Ochs v. Commissioner
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
195 F.2d 692 (2d Cir. 1952)
Samuel Ochs's (plaintiff) wife, diagnosed with throat cancer, was advised by a physician that she would not improve unless their two young children were separated from her, since speaking worsened her condition; Ochs enrolled the children in boarding school at significant expense until his wife recovered, then claimed the tuition as a medical-care tax deduction, which the Commissioner (defendant) denied as a personal family expense rather than a medical expense. The Tax Court agreed with the Commissioner, and Ochs appealed.
Whether boarding-school expenses incurred to separate a taxpayer's children from their medically ill spouse, on a physician's advice, qualify as a deductible medical-care expense rather than a nondeductible personal family expense.