| OCR Text |
Show 1ST Of HCAL ID SURGICAL RELIEF ' FOR DISABLED HEROES OF WORLD 1R ! SMILE CAPTIVATES QUEEN I I How the Bureau of War Risk Insurance Is Meeting the Herculean ! Problem of Examining, Rating and Returning to Physical Usefulness Minds and Bodies Wrecked in the Great European War. i V ' ; Vv ' K f ;r v t: A V ;: 7 ? or an aggravation of a pre-existing injury. in-jury. Appears After Discharge. A large number of cases are on record rec-ord in which the man was discharged as in good condition, and within a few days was found to be suffering from serious trouble which was of such a nature as to make it absolutely certain cer-tain that it existed prior to his separation sepa-ration from the service. For this reason rea-son it is not practical for the medical division to accept at their face value the reports of discharge boards. This Is especially true when there is an absence of data. Then, too, there is the question of those disabilities which appear some time after the man's separation from the service. Here it is necessary to call upon the adjutant general and the surgeon general for the man's medical record while in the service. This sometimes throws considerable light upon the question of determining whether military service had aggravated aggra-vated what would otherwise have been a very obscure condition. In every ev-ery case the burden of proof is on the government, and the man is always given the benefit of the doubt. Handle 5,000 Cases a Day. Nearly the entire eighth floor of the Arlington building in Washington is occupied by the medical division of the bureau of war risk insurance. The function of this division is to pass upon the medical aspects of claims made against the government under Washington The war I'.as brought the government face to face with a brand new series of problems. Long before the armistice was signed, congress con-gress foresaw some of the necessities of the situation and, starting from the broad-angled viewpoint that a man who has been injured in the service of his country is not an object of charity but a person who is entitled to compensation and medical relief exactly as is the man who suffers a hurt at the hands of industry, a wise legislative program was inaugurated. This contemplates that the director of the bureau of war risk insurance shall take all the necessary measures to insure that every person who contracted con-tracted a disease or suffered an in-Jury in-Jury in military service in the line of duty during the war with Germany shall be recompensed therefor, and that he shall receive such medical and surgical attention which will return re-turn him to health, or at least shall bring him the maximum relief possible possi-ble in his particular case. Furthermore; should this ex-soldier, Bailor or marine have lost a limb or eye, or suffered any hurt for which a mechanical device may be necessary, neces-sary, that such apparatus shall be furnished fur-nished him without cost. In furtherance further-ance of this plan congress has enacted en-acted enabling legislation and at present pres-ent is considering a bill which, will further elucidate its purpose in this regard. National in Scope. The beautiful curls and sweet fact-of fact-of little Corlis Theresa Nolan, who sat with her father, Representative John I. Nolan, on the floor of the house while that body was receiving King Albert, attracted Queen Elizabeth Eliza-beth in the gallery. When the little girl waved and smiled gayly at her highness the queen asked an introduction. intro-duction. She kissed the child on each cheek and asked where she was from. When little Corlis proudly claimed California as her home the queen said : "Oh, so it was you that brought the sunshine." incident to their military service ; almost al-most 15 per cent were the victims of tuberculosis, and not quite 11 per cent were afflicted with temporary or permanent per-manent mental disorders ; about 4 per cent were gassed ; 6 per cent had respiratory res-piratory affections other than tuberculosis, tuber-culosis, and 2'per cent were paralyzed. About 17,000 of these cases have been treated in hospitals and about 7,000 men are undergoing hospital treatment at the present time. It should be borne in mind that these cases represent less than 1 per cent of the total number of men in service during the war with Germany. The total strength of the army, navy and marine corps to November 11, 10.18, was 4,791,172. All of these are potentially patients of the bureau of war risk insurance. It is estimated at the present tin. that at least 041,000 men were discharged dis-charged from military' service with some disability. Estimates which have been prepared hy the chief medical med-ical adviser on 513,500 of these men show that about 25 per cent of these cases of disability are due to diseases of the nervous system or mental a"en-ation a"en-ation about 70,000 cases. Thirteen per cent suffer from diseases of the circulatory system and almost 13 percent per-cent from diseases of the bones and organs of locomotion, and at least 9 per cent, or about 46,000, have tuberculosis. the war insurance act ; to supervise the medical and surgical treatment of those discharged sick and disabled soldiers, sol-diers, sailors 'and ' aarines who are in need of such services ; to arrange their hospitalization ; to secure for them the artificial limbs and other prosthetic appliances which they may require ; to secure physical examinations ex-aminations of these claimants and to prepare the certificates of disability which