The Connecticut labor news., 1921-11-04
NEW YORK STATE COMPENSATION ACT
 CALLED DEFECTIVE
Academy of Medicine Report Criti- cizes Various Phases of
 Shortcomings.

A criticism of the New York
 Workmen's Compensation Law as defective in several regards, par
 ticularly in it's medical aspects" is made in a report by the public health committee of thc New York Acad- cmy of Medicine, published this week ln The Medical Record. In its sum- mary and conclusions the report says:
 "Only by generous interpretation Of the law has the late Industrial Commission been able to insure to the injured workman medical attention for a period in excess of the statu- tory limitation of 60 days.
 Supervision of the medical and surgical care given is almost entirely nOn-cNistcnt, even i'll cases insured with the state fund.
 Organizations of a purely com mcrc1aI character for the treatment of industrial injuries have been allowed to develop without supervision as to the character and adequacy of the services rendered.
 Many of the ncuroses resulting from accidents have not been given the treatment necessary to restore the sufferers rapidly to productive use fitness.
 The matter of functional re-edu- cation and ocCupational therapy in connection with the treatment of in jured workers has not received the at tentlon which the modern develop ment of this work demands
 'Ihe right of the free choice of physician being denied to the injured man under the law, the moral respon- medical treatment rests with the state authority.
 The procedure for obtaining the necessary medical testimony from practitioners or hospital authorities needs to be improved and simplihcd.
 "Ihc full time requirement for ser vice in the medical positions of the Labor Department, and the low com pcnsatlOn paid do not make the posi- tiOnS attractive to the highest grade of physicians, which the nature of this work demands"
 In it's discussion of the problem, the report of the committee says:
 For some time the feeling has been growing that society has not discharged it's debt to the injured workman when its pays compensation and leaves him, maimcd or i'll or unfit, to fend for himself with his additional handicap. He becomes q naD1I1ty to the COlnnlun- fly in proportion to his incapacity for productive labor, and it is, therefore, to the interest of the community 10 restore him as completely as possible 10 his normal condition of living
 "The success of this idea with war has undoubtedly given stinu- lus 10 such work among industrial groups Not only have great strides been made in traumatic surgery, but study and treatment of the ncurotic conditions known as shell shock have shown the possibility for pre- venting and curing similar industrial ncuroscs. It has been estimated that about 10 per cent. of all compensablc cases arc cases of such ncuroseS. Prompt recognition and immediate treatment arc essential to arrest the l development of this condition.
 "Ihe war has also shown the pos abilities of vocational rc-cducation l and the value of oCcupational thcrapy for men still in hospitals"
 The report compares some Of the | state awards with the schedule made l n 1917 by the committee on statis- ics of the International Association 1 of Industrial Accident Boards and 1 Commissions, and adds:
 Tt will be seen that the New ] | ork state law, liberal as it is when i measured by other laws, must be made l still more liberal in order to furnish ] -cally adequate compensation for in 11riCS