Massachusetts General Laws Part I. Administration of the Government (Ch. 1-182) Ch. 111, § 69I

A person, his executor, or administrator, shall be liable in contract for such charges except that persons in receipt of public assistance shall have their responsibility for payment of such charges fixed in accordance with the provisions of the particular category of assistance under which they are aided. Persons or kindred bound by law to support such needy persons, not eligible for public assistance, shall be assessed in accordance with a schedule approved by the department. In all proceedings under this section, the sworn written statement of a person that he is the superintendent of the hospital or that he keeps or has custody of records relating to inmates thereof, and that a person has been a duly admitted patient therein during a stated period at a stated charge, and that said charge has not been paid in whole or in part, and the sworn written statement of an official of the hospital or department that notice of admission of the said patient was given on a stated date to the department of transitional assistance, that the charges for support of said patient were determined pursuant to the provisions of section sixty-nine H, and that no satisfactory security was given for his support, shall be prima facie evidence of the said facts.