will be a protection in years to come, even though they may not be in need of compensation or medical and surgical attention at the present time. More than 5,000 cases pass through the medical division every working day, action being had on one case every four seconds. When the case reaches the section to which it is routed, it is carefully reviewed by medical officers of the United States public health service specially trained in such work. Variety in Demands. In one instance it is necessary to rate the degree of disability; in another, an-other, to order an artificial arm ; in another, to pay a bill for the repair of teeth ; this patient Is to be admitted to a sanatorium ; that unfortunate boy whose reason has been rocked by the thundering engine ? of war must be committed to an i? stitution. Here the mother of an epileptic requires a consoling con-soling letter; there some officer in the field must be informed regarding the special needs in some particular case. The cases pass to the various sections sec-tions for action, and from them back to the mail room and to the other divisions di-visions in the bureau for such further action as may be necessary. It will be readily understood that one handling han-dling does not suffice for a given case. Each must be gone over many, many times, and will be gone over many, many more times in the succeeding years. 107,000 Taken Care Of. This explains why, although more than 5,000 cases are being administered adminis-tered each day, only some 107,000 different dif-ferent individuals have been the recipients re-cipients of the ministrations of the medical division. Of these, more than IS per cent were suffering from wounds There is a man in Washington who sits all day long facing a gigantic map of the United States. On it is shown every railroad, town and hamlet ham-let of the nation. Colored pins locate the hospitals, dispensaries, medical and surgical consultants and examiners, examin-ers, all of this being the vast field machinery ma-chinery which the government has put In motion to relieve suffering, prolong life, and return to efficiency the men and women whose minds or bodies may have been broken in humanity's war. Some one asked this officer why he always sat facing this gigantic map, why he lifted his eyes to it so many times during the day? The answer was : "So that I may always keep before be-fore tme the fact that the problem is national in its scope and can be solved only by the maximum breadth of vision." When congress passed the war risk Insurance act little did anyone dream of its far-reaching effect. No human brain could have foreseen fore-seen the multitudinous variety of ways in which this beneficent measure would touch the lives and happiness of thousands of Americans. Much Detail Involved. At first glance the problem appears easy. If a discharged soldier, sailor, marine, army or navy nurse, yeoman yeo-man (f) or marinette, can show that, he or she received an injury in service or suffered an aggravation of a preexisting pre-existing injury or disease, then compensation com-pensation and medical and surgical treatment, if necessary, must inevitably inev-itably follow. If it were so simple as this, every one of these persons would be able to arrange bis compensation immediately upon his discharge from the military forces, and it would be unnecessary for the government to employ special examiners and a corps of medical specialists in order to administer ad-minister the act with justice to the beneficiaries and to the government. But such is not the case. In the first place, it must be shown that a claimant was actually in the military or naval forces of the United States. Secondly, that he suffered an injury Humanity in the Raw. To follow up a series of these cases through the division and see the way In which they are handled is to t-ome Into intimate contact with humanity in the raw. Within the brick-red fiber folder with its scarlet edge are encompassed the records of the most important happenings of many a life Here are certificates of birth, tannage tan-nage and death, records of military service, reports of physical examinations, examina-tions, treatments received, operations j performed, and letters from parents, j wives, relatives and friends. In fact, i it would be possible to write the coin-: coin-: plete biography of many a man from the data collected in this one small ; space. ; Side by side, and handled in exaet-!.v exaet-!.v the same way, are the cases of col- onels, captains, corporals; white men, I colored men and Indians; men who know no English men who are illiterate, illiter-ate, and men who have received their : education at the finest institutions of i learning in the world.- The case of a 1 "marinette" is beside that of a major ma-jor general, while that of a nurse Is j next in order to thnt of a private whom : she nursed back to life. They have, I however, one thing in common: they j have suffered a hurt in the service of j their country. Very seldom indeed do ; they try to get more than their just ! dues, and many times they slate that they do not wish compensation, all that they require being an opportunity i to be cured of their diseases or healed ! of their wounds, so that they may pur-: pur-: sue again their peacetime avocation. ! Approximately 3.S00 major amputations amputa-tions have occurred as a result of the j war with Germany. Up to September 10, 1910. there were exactly 1,200 claims for artificial limbs. Of these, 021 were artifice Icl'S and fiTO were artificial urin |
