CHAPTER 91
LEVY COURTS OF KENT AND SUSSEX COUNTIES AN ACT for the relief of the indigent sick of Kent and Sussex Counties.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
Section 1. Beginning July 1, 1925 the Levy Court of Kent County is hereby authorized and directed to appropriate and set aside the sum of Four Thousand Dollars ($4,000.00) annually and the Levy Court of Sussex County is hereby authorized and directed to appropriate and set aside the sum of Four Thou- sand Dollars ($4,000.00) annually, to provide Hospital treatment and care for the indigent sick of said respective counties.
Section 2. All Hospitals in Kent and Sussex Counties are hereby authorized in their discretion to accept, treat and care for the indigent sick of both of said Counties.
Section 3. Said Hospitals shall keep correct records of such indigent sick upon forms prescribed by said Levy Courts respectively. Such forms shall show the name and place of residence of each indigent sick person, the day each patient was received and discharged, the disease or injury treated and the expense incident to such treatment and such other facts as said Levy Courts respectively shall require. Said Hospitals shall keep their lists of indigent sick who are residents of Kent County on one form and of those who are residents of Sussex County on another form and said Hospitals shall transmit monthly to the Levy Court of Kent County its list or form covering the indigent sick of Kent County who have been cared for and treated and shall likewise transmit to the Levy Court of Sussex County its list or form covering the indigent sick residents of Sussex County who have been cared for and treated. Said respective Levy Courts are hereby authorized and directed to carefully examine said lists and forms and shall have full power to make proper inquiry concerning the same, to examine the accounts of said Hospitals with respect to such indigent sick, to visit said Hospitals for the purpose of ascertaining whether such indigent sick are receiving proper care and to investigate whether or not such patients are in fact indigent and unable to pay their Hospital bills or any part thereof. When said Levy Courts respectively shall have approved said lists such approval shall be certified thereon in writing. Said Levy Courts shall respectively have the power to amend or correct said lists or any of them in their discretion. When said lists shall have been received and approved as aforesaid the said Levy Courts are hereby respectively authorized and directed to pay the amounts due said Hospitals respectively as shown by said lists provided that the total amount paid in any one year, namely from July 1st to June 30th next ensuing shall not exceed the sum of Four Thousand Dollars ($4,000.00) for Kent County or the sum of Four Thousand Dollars ($4,000.00) for Sussex County and provided further that no indigent patient receiving the benefits of this Act shall be charged for at a higher rate than $3 per diem nor shall any such indigent patient receive aid provided for under this Act, during any one sickness, for a longer period than 42 days except in extraordinary cases where the nature of the patients illness or injury shall render it impossible to remove such patient from the Hospital at the expiration of said 42 days in which case the Hospital shall transmit to the Levy Court a full written statement showing the nature of the patient's illness or injury and certifying that the patient is indigent and could not be safely removed at the end of said 42 days ; if the Levy Court to which the bill for such last mentioned indigent sick patient is to be presented shall approve an exemption of Hospital treatment beyond said 42 days it shall notify said Hospital to that effect and shall indicate in writing how long it will approve of such treatment beyond said 42 day period.
The Levy Courts of said Counties shall not expend respectively under this Act for the months of July, August and September in each year more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) ; nor for the months of October, November and December more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) in addition to any sum which may be unused out of the first mentioned One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) ; nor for the months of January, February and March more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) in addition to any sums which may be unused for the six months before mentioned ; nor for April, May and June more than the sum of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) in addition to what may be unused for the nine months before mentioned; the purpose of the provisions of this paragraph being to distribute the funds provided for by this Act as equitably as possible throughout the fiscal year and to guard against the expenditure of the entire annual fund during the first few months of the fiscal year.
The Levy Court of Sussex County shall not pay, under this Act, to Hospitals located in Kent County a total sum greater than Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000.00) annually ; nor shall the Levy Court of Kent County pay, under this Act, to Hospitals located in Sussex County a total sum greater than Two Thou- sand Dollars ($2,000.00) annually.
Section 4. The term indigent sick as used in this Act shall be construed to mean persons who are either wholly or partly unable to pay their Hospital expenses but before any person shall be classified as indigent under this Act he or she, or if physically unable his or her nearest responsible relative or guardian, shall execute an affidavit which shall be signed and sworn to before a Notary Public certifying that such patient is in fact indigent, which affidavit shall contain a brief statement of facts showing that such patient is indigent. Each Hospital treating indigent sick under this Act shall keep such affidavits in a separate file and they shall be subject to examination by said respective Levy Courts. The bills and lists sent by said Hospitals to said Levy Courts shall first be sworn to before a Notary Public by the proper officer of each Hospital. The Notary fee for the affidavits required by this Section shall not be in excess of ten cents (10c) for each such affidavit.
Section 5. All Acts and parts of Acts inconsistent here- with are hereby repealed.
Approved April 9, A. D. 1925.