An Act to amend the Longshoremens and Harbor Workers Compensation Act, so as to provide that an injured employee shall have the right to select his own physician, and for other purposes
PL 86-757 (H.R.12574), enacted 09/13/1960

900 
PUBLIC LAW 86-757-SEPT. 13, 1960 
[74 ST A T , 
September 13, I960 
[H. R. 12574] 
Public Law 86-757 
AN ACT 
To amend the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, so as 
to provide that an injured employee shall have the right to select his own 
physician, and for other purposes. 
.Panel of physi-
cians. 
Choice of attend-
ing physician. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
ai^d°^ibor^work- ^''^^^^^ States of America in Congress assernbled., That section 7 of 
ers' Compensation the LoDgshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act is 
Act, amendment, 
amended to read as follows: 
44 Stat. 1427. 
33 use 901, 907. 
"MEDICAL SERVICES AND SUPPLIES 
"SEC. 7. SELECTION OF PHYSICIAN.— (a) The employer shall fur-
nish such medical, surgical, and other attendance or treatment, nurse 
and hospital service, medicine, crutches, and apparatus, for such 
period as the nature of the injury or the process of recovery may 
require. 
"(b) The employee shall have the right to choose an attending phy-
sician from a panel of physicians to be named by the employer subject 
to the provisions of subsection (c) of this section. 
If, due to the 
nature of the injury, the employee is unable to select his physician 
from a panel and the nature of the injury requires immediate medical 
treatment and care, the employer shall select a physician for him from 
the panel. 
Nothing contained in this section shall limit the right of 
the employee to make a second choice of physician from such panel. 
The deputy commissioner may, under rules prescribed by the Secre-
tary, permit an injured employee to select a physician not on the 
panel when specialized services are needed or in unusual circumstances. 
The deputy commissioner shall have authority to determine the neces-
sity, character, and sufficiency of any medical aid furnished or to be 
furnished and shall have authority to order a change of physicians 
or hospitals when in his judgment such change is desirable or 
necessary. 
"(c) The deputy commissioner shall approve the qualifications of 
the panel of physicians named by the employer and shall determine 
the number of physicians to be named. In determining the size of the 
panel, he shall take into account the number of competent, suitable, 
and impartial physicians conveniently available to the community in 
which the medical service is required. Every employer shall post the 
names and addresses of the physicians on his panel in such manner as 
to afford his employees reasonable notice thereof. 
"(d) If the employer fails to provide the medical or other treat-
ment, services, and supplies required to be furnished by subsection (a), 
after request by the injured employee, or fails to maintain a panel 
of physicians as required by subsection (c), or fails to permit the 
employee to choose an attending physician from such panel, such 
injured employee may procure such medical or other treatment, serv-
ices, and supplies and select a physician to render treatment and serv-
ices at the expense of the employer. 
The employee shall not be 
entitled to recover any amount expended by him for such treatment or 
services unless he shall have requested the employer to furnish the 
same and the employer shall have refused or neglected to do so, or 
unless the nature of the injury required such treatment and services 
and the employer or his superintendent or foreman having knowledge 
of such injury shall have neglected to provide the same; nor shall any 
claim for medical or surgical treatment be valid and enforceable, as 
against such employer, unless within twenty days following the first 
treatment the physician giving such treatment furnish to the employer 
and the deputy commissioner a report of such injury and treatment, 
Physicians. 
Qual ifications, 
etc. 
Defatdt b y 
ployer. 
74 
S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 86-758-SEPT. 13, 1960 
901 
on a form prescribed by the Commission. The deputy commissioner 
may, however, excuse the failure to furnish such report within twenty 
days when he finds it to be in the interest of justice to do so, and he 
may, upon application by a party in interest, make an award for the 
reasonable value of such medical or surgical treatment so obtained by 
the employee. If at any time during such period the employee unrea-
sonably refuses to submit to medical or surgical treatment, the deputy 
commissioner may, by order, suspend the payment of further com-
pensation during such time as such refusal continues, and no com-
pensation shall be paid at any time during the period of such suspen-
sion, unless the circumstances justified the refusal. 
"(e) Whenever in the opinion of the deputy commissioner a 
physician has not impartially estimated the degree of permanent 
disability or the extent of temporary disability of any injured 
employee, the deputy commissioner shall have the power to cause 
such employee to be examined by a physician selected by the deputy 
commissioner and to obtain from such physician a report containing 
his estimate of such disabilities. If the report of such physician shows 
that the estimate of the physician has not been impartial from the 
standpoint of such employee, the deputy commissioner shall have the 
power in his discretion to charge the cost of such examination to the 
employer, if he is a self-insurer, or to the insurance company which 
is carrying the risk. 
"(f) All fees and other charges for such treatment or service shall 
be limited to such charges as prevail in the same communit}'^ for similar 
treatment of injured persons of like standard of living, and shall be 
subject to regulation by the deputy commissioner. 
"(^) The liability of an employer for medical treatment as herein 
provided shall not be affected by the fact that his employee was injured 
through the fault or negligence of a third party not in the same 
employ, or suit has been brought against such third party. 
The 
employer shall, however, have a cause of action against such third 
party to recover any amounts paid by him for such medical treatment 
in like manner as provided in section 33(b) of this Act." 
Approved September 13, 1960. 
Degree of disa-
bility. 
Fees. 
Limitation. 
Employer liabil-
ity. 
33 u s e 933. 
Public Law 86-758 
AN ACT 
September 13, 1960 
To amend the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 so as to authorize elimination of a 
l
^
^
- ^^'*^^ 
hearing in certain cases under section 408. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatwes 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 408(b) 
of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C. 1378(b)) is amended 
by inserting immediately before the period at the end thereof a colon 
and the following:'"''Provided further. That, in any case in which the 
Board determines that the transaction which is the subject of the ap-
plication does not affect the control of an air carrier directly engaged 
in the operation of aircraft in air transportation, does not result in 
creating a monopoly, and does not tend to restrain competition, and 
determines that no person disclosing a substantial interest then cur-
rently is requesting a hearing, the Board, after publication in the Fed-
eral Register of notice of the Board's intention to dispose of such ap-
plication without a hearing (a copy of which notice shall be furnished 
by the Board to the Attorney General not later than the day follow-
ing the date of such publication), may determine that the public in-
terest does not require a hearing and by order approve or disapprove 
such transaction". 
Air 
c a r r i e r s , 
merger, hearings. 
72 Stat. 767. 
P ublioation in 
F. R.