adjustment, and it is because of that we are so particularly interested in getting that first measures pased by Congress. That is so that our "friends in court" who are service officers, can function and can take up these various problem cases such as you have just mentioned.

A good eighty-odd percent of the cases coming before the Veterans' Administration can be taken care of by existing classification.

The CHAIRMAN. The Veterans' Administration can use their own personnel.

Mr. GOLOB. It is hard for the Veterans' Administration to be counsel for the complainant, counsel for the defendant and judge and jury at the same time. It is not humanly possible to do that. After all, certain administrators adopt certain viewpoints, and are not given to change unless it is called specifically to their attention by authorities who will provide

Mrs. LUSK (interposing). Madam Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. The lady from New Mexico.

Mrs. LUSK. I believe they have the authority and can make those concessions.

I know of a case or two that occurred recently in Albuquerque. We were attending those hearings on the Bataan relief bill held by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee. It came out in the testimony that several of the young men who had been prisoners and were on the Death March and worked in the Japanese foundries without eye protection lost their eyesight. The Veterans' Administration did not do anything for them. They had sent them home without any further treatment, stating that they could not do anything for them, but in this discussion it developed that one of the boys on his own initiative had gone to an eye specialist and was getting some treatment.

After the presentation of that testimony and comment by various Senators who were present at this hearing, the next day an order came out from the Veterans' Administration to have these men and others who were referred to there that had the same eye condition, that these fellows could go any place in the United States where they might find proper treatment and the Veterans' Administration would pay the bill.

I think that is something that should be manifest and should be known by all of these fellows who need special treatment, because there are a large number of cases that need special consideration. The CHAIRMAN. Will the lady yield?

Mr. LUSK. Yes, Madam Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. The Veterans' Administration lays great stress on the fact that veterans may select their own physicians.

Mrs. LUSK. These boys were given permission to select their own doctors.

The CHAIRMAN. The Veterans' Administration approved of that? Mrs. LUSK. Yes, authorized that the following day.

Mr. TEAGUE. May I ask one more question, Madam Chairman? The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Mr. TEAGUE. I have an injury that forces me to wear a special type shoe. I tried for almost a year to get a shoe I could wear through the Veterans' Administration. In the meantime I had gone to a friend of mine in Texas who makes boots and he had made a perfect shoe for me.

Just to see how long it would ever take to get a shoe, I have continued with the Veterans' Administration and I have never gotten any, and I am sure there are many men over the country in the same position.

I am wondering if you ever heard of a case of that kind?

Mr. TATE.. We have been able to get shoes. Well, Mr. Teague, commenting on that, I think that perhaps gives an example of the necessity for getting help from our organization, or an organization such as ours, and pointing out the difference between the situation discussed here by Mrs. Lusk and the case you cited, the Veterans' Administration does authorize treatment where they say they cannot give it themselves and they can find it available elsewhere. They do that. The thing they don't do is where they haven't granted prior authorization, they don't pay for the treatment that has been received, as in the case of your man with phlebitis. He asked for that treatment and didn't get it. He asked for an authorization for treatment from a specialist and they didn't give it to him. He went on his own and got it and then requested reimbursement. I think if he had come to us or someone like us we would have battled for it and got it.

Mr. TEAGUE. But you can't get an appointment with a doctor any time you want it. You may get one and not get another for 6 months. This man was told he might die at any time, there were blood clots in his veins.

Mr. TATE. Does he live in New Orleans?

Mr. TEAGUE. No, sir; he lives in Texas. The Veterans' Administration told him if he found a man to take care of his

Mr. TATE (interposing). The point I am trying to get at is under the regulations as existing now, and as a matter of fact the case you are talking about has been referred to us, but the trouble is their regulations about the necessity for prior authority is the difficult part. Now in the case you refer to, Mrs. Lusk, the Veterans' Administration did authorize these men to go. I would like to know if you could tell me, did the man on his own initiative go to the eye specialist first and as a result of that the Veterans' Administration authorized treatment for himself and others?

Mrs. LUSK. They authorized further treatment. I don't know what he did about the first visit.

