(A) Pursuant to I.C. 36-8-11-27, a Fire Protection District shall pay for the care of a full-time, paid firefighter who suffers any of the following during the performance of the firefighter’s duties:
(1) An injury; or
(2) Contracts an illness.
(B) The Fire Protection District shall pay for the following expenses incurred by a firefighter described in division (A) above:
(1) Medical and surgical care;
(2) Medicines and laboratory, curative, and palliative agents and means;
(3) X-ray, diagnostic, and therapeutic service, including service provided during the recovery period; and
(4) Hospital and special nursing care, if the physician or surgeon in charge considers it necessary for proper recovery.
(C) (1) Expenditures required in division (A) above shall be paid from the fund used by the Fire Protection District for payment of costs attributable to providing fire protection services in the Fire Protection District.
(2) The Fire Protection District may purchase insurance or other instruments to offset the responsibility as described herein.
(D) (1) A Fire Protection District that has paid for the care of a firefighter under division (A) above has a cause of action for reimbursement of the amount paid under division (A) above against any third party against whom the firefighter has a cause of action for:
(a) An injury sustained because of a third party; or
(b) An illness caused by a third party.
(2) The Fire Protection District’s cause of action under this subchapter is in addition to, and not instead of, the cause of action of the firefighter against the third party.
(Ord. 2019-12, passed 4-23-2019)