The employer shall provide necessary first aid, medical, surgical, and hospital services, or other suitable and proper care including medical and surgical supplies, apparatus, artificial members, and body aids during the disability or treatment of an employee within the provisions of this title. Repair or replacement of damaged prosthetic devices is compensable and is considered a medical service under this section if the devices were damaged or destroyed in a work related accident. Repair or replacement of damaged hearing aids, dentures, prescription eyeglasses, eyeglass frames, or contact lenses is considered a medical service under this section if the hearing aids, dentures, prescription eyeglasses, eyeglass frames, or contact lenses were damaged or destroyed in an accident which also causes another injury which is compensable under this law. The employee shall have the initial selection to secure the employee's own physician, surgeon, or hospital services at the employer's expense. If the employee selects a health care provider located in a community not the home or workplace of the employee, and a health care provider is available to provide the services needed by the employee in the local community or in a closer community, no travel expenses need be paid by the employer or the employer's insurer.
S.D. Codified Laws § 62-4-1
Medical and hospital expense
Applied in 19 court decisions — leading case Hanson v. Penrod Construction Co. (1988)
Most recently applied in Pham v. Smithfield Foods (July 2025)
Source: SDC 1939, § 64.0401; SL 1939, ch 297, § 1; SL 1943, ch 314; SL 1949, ch 442; SL 1951, ch 468; SL 1959, ch 455; SL 1963, ch 458; SL 1965, ch 305; SL 1969, ch 285; SL 1970…
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: South Dakota Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Dakota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.