Dade County v. American Hospital of Miami, Inc.

Judge Schwartz’s dissenting opinion quite clearly demonstrates that the legal duty of the County to provide and pay for medical care for its indigent residents is nowhere to be found in any statute or other writing referred to in the majority opinion. Since that is the case, I suspect that the unstated premise of the majority’s holding is that no legislation imposing this duty is required, either because the duty was recognized at common law or, if not, because the duty should be recognized by us, the court. The premise is wrong.

Under the common law, no body politic is legally obligated to…