Alford

The Legislature, in Welfare and Institutions Code section 17000, requires that “[ejvery county and every city and county shall relieve and support all incompetent, poor, indigent persons, and those incapacitated by age, disease, or accident, lawfully resident therein, when such persons are not supported and relieved by their relatives or friends, by their own means, or by state hospitals or other state or private institutions.” (Italics added.)

The California Supreme Count has interpreted this statute as imposing a mandatory duty to provide a system of “last resort” subsistence medical care, a level of care which does not lead to unnecessary suffering or endanger life and health, to all medically indigent residents who do not have the financial ability to pay all or some of the costs of such treatment and are not eligible for other state or federal aid—in most cases, the “working poor.” (Hunt v. Superior Court (1999) 21 Cal.4th 984, 1012-1015 [ 90 Cal.Rptr.2d 236 , 987 P.2d 705 ] (Hunt).)

In this case, thé trial court approved San Diego County’s (the County) financial eligibility standard for such medical care, which denies any services for individuals who earn more…