CopyPublished | Supreme Court of Florida | 12 Fla. L. Weekly 48, 1987 Fla. LEXIS 1376
...shed by three statutory provisions: (1) article XIII, section 3, of the 1885 Florida Constitution, presently a statute as interpreted in Cleary v. Dade County,
160 Fla. 892,
37 So.2d 248 (1948); (2) section
154.302, Florida Statutes (1981); and, (3) section
155.16, Florida Statutes (1981)....
...We reject American's argument that section
154.302 has the broader legislative purpose of placing a general financial duty for indigent medical care on each of Florida's counties. We find no such legislative intent in chapter 154. Finally, considering the enactment of section
155.16, we conclude again that the legislature did not intend to impose a duty for indigent medical care on the counties....
...For instance, section
155.03 states: "[N]othing herein shall require the board of county commissioners to expend any funds of the county in the maintenance of such hospital or the administration of such trust." §
155.05, Fla. Stat. (1985). With such a provision in the chapter, it would be totally unreasonable to find that section
155.16 expresses legislative intent to create a duty on all counties....