an emergency operation performed upon an indigent person at the instance of the overseer of the poor without the order or consent of the commissioners of the county.

It appears that the mayor of the city of Osborne, a physician and the overseer of the poor for the city, found Grace Smith, the child of an indigent person suffering from a mastoid ailment, and that to save her life an immediate operation was necessary. There was no poorhouse or hospital in the…