Maritime Overseas Corp. v. United States

MEMORANDUM DECISION, FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

In March of 1972, Carter C. Turner (Turner), a seaman aboard the SS Overseas Ulla, fell ill. The vessel, owned and operated by Maritime Overseas Corporation (Maritime) under a time charter to the United States, was in port at Sasebo, Japan. The Master of the vessel telephoned to the United States Naval Dispensary at Sasebo, and arranged for Turner to be transported to and treated or examined at, the Dispensary.

The Dispensary, although not a Naval Hospital, had 40 beds, and ordinarily about seven doctors and six nurses. Its purpose was to treat Navy personnel on a relatively short term basis. Patients requiring care over a period of more than 72 hours were customarily sent on a rather long journey to a Naval Hospital elsewhere. Unlike Public Health Service Hospitals located in the United States whose services are required to be provided to American seamen without charge ( 42 U.S.C. § 249 ), Navy facilities may, but need not, provide services to certain non-Navy patients, and, if provided, a charge is required to be made ( 24 U.S.C. § 34 ).

The Master had a choice among several Japanese hospitals and the Naval…