COL. FORBES: stated that if there is a question of doubt, the man is to be given the benefit of the doubt and his hospitalization continued; that if it believed that the disability is not due to service, the officer is to be guided strictly by Regulation 27, and he should inform the District Manager; that the Sweet Bill provides very liberally for the care and treatment of ex-service men, and that he would see that everyone present received a copy of the Sweet Bill, a copy of the Vocational acts, and the original War Risk Act and its amendments; that he wanted all to read them very carefully. He added that it is the medical advice and decisions that the Bureau has to depend upon regarding the care and treatment of the men.
DR. SNELL, (N.H.D.V.S.) asked if a man should be hospitalized if he presented himself to Dwight, Illinois, for example, but his disability was not of service origin.
COL. FORBES: said that the man is to be hospitalized, and his case determined later; that is he has a contagious disease the city will take care of him.
COL. FORBES: called upon Surgeon Quick (P.H.S.)
SURGEON QUICK: stated that he was connected with a Marine Hospital, which did not take T.B. or N.P. cases; that the patients were beneficiaries of the Veterans’ Bureau and were mostly of the surgical type; and that he felt there was very little he could add to what had already been brought to the attention of the gentlemen present. He stated that he believed the large percentage of medical men would agree that rehabilitation was more of a medical matter than an educational one.
He also expressed himself as being in favor of the dispensary plan for the Districts; but added that he felt there must be a great deal of cooperation between the District Managers and the Medical Officers in hospitals; also, that medical officers in dispensaries should use a great deal of judgment in referring cases to the attending specialists.
COL. FORBES: said that that was a medical question; that the District Medical Officers should go the limit in providing hospital care if in their judgment it is the proper thing to do.
COL. BRATTON: stating that he had charge of the Army and Navy General Hospital at Hot Springs, spoke concerning the discharging of patients from government hospitals by reason of disorderly conduct. He stated that when such men were discharged they were not granted transportation to their homes, and therefore became nuisances to the community there.
COL. FORBES: stated that there is a General Order providing for the payment of such transportation.
COL. FORBES: inquired of this officer regarding the paper work of his hospital.