Facts
The respondent 1 (A.A.), a Swiss citizen with a hometown of Wetzikon/ZH, was at the time of her admission to the hospital on October 27, 2017 without a legal domicile for social assistance purposes. She entered the Cantonal Hospital Münsterlingen/TG from her then place of residence in Zuckenriet (political municipality of Niederhelfenschwil/SG), where she gave birth to her daughter B.A. (respondent 2) on the same day.
On February 5, 2018, Spital Thurgau AG submitted a request to the political municipality of Münsterlingen for subsidiary cost approval to cover the costs of the inpatient treatment of A.A. and B.A. for the period from October 27 to 31, 2017 and from November 1 to December 7, 2017. The Department of Finance and Social Affairs of the Canton of Thurgau upheld the appeals filed against this and instructed the political municipality of Münsterlingen to grant the subsidiary cost approval.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court confirmed the decision of the lower instance. It considered that in the absence of a legal domicile for social assistance purposes, the current place of residence is decisive according to Art. 12 para. 2 in conjunction with Art. 11 para. 1 of the Federal Act on the Responsibility for the Support of Persons in Need (ZUG). This also applies to "floating" persons who enter a hospital of their own accord and thus without assignment. An analogous application of Art. 9 para. 3 ZUG, according to which entry into a hospital does not terminate an existing legal domicile for social assistance purposes, is not possible, as…