Gilbert v. Commonwealth Cabinet for Health & Family Services

291 S.W.3d 712, 2008 Ky. App. LEXIS 43
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedFebruary 22, 2008
DocketNo. 2007-CA-000042-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 291 S.W.3d 712 (Gilbert v. Commonwealth Cabinet for Health & Family Services) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gilbert v. Commonwealth Cabinet for Health & Family Services, 291 S.W.3d 712, 2008 Ky. App. LEXIS 43 (Ky. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

ACREE, Judge.

John W. Gilbert, M.D., his wholly owned corporation, Physician Services, PSC (“Physician Services”), and his satellite offices operating under the assumed names of Open Stand-Up MRI of Florence, Open MRI of Hazard and Open MRI of London(collectively, “Dr. Gilbert”), appeal the Opinion and Order entered by the Franklin Circuit Court affirming the decision of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (“Cabinet”) finding Dr. Gilbert in violation of Kentucky Revised Statute (KRS) 216B.010, et seq., by operating health facilities with magnetic resonance imaging (“MRI”) services in London, Hazard and Florence without first obtaining a certificate of need (“CON”). For the following reasons, we affirm.

Kentucky’s Legislature long ago made a policy determination that

the proliferation of unnecessary healthcare facilities, health services and major medical equipment results in costly duplication and underuse of such facilities, services and equipment, and that such proliferation increases the cost of quality healthcare within the Commonwealth. KRS 216B.010.1 The Legislature further deemed it appropriate to regulate healthcare providers by requiring licensure of health facilities, services and equipment. KRS 216B.061.

Dr. Gilbert has never contested the fact that his facilities in Florence, London and Hazard, and the health services provided there are embraced by the chapter’s broad definitions of “health facility” and “health services.” KRS 216B.015(12), (13). However, he claims these facilities and services are exempt from licensure pursuant to KRS 216B.020(2)(a) which states

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to authorize the licensure, supervision, regulation, or control in any manner of:
(a) Private offices and clinics of physicians, dentists, and other practitioners of the healing arts[.]

Our review of this case, then, requires our proper construction of this statute, as well as an examination of the Cabinet’s fact-finding and its application of the statute to those facts. First, we construe the statute.

Statutory construction presents a question of law. Commonwealth v. Garnett, 8 S.W.3d 573, 575-76 (Ky.App.1999). The ultimate goal when construing a statute is to determine and effectuate the leg-[716]*716islature’s intent. KRS 446.080(1); Autozone, Inc. v. Brewer, 127 S.W.3d 653, 655 (Ky.2004). Neither we nor the Cabinet is at liberty to add to or to subtract from the legislative enactment nor to discover any meaning not reasonably ascertainable from the language used. Beckham v. Board of Education of Jefferson County, 873 S.W.2d 575, 577 (Ky.1994).

Although courts generally give great deference to an agency interpretation of statutes they are charged to administer, that deference will not permit an abdication of the court’s responsibility to finally construe the same statutes. In matters of statutory construction, the courts have the ultimate responsibility. Delta Air Lines, Inc. v. Commonwealth, Revenue Cabinet, 689 S.W.2d 14, 20 (Ky.1985).

But a statute is open to construction, whether by an agency or by the courts, only if the language used is ambiguous and requires interpretation. Auto-zone, 127 S.W.3d at 655. If the language is clear and unambiguous and if applying the plain meaning of the words would not lead to an absurd result, further interpretation is unwarranted. Id.; Overnite Transportation v. Gaddis, 793 S.W.2d 129, 131 (Ky.App.1990).

The Cabinet concluded that KRS 216B.020(2)(a) is not ambiguous. Relying on dictionary definitions of the individual words included in the statute, i.e., “private,” “of,” and “practitioner,” the Cabinet determined that

an “office or clinic” cannot be a “practitioner’s private office” if the physician owner does not actively practice at the “office or clinic.”

Dr. Gilbert agrees with the Cabinet that the statute is unambiguous. However, he disagrees with the Cabinet’s interpretation. He notes that, on its face, the statute includes no element of personal active participation by the physician who owns the practice. This is true. When we read the statute without regard to its context, Dr. Gilbert’s simpler interpretation of KRS 216B.020(2)(a) — an office owned by a physician — is just as reasonable as that of the Cabinet. We believe both interpretations are wrong.

When an undefined term contained in a statute admits of two mutually exclusive yet reasonable constructions, there is an ambiguity. See, e.g., Young v. Hammond, 139 S.W.3d 895, 910 (Ky.2004)(requiring the interpretation of the undefined term “qualified”); see also, Black’s Law Diotionary (8th ed.2004), ambiguity; and Blaok’s Law Diotionary 73 (5th ed.l979)(a term is “ambiguous” when “it is reasonably capable of being understood in more than one sense”). When that ambiguity does not appear on the face of the statute, but instead arises when the statutory term is applied, the ambiguity is latent.2 Whitley Whiz, Inc. v. Whitley County By and Through Whitley County Fiscal Court, 812 S.W.2d 149, 150-51 (Ky.1991).

Notwithstanding Dr. Gilbert’s assertion and the Cabinet’s determination to the contrary, and because KRS 216B.020(2)(a) admits of two reasonable constructions, we [717]*717find that the statutory subsection is latently ambiguous.

Although dictionary definitions can sometimes offer guidance, as they did for the Cabinet, such definitions are not conclusive. Once again, the overriding factor in the interpretation of any ambiguous term in a statute is the legislative intent. Commonwealth v. Plowman, 86 S.W.3d 47, 49 (Ky.2002).

Dr. Gilbert asserts, and we agree, that the Cabinet grafted onto KRS 216B.020

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Gilbert v. COM., CABINET FOR HEALTH
291 S.W.3d 712 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2008)

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291 S.W.3d 712, 2008 Ky. App. LEXIS 43, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gilbert-v-commonwealth-cabinet-for-health-family-services-kyctapp-2008.