Mr. TATE. That was the point. If they did that, we could certainly use that as a precedent.

Mrs. LUSK. I don't really think that was taken up with them. I doubt if it occurred, but under the stress of the discussion, when it was found these men were being sent home without any further consideration, although they were given some compensation benefits, but not as much as they were probably entitled to because they were almost totally disabled and the eye condition was very bad and the Senators were quite disturbed, and you can imagine, you can read between the lines, so to speak, there.

Mr. TATE. Yes.

Mrs. LUSK. Apparently the Veterans' Administration was very disturbed over it and they decided these men should go to anyone they wanted.

Mr. TATE. That is what they should have done.

Mrs. Lusk. It was too bad the hearing had not been held earlier. The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Missouri, Mr. Bakewell. Mr. BAKEWELL. At your suggestion, Mrs. Rogers, I would relate an instance that occurred when we were visiting one regional office in a certain city, and I happened to be standing in what might be called the reception office where all the veterans came in that had any problems. When I was there, a man was carried in, obviously in a very bad physical condition. He appeared to be unconscious to me. They just laid him on the sofa in front of the public and no one was paying any attention to him, and I asked the young man at the reception desk if that was they way the treated emergency cases and he said there were only two in line ahead of him, and it was intimated that he was drunk.

I called the medical director and had him come down and it turned out this man was not drunk and had not been drinking, and was suffering a very severe hemorrhage for which he needed immediate and urgent attention.

The reason I bring that up, is the statement that the Veterans' Administration should not give any care to alcoholics. I think we as laymen and the Veterans' Administration as laymen should go very very slowly before adopting a policy with reference to treating alcoholics. In the first place, I think it is a very close medical professional question whether a man is an alcoholic and secondly, I think alcoholism is service-connected. I have seen many veterans who will resort to alcohol to alleviate pain and disability, and I see some who resort to it who are suffering from frustration and disillusionment.

I certainly agree with Mr. Rankin's statement that the veterans' hospitals should not be a refuge and haven for spasmodic drunks, but on the other hand I am very sympathetically disposed to the chronic alcoholic, particularly if professional and medical opinion comes to the conclusion it is the result of some type of service connection.

The CHAIRMAN. I may say I saw some of the work done by the gentleman from Missouri and his committee and the subcommittee of his committee, in some parts of the West and they did a magnificant job.

Will the gentleman tell the story about the streptococcus throat? Mr. BAKEWELL. There was a little delay there, Madam Chairman. I remember the boy who came in.

On this trip we made, and I thought it was rather interesting, as we did not approach these offices as Members of Congress. It so happens that several of us are comparatively young and World War II veterans, and we would go in and out of branch offices and get in line, and maybe say we had a headache or a sore throat and wanted some treatment, and so that is the way we worked it. Perhaps we would say we wanted to get our insurance reinstated, just to see what kind of treatment and attention we would get, but after we had been there a while word would leak out there that Members of Congress were making an investigation.

The particular case Mrs. Rogers refers to is that of a young man I think who was in line ahead of Mr. Sarbacher, who had a bad throat and he had been to his doctor because he could not get prompt attention. His doctor told him he had a very bad streptococcus throat and his tonsils should be removed very promptly, but I think at the

medical office they told him "Your tonsils have to come out, and you will get a card from us when the facilities are available."

We were instrumental in getting him right into a hospital and receiving what appeared to be urgent medical attention required. That was just one of those incidents where there seems to be unnecessary delay and lack of attention.

Yet, in some instances I saw some of the medical people in the Veterans' Administration who were a little calloused and somewhat indifferent toward the needs and requirements of veterans. They took too much for granted. I don't know. They didn't seem to have the personal interest in the case which they might. Of course that all leads in the general direction of the danger of socialized medicine, and I think the Veterans' Administration is the closest thing to it now, and I am not criticizing it. It is one branch of the service that should be given the veteran, particularly the disabled. However, they need a shot in the arm to give them the personal, sympathetic and charitable treatment which they deserve.

Mrs. LUSK. Will the gentleman yield just a moment?

Mr. BAKEWELL. Yes, Madam.

