Chap. 391.—An ACT to amend and reenact Section 1, as amended, of Chapter
287 of the Acts of Assembly of 1932, approved March 24, 1932, creating certain
liens in favor of hospitals, physicians and nurses. {S 177]

Approved April 1, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That section one, as amended, of chapter two hundred eighty-
seven of the Acts of Assembly of nineteen hundred thirty-two, approved
March twenty-four, nineteen hundred thirty-two, be amended and re-
enacted as follows:

Section 1. Whenever any person sustains personal injuries caused
by the alleged negligence of another and receives treatment in any
hospital, public or private, or receives medical attention or treatment
from any physician, or receives nursing service or care from any reg-
istered nurse in this State, such hospital, physician or nurse shall each
have a lien for the amount of a just and reasonable charge for the service
rendered, but not exceeding five hundred dollars in the case of a hospital,
one hundred dollars for all physicians and one hundred dollars in the
case of all nurses, on the claim of such injured person or of his personal
representatives, against the person, firm or corporation whose negligence
is alleged to have caused such injuries, unless the injured person, his
personal representatives or members of his family, is paid under the
provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, but such lien shall be
of inferior dignity to the claim or lien of the attorney or attorneys of
such injured person or of his personal representatives for professional
services for representing such injured person or his personal represen-
tatives in his claim or suit for damages for such personal injuries. Any
municipal corporation or any person, firm or corporation who may pay
such charges, shall be subrogated to the lien provided for by this act.

Provided, however, that in cases of personal injuries resulting in
death and settlement therefor by compromise or suit under the provisions
of sections fifty-seven hundred and eighty-six-fifty-seven hundred
ninety, inclusive of the Code, the liens herein provided for may be
asserted against the recovery, or against the general estate of the
decedent, but not both. If asserted against the recovery and paid, such
liens shall attach pro rata to the amounts received respectively by such
beneficiaries as are designated to receive the moneys distributed and in
their respective amounts; and such beneficiaries, or the personal repre-
sentative for their benefit, shall be subrogated to the liens against the
estate of such decedent provided for by section fifty-three hundred
ninety of the Code.