In City of Revere v. Massachusetts General Hospital, 463 U.S. 239 (1983), the Court considered whether the Constitution affects the allocation of costs for medical care. The Court explained that as long as the governmental entity ensures that the medical care needed is in fact provided, the Constitution does not dictate how the cost of that care should be allocated as between the entity and the provider of the care. That is a matter of state law. Id. at 245. The Court stated that nothing we say here affects any right a hospital or governmental entity may have to recover from a detainee the cost of the medical services provided to him. Id. at n.7. In City of Revere, police officers shot and wounded a suspect, whom they brought to Massachusetts General Hospitals (MGH) emergency room for medical treatment. 463 U.S. at 240-41. MGH sent the Chief of Police of Revere a bill for the cost of the medical services it rendered the suspect, and subsequently sued Revere in state court to recover on the unpaid bill. Id. at 241. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court had held that the Eighth Amendment required that Revere be liable to the hospital for the medical services rendered. Id. The Supreme Court reversed, explaining that the injured detainees constitutional right is to receive the needed medical treatment; how the city of Revere obtains such treatment is not a federal constitutional question. Id. at 245.