Mrs. LUSK. It is my impression it is a lack of personal feeling in the matter.

Mr. BAKEWELL. That is exactly what I was trying to explain.

Mrs. LUSK. The idea of mass treatment. They just run them through. For instance, as we say on the ranch, putting the cattle through the chute to vaccinate them.

Mr. ALLEN. Will the gentleman yield at that point?

Mr. BAKEWELL. Yes.

Mr. ALLEN. I want to say when we made our first investigation about 2 or 3 years ago I found examples of doctors practicing by the clock, and I took the liberty of telling a bunch of doctors that people don't get sick and die by the clock. But last year, Madam Chairman, I found conditions decidedly improved. I didn't go into the same hospitals as before, but I found a decided improvement. I found a sympathetic feeling different from any I saw previously, a very sympathetic attitude over what I had witnessed before. But as long as we have this mass treatment you are always going to have some of that lack of care. There will probably always be some of this, but these conditions certainly must be eliminated as much as possible, because when the veteran goes in there he is entitled to immediate attention.

Mr. BAKEWELL. I might say along that line we visited a couple of hospitals and saw that attitude. I was particularly thinking about reception offices. It is there where there seems to be an indifference and apathy or carelessness, but not in the hospitals.

The CHAIRMAN. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BAKEWELL. Yes, Madam Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Is it not true as a result of your activity and protest there is now assigned more people on emergency duty?

Mr. BAKEWELL. Yes, Madam.

The CHAIRMAN. They are getting better service as a result of your survey.

Mr. ALLEN. Madam Chairman, if I may have just a moment, I would like to bring up a related matter with Mr. Tate.

Occasionally veterans have occasion to have emergency hospitalization and it is such an urgent condition that the veteran may not be able to get to a veterans' hospital. Maybe it will take three or four hours to get to a veterans' hospital and sometimes maybe the family doctor will say "Go downtown and see so-and-so and get him to operate on you." Of course, he would have no chance to get approval from the Veterans' Administration.

Do you have cases like that?

Mr. TATE. We have cases like that, Mr. Allen. When they put in for reimbursement they have to do two things. They have to prove it was an emergency and that the condition was service-connected, and if you can prove that, under the circumstances you describe, you can secure reimbursement.

Mr. ALLEN. I think I have had a few cases like that, and a little difficulty in one or two.

Mr. TATE. If you have any more difficulty we will be very glad to pitch in and help you.

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Jones, who also made a very fine survey.

Mr. JONES. Mrs. Rogers, I would like to say the Disabled American Veterans down our way have done a fine job. We have two members of the city council in Charlotte who are disabled American veterans. They have done a splendid job and I have no criticism at all. I want to give you my hearty approval.

Mr. TATE. Mr. Jones, I knew that you were familiar with conditions down there.

I wonder if Mr. Bakewell would answer a question?

Mr. BAKEWELL. Sure.

Mr. TATE. Did you make any such visits to our organization, that is, go in as a claimant?

Mr. BAKEWELL. In every city we visited we contacted immediately the representatives of the service organizations, the American Legion, the Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign wars and all the rest. We had the utmost cooperation of all the service representatives in every city.

We would usually call on them before we would start making our inspection and we found virtually in every instance that they could give us a bird's-eye view of just what the situation was in that area. That is the cooperation and it shows the efficiency of the work they were doing, and in almost every instance our subsequent studies and inspections confirmed just exactly what your representative told us. In a sense they are a great police agency for the Veterans' Administration. They really keep them on their toes.

Mr. TATE. I am glad to hear you say that, Mr. Bakewell. I am sure it was a pleasure for our men to cooperate with you and your associates.

The CHAIRMAN. I would like to add also that I have found the Disabled American Veterans extremely helpful. I accept their assistance very eagerly because they have always come in with a straight bill as far as legislation is concerned.

Tomorrow morning there will be a hearing on insurance and also to consider a suggested bill, and that will be held at 10:30, and I thank you again very much for your very fine testimony.

Mr. GOLOB. In behalf of our organization I would like to extend my deepest thanks to yourself, Madam Chairman, and the members of your committee.