Evening star., 1945-06-27
Skill Of Physicians
AT Veteran Hospitals
Is Called Average
By CARTER BROOKE JONES.

The average veterans hospital
doctor Is equal to the average staff
physician Of any other hospital, DR..
Roy B. Adams of Washington, a
member Of the Veterans Admins
tration Advisory Medical Board, told
the House Veterans Committee to-
day.
There are q number Of doctors
serving in veterans hospitals" he
added, whom I would not like to
have in a hospital I had charge Of.
But that condition pertains to prac-
tically all hospitals"
DR.. Adams, who is clinical pro-
fessor Of medicine at Georgetown
University and consultant at
Mount Alto Hospital, made that
reply to question by Representa-
tive Domengeaux, Democrat, of
Louisiana.
Should Cover Field.
Under the present system Of ap-
pointing doctors through civil serv-
ice, DR.. Adams said there are bound
to be certain number of undesir-
ables." He said the Veterans Ad-
ministration should have authority
to cover the field and engage the
most promising graduates of medical
schools who want the experience
they can get in veterans hospitals.
Like a number of other prominent
physicians on the Advisory Board
who have testified, DR.. Adams urged
the passage of a pending bill setting
up an independent medical bureau
In the Veterans Administration.
When asked why the advisory
board had not urged such a measure
sooner, DR.. Adams replied by read
ing resolution which the board
passed in 1928 urging .ust such
measure. He said he had been
member Of the board since 1924 and
each year since then, it had recon-
mended legislation providing for a
veterans medical bureau similar to
those of the Public Health Service,
the Army and the Navy.
Often Sent to Committees.
Copies of board resolutions were
sent to committees of the Senate
and the House repeatedly, he point
ed out.
DR.. Adams said, in response to
other questions, that the care given
veterans at Mount Alto compared
favorably with the treatment pro-
vided by other Washington hospitals.
DR.. Adams added that the present
staf1 at Mount Alto was not ade-
quate In numbers, which was true
of virtually every hospital in the
country except Army and Navy hos
pitals. He said Mount Alto was
handicapped by having antiqlated
buildings, designed originally for a
school and not hospital
Cancer Treatment Good.
DR.. Max Cutler Of Chicago, a can
Ger specialist, for IA years a con-
sultant for the Veterans Administra-
tion, earlier told the committee that
cancer patients at the Hines Vet
|erans' Hospital In Chicago we're get
ting as effective treatment as VIC
tins of the disease could get any,
where for any price.
DR.. Cutler told Of setting up, at
Hines the new X-ray technique de-
vised at the Curie Institute In Paris,
where he had studied. AT first, he
explained, stan physicians were re-
luctant, fearing X-ray burns, but
when they were instructed thor
oughly in the new method, with q
doctor from the Curie Institute
brought there for the purpose, their
fears were dispelled.
/ The results have been highly sue
cessful, DR.. Cutler said, especially
in cancer OF the mouth and thorax
In early years cases Of thorax can
Ger, he added, recoveries have num-
bered something like so per cent In
| many cases.