South Australian Consolidated Acts

FAMILY AND COMMUNITY SERVICES ACT 1972 - SECT 117

117—Order for payment of medical and like expenses

        (1)         Where the Magistrates Court, upon application made by or on behalf of any person for whose maintenance an order is for the time being in existence, is satisfied—

            (a)         that any medical, surgical, psychiatric, dental, hospital or nursing care or treatment by way of physiotherapy or chiropractic is or was reasonably required in respect of that person; and

            (b)         that the financial position of that person is and has been such as to preclude the person from making provision for or towards the cost of that care or treatment; and

            (c)         that the person against whom the order was made has not made adequate provision for or towards that cost and it is just and equitable in all the circumstances of the case that he or she pay, or contribute towards, that cost,

the court may order the person against whom the order was made to pay to the applicant or to the Chief Executive Officer for or towards that cost such amount as it thinks reasonable.

        (2)         For the purposes of subsection (1)—

"medical care" includes—

            (a)         the supply of medicines, skiagrams, artificial limbs, eyes or teeth, crutches, splints, spectacles and other medical and surgical aids and curative appliances or apparatus including necessary renewals or replacements of them; and

            (b)         transport by a vehicle to a hospital or other place for medical examination or medical treatment and where necessary, transport from the hospital or place on the return journey.

        (3)         For the purposes of this section, but without limiting the generality of its application—

            (a)         a child under the age of three months in respect of whose birth an order for the payment of preliminary expenses has been made under this Act and is in existence; and

            (b)         a person in respect of whom an order for the payment of a merely nominal amount is in existence,

will be taken to be persons for whose maintenance an order is in existence.

        (4)         Where an order is made under this section for the payment of money for or towards the cost of any care or treatment referred to in subsection (1), the court may, at any time, give such directions in writing as the court thinks proper for the disbursement of the amount ordered to be paid but so that no money is disbursed before the care or treatment to which the payment relates has been rendered.