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Suits By Public Hospitals To Recover Expenditures For The Treatment Of Disease, Injury And Disability Caused By Tobacco And Alcohol, Raymond E. Gangarosa, Frank J. Vandall, Brian M. Willis

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Public hospitals are forced to absorb many of the costs of treating indigent patients whose alcohol and tobacco consumption has predictably lead to illness. This is contradictory to hospital's own interests in preventing disease, improving the efficiency of therapy and minimizing their financial losses. The goal of this article is to examine the possibility of reassigning these coasts through litigation. A cause of action should be available to public hospitals to recover their expenditures for the uncompensated medical treatment that is necessitated by alcohol and tobacco use. Such litigation in Mississippi and similar Florida legislation should serve as a model …