S.D. Supreme Court rules against Avera in indigent care dispute

Sully County denied payment for emergency services provided to Mexican national

The Sully County Commission was within its legal rights to reject a petition by Avera Health to pay for the emergency medical services of a nonresident, the South Dakota Supreme Court ruled.

The unanimous 5-0 decision upholds a lower court finding that Sully County was not statutorily required to pay for the care of J.R., a Mexican national who was working on a visa. Both courts leaned on a 1918 South Dakota Supreme Court decision in which more than two dozen men were injured in a train accident in Hutchinson County and then transported to a Yankton County hospital for care.

J.R. had been a seasonal greenskeeper at the Sutton Bay Golf Resort for a decade, working there six months out of the year when, in 2014, he required emergency care for appendicitis. He was taken to Avera S. Mary’s Hospital in Hughes County, however he was not taken by ambulance. Following his treatment, he returned to Mexico without paying his medical bills.

Avera sought reimbursement from Sully County under state indigent care laws. The Sully County Commission denied Avera, citing J.R. as a nonresident. Avera appealed, and a circuit court judge ordered the commission to conduct a more detailed haring.

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