The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-10-09
MANY UNFIT MEN ARE PASSED INTO
 ARMY BY BOARD
Medical Examiners Subject of Great Criticism for Evi- dent Lack of Judg-
 ment and Care

AuNAkC SAAtA O0l V
 | London, September 30.-"What consti- tutes physical fitness for army service?'' l This is a question that many thousands 1 of Englshmen are asking now and SC far no one has been able to give a sat isfactory answer. The reason is that every medical board which passes men for service under the compulsory service l act seems to have different standard. One can tell pretty we'll if he knows what board he is going before whether he will be accepted or rejected, and in some cases a man unless he is so crip- pied that he has to be wheeled before the board in an invalids chair may be pretty certain that he will find himself l in khaki in the shortest possible time. The notorious of all the medical boards for passing unfit men is that at Mill hill, ont the outskirts of London. It must be said on it's behalf that it is probably overworked, for it is one of the busiest
 boards in the country. It passes men for the whole of the county of Niddlesex which includes a large part of London itself, and all the thickly populated dis trtct around 1t on the north and west. Whatever the reason is Mill hill has
 earned the reputation of passing the 1 Ia and the halt and the blind into the army, and thus filling the army hos pitals with unfit men who only occupy beds that might be reserved for useful fighting material. Hardly a day passes that one or other of the London exemp- tion tribunals does not denounce Mill hill for passing in men who are obviously un- fit and who are, therefore, exempted by the tribunals on appeal
 LACK OF UNIFORMITY
 The lack of uniformity in the work Of the medical boards is illustrated by the cases of two men in one office. One had just recovered from over years se- were illness, starting with rheumatic fe- Yer and winding up with a grave heart attack. He was summoned for service and his own doctor told him that a week in the army would kill him. These facts were laid before the Mill hill board, which, after putting him through a most perfunctory examination, passed him for general service abroad, which means the most arduous military duty. Of course, he appealed, and the result of his appeal was that he was exempted totally from service as medically unfit. The other case was that of a man in the pink of physical condition who had never had q days illness in his life He did not go before the Mill hill board. He had the shock of his life when he was told after his medical examination that the army did not want him, and he had visions of some dread secret disease. He asked why he was rejected and he was told that the reason was that he was only feet, 11A inches In height.
 A typical Mill hill case described in the London newspapers the other day was that or piano tuner who had all his life been such an invalid that it was difficult for him to keep a job for any length of time. He was passed for gen. eral service and he appealed, presenting certificates from his own doctor and from Sir James Mackenzie, a famous special ist, that he was utterly unfit for sol diering. The military representative suggested that he should be sent back for re-examination. The tribunal refused, the chairman saying that he did not see why the man should be put to the trou- ble of going to Mill hill again. From instances which we have had from Mill hill," he said, I've know that a great many of these examinations are not proper examinations at all" The man was totally exempted and in another case the chairman accused the Mill hill doctors of absolutely playing the fool"
 WASTE OF FUNDS
 Apart altogether from the inconye nience and real suffering caused to the Individuals the country is put to heavy unnecessary expense by the acceptance O. unfit men. As soon as they pass into the army they are entitled to, and re- ceive, the best of food clothing and medical care. The most of them do a few days duty, then report sick and are sent at once into hospital where they remain for months, perhaps, before they are invalided out of the army One of the finest military hospitals in London has been turned into special hospital Tor the treatment of soldiers heart" and I am told that 70 per cent of the patients have only a few weeks of sery- Ice to their credit. They are men who obviously ought not to have been &C., cepted. A member of the nursing staff Cescribed them recently as collection of all the hooligans in the army, and this remark was eloquent of the class they were drawn from. Most of them are the victims of underfeeding and slum condi- tons and the last material in the world out of which soldiers can be made
 Another evil of the system is the crop of rumors it brings. Thousands of people Tn London are firmly of the opinion that Britain is so hard up for men that the doctors have been ordered to pass any thing that can walk. but that this is not so is shown by the action of other medical boards in rejecting men for some slight imperfection which in no way inn pairs their value as soldiers. Mill hill is rot the only medical board which is pass ing unfit men, but it is the one which has been subject to the most criticism What is needed is some standard of fit ness set up by the supreme army medical authorities which the examining doctors will have to work to. and to which every recruit passed must conform. It must be remembered that the great majority of the army doctors today are men z:So have no army experience and really know little of what is expected from a soldier. Many of them, too are young men just out of college, who have much to learn of the actual practice of their profession. and who are apt to take an unsympathetc view of the ailments of men who look outwardly fairly fit
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