Request By:
Mr. J. Clay McKnight
Scott County Attorney
Courthouse
P.O. Box 582
Georgetown, Kentucky 40324
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
In the Extraordinary Session of 1979, KRS 441.010 was amended [H.B. 50, Ch. 21] to provide that if a prisoner in the county jail needs medical care and is a needy person, the unit of government whose law is violated by the prisoner shall pay for his medical expenses. The unit of government so responsible for payment shall not pay for medical care which could be postponed until after the period of confinement without hazard to the prisoner, except for the initial examination by the physician to determine whether medical care is needed. Only a licensed physician may determine that medical care can be postponed without hazard.
The "physician" or physicians attending the prisoner shall certify, under oath, that the prisoner's condition was such that medical care could not be postponed until after the period of confinement without hazard, that medical procedures were limited to those necessary to preserve life or health of the prisoner, and that they were not elective except for initial examination by the physician to determine whether medical care is needed.
A prisoner in the Scott County jail had some teeth extracted. After the oral surgery was performed, the dentist in attendance mailed a certificate to the State Department of Finance. The Department of Finance is unwilling to pay the bill for the reason that the certificate is not that of a medical doctor. However, Finance points out that if a medical doctor were to certify that such oral surgery was necessary and could not be postponed without hazard to the patient, they would pay it. However, a medical evaluation "after the fact" could pose a problem for a medical doctor.
The question is: Does a licensed dentist qualify as a physician under the statute, and does "medical care" include dental care?
The terms "medical care" and "physician" are the key phrases in the statute. The language of
Neagle v. State Highway Department, Ky., 371 S.W.2d 630 (1963) 632, indicates that the court equates the term "medical" with "practice of medicine" , as defined in KRS 311.550. In subsection (9) of the latter statute it is written that the "practice of medicine or osteopathy" does not include the practice of denistry as defined in KRS 313.010. In addition, KRS 311.550(10) defines "physician" as a doctor of medicine or a doctor of osteopathy.
It is our opinion that the statute, KRS 441.010, in using the terms "medical care" and "physician" does not include the practice of denistry. Therefore even if this oral surgery was necessary and could not be postponed until after confinement without hazard, the statute simply does not include the practice of denistry. Under this reasoning the certificate of a medical doctor [practitioner under KRS Ch. 311] that such oral surgery could not be postponed would be of no efficacy, since his statement of necessity would refer to dental practice, not medical practice.
The practice of denistry is indeed an important and vital profession in connection with personal health, but unfortunately the statute was not written to include the practice of denistry.