Charity, an eighty$-$seven$-$year old widow, collapsed while shopping at a local grocery store. The Detroit police took her to the Detroit city hospital by ambulance. She was admitted and remained there for fourteen days. She was then transferred to another hospital, where she died eleven months later. She had never regained consciousness. After she died, the hospitals and the ambulance company filed a lawsuit against her estate to recover the expenses of the ambulance and her hospital stays.