Fitch

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, James Humes, Senior Assistant Attorney General, John H. Sanders, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and John Venegas, Deputy Attorney General, for Claimant and Appellant.

Andrews & Hensleigh and Joseph Andrews, Los Angeles, for Plaintiffs and Respondents, Dianne Fitch, as Guardian ad Litem for David Jay Fitch and Kaci Dee Fitch and Bonnie Ann Fitch, individually.

GAUT, J.

When Medi-Cal has provided medical services to an indigent beneficiary, can the California Department of Health Services (Department) obtain reimbursement from the recovery made by the beneficiary's survivors in a wrongful death action? The short answer is, yes.

Nearly 10 years ago, Elan Jay Fitch died in September 1993 at age 43 leaving a wife and three children. As required by state and federal law, the Department, on behalf of California taxpayers, must seek reimbursement for the cost of medical services provided to the decedent. We hold reimbursement is recoverable from the settlements and judgment obtained by decedent's survivors in their wrongful death action. We reverse the trial court's ruling striking the Department's Medi-Cal lien.

In 1995, on behalf of the three…