RETURNED SOLDIERS

Southland Times, Issue 19509, 8 May 1922, Page 2

RETURNED SOLDIERS

ILLNESS AFTER DISCHARGE: THE DEPARTMENTS ATTITUDE. (Per United Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, May 5. The attitude of the Director-General of Medical Services refusing to accept responsibility for returned soldiers who had broken down in health two or three years after their discharge was discussed fully at a meeting of the executive of the Christchurch Returned Soldiers’ Association. Several specific cases were mentioned where the men had obtained certificates from doctors expressing the opinion that their breakdowns were due to war service and the certificates were ignored by the Defence Department. The iollowing remit was passed lor consideration at the annual district conference: “That the attention of the British Medical Association be drawn to the attb tude of the D.G.M.S. in constantly ignoring the signed statements of medical men tracing the disabilities of returned soldiers to their war service. This executive considers that the conviction of a doctor who has carefully examined the patient should be worthy of more consideration than is at present given. Cases have occurred where two doctors have agreed that the breakdown is directly attributable to war service, but the D.G.M.S. has stated that such opinion was valuable only in so far as it showed the soldier’s present state of health, thus ignoring their opinion as to the primary cause.”