The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1919-06-21
NEGLECTED SERVICE MEN
BY FREDERIC j, HAsKIN

Washington, June 21.-Thousands o
discharged soldiers and sailors in nee,
OF medical attention are not getting Ii
Men suffering from she'll shock hav'
been found wandering about the coun
| try dependent upon aims for a living
| Tubercular men who contracted tn,
disease in the service, are living in i'm
| poverished homes dependent upon tn,
| families they used to support. or are
trying to earn their own living. Many
of them have died of neglect.
These men whom the United State!
owes every care that medical science
! can give them, but who are not receiv.
ing any care at all. are scattered al
| over the country. That they have no.
been better cared for Is due partly Il
their own ignorance Of their rights, anG
partly to the fact soldiers have beer
discharged more rapidly than facilities
could be prepared to care for the sick
ones.
The Public Health Service, which is
charged with the duty Of giving nedi-
cal attention to discharged soldiers
sailors and marines. is Just now getting
into action a complete new national or
ganlzation to find and care for these
men. In this work it needs the help
OF the men themselves, and of every
one who knows of discharged men who
suffered sickness or injury in the serv-
ice. and have not received proper medi-
Cdl attention..
The great trouble seems to be that
many men who left the service with
shattered health do not realize that
congress has passed q law compelling
the United States government to pro-
vide them with the best medical atten-
ton.
Other cases of neglect are due to the
fact that the local medical examiners
employed by the war risk board and
the public health service have not al
ways diagnosed cases correctly. These
medic9l examiners are simply local doc
tors, employed hurriedly. The Public
Health Service is now engaged in weed
ing out the inefficients, but many Of
them have already done harm. They
have turned away men suffering from
tuberculosis because they could not
recognize the disease. other men who
had contracted tuberculosis in the serv-
Ice were turned away when they ap-
piled for compensation and medical
treatment, because they were working.
II man could work, 1t was argued.
he was not disabled. Many of these
men had to work or starve.
All of these injustices the Public
Health Service is now anxious to cor
rect. ANY discharged service man who
is suffering from sickness or injury in
Cured during service and who has not
received satisfaction from the local
medical inspector is requested to COM
municate with the district supervisor of
the Public Health Service.
The Public Health officials are espe-
cially anxious to get in touch with
discharged service men who are suf-
fering from tuberculosis contracted dur
ing their terms of service. 1t is known
that many of these men. have not been
cared for. In the southwest.
where numerous palatial sanitoria are
for rich patients, tubercular
service men have been put into inferior
hospitals and even into hotel rooms.
the government would not
pay the prices asked by the private
sanatoria, and sometimes the sanatoria
fatty refused to accommodate the SOL
der patients. But the Public Health
Service is now building and fitting up
special tubercular sanatoria of it's own
and will soon be in a position to care
for large number of patients.
Next to the tuberculars, the psyche
pathic cases seem to have been the
worst sufferers. The man who comes
nome with leg missing is easily iden-
.ified as incapacitated by even the most
of doctors, and he gets a
wooden leg and his compensation. But
man who is suffering from some ner-
1ous trouble may seem perfectly healthy
o country doctor who knows nothing
bout such neuroses. Many men who
we're unable to work. and even on the |
'erge of insanity, have thus been re-
used medical attention and compensa-
ion. The case is related of Spanish |
amily in New Mexico. which made |
elaborate preparations to receive a son