80TH CONGRESS 2d Session } SENATE {No. 1535 REPORT AUTHORIZING THE ADMINISTRATOR OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS TO TRANSFER A PORTION OF THE VETERANS' ADMINISTRATION CENTER AT LOS ANGELES, CALIF., TO THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOR THE USE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA JUNE 7 (legislative day, JUNE 1), 1948.-Ordered to be printed Mr. MILLIKIN, from the Committee on Finance, submitted the following REPORT (To accompany S. 2773] The Committee of Finance, to whom was referred the bill (S. 2773) authoring the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to transfer a portion of the Veterans' Administration center at Los Angeles, Calif., to the State of California for the use of the University of California, having considered the same report favorably thereon with an amendment and recommend that the bill as amended, do pass. The amendment is as follows: Page 4, line 4, insert after the word "any" the words "oil, mineral or". PURPOSE OF THE BILL The purpose of the bill is to authorize the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs, subject to such terms and conditions as he may prescribe, to transfer to the State of California for the use of the University of California as a research and medical center and allied purposes a portion of the Veterans' Administration center at Los Angeles, Calif., containing approximately 34.880 acres more or less. The deed shall reserve to the United States all interest in and to any oil, mineral or fissionable material in said land, and shall provide for reversion to the United States if the land ceases to be used as a medical and research center. In return for the land granted, the University of California agrees to establish a medical school and research center on the premises which will provide valuable aid in the care and treatment of veterans in the Veterans' Administration center at Los Angeles, Calif. The Veterans' Administration has advised the committee that it will have ample room for any possible future development of the center at Los Angeles on other portions of land presently occupied and will have no further need for the premises covered by the bill; also that it will be to the best interests of the Veterans' Administration to have a medical school and research center established in close proximity to the Veterans' Administration center at Los Angeles. The committee is in accord with the purposes of the bill and recommends its enactment, as amended. The letter from the Veterans' Administration requesting this legislation follows. Hon. ARTHUR H. VANDENBERG, President pro tempore of the Senate, Washington 25, D. C. MAY 26, 1948. DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: There is transmitted herewith draft of a proposed bill to authorize the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to transfer a portion of the Veterans' Administration Center at Los Angeles, Calif., to the State of California for the use of the University of California, with the request that it be introduced and considered for enactment. The purpose of the proposed bill is to authorize the Administrator of Veterans Affairs to transfer approximately 35 acres of land located on the Veterans' Administration Center, Los Angeles, Calif., to the State of California for the use of the University of California as a research and medical center and allied purposes. In October 1947 representatives of the University of California suggested the proposed transfer to Gen. Omar N. Bradley, then Administrator of Veterans' Affairs, and represented that if the transfer were effected the university proposed to establish a medical school and research center on the premises which would provide valuable aid in the care and treatment of veterans in the Veterans' Administration center at Los Angeles. Such advantages were outlined in a statement entitled "Proposed Memorial Medical Center" prepared by representatives of the University of California, copy of which is enclosed. After consultation with the then chief medical director, Dr. Paul R. Hawley, and the assistant administrator for construction, supply, and real estate, F. H. Dryden, General Bradley advised the comptroller of the University of California, that in his opinion, it would be to the best interest of the Veterans' Administration, as well as to the University of California, to transfer the land for the purposes indicated. Dr. Paul B. Magnuson, the present chief medical director, and I concur in General Bradley's views in the matter. There is enclosed a photostat of a map showing the Veterans' Administration Center at Los Angeles, and the portion of land to be transferred under the proposed bill for the use of the university, which is circumscribed by heavy lines at top of map. The land on which the Veterans' Administration center at Los Angeles is located was acquired by the Veterans' Administration from the board of managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers under the act of July 3, 1930. The Veterans' Administration will have ample room for any possible future development of the center at Los Angeles on other portions of land presently occupied and will have no need for the premises covered by the proposed bill, which has been leased to the Westwood Village Business Association continuously since June 30, 1937. This lease may be canceled by either party upon 90 days' written notice. In view of the impending adjournment of the Congress, there has not been sufficient time to ascertain from the Bureau of the Budget the relationship of the proposed legislation to the program of the President. Sincerely yours, CARL R. GRAY, Jr., Administrator. PROPOSED MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER It is proposed that tract C and H (approximately 34 acres), a part of the veterans' facilities at Sawtelle, but separated from them by the cemetery and Veteran Avenue, be placed at the disposal of the medical school at UCLA for the placement of medical facilities (illustrated later) of mutual advantage to the veterans' facilities and the medical school. This proposal is based upon the following: I. Tract C and H has been and will be of little use for the housing of veterans facilities in Los Angeles. 1. As evidence: For many years it has been eased to commercial interests. Bickering and lawsuits have made it a nuisance. 2. It is separated from the main hospital and custodial centers by the cemetery. Any further veterans' hospital expansion in this general area would be made adjacent to the present facilities where adequate land is available. 3. The local and area Veterans' Administration feel that the placing of medical facilities of mutual advantage to the veterans' hospital and the medical school on the C and H tract, under the guidance and supervision of the medical school would be a distinct advantage to the veterans' facilities. II. Advantage to veterans' facility of a close tie-in with medical school: As its contribution to the care of veterans, the medical school would agree to— 1. Provide consultation staff for patient care, research, and training. Such an arrangement is vital to the continuation of a strong medical staff in the Veterans' Administration institutions. 2. Give qualified members of the staff at the veterans' hospitals in this area part-time clinical appointments in the medical school. 3. Make its research equipment available to the veterans' hospitals at Sawtelle and Birmingham for joint research projects among the staff of both institutions, i. e.: (a) Cyclotron. (b) Pressure chambers. (c) Special atomic energy medical research facilities (over $1,500,000 worth of equipment now available). (d) High-voltage X-ray equipment. (e) Special cancer research laboratories. 4. Make its graduate medical training available to the doctors of Sawtelle and Birmingham veterans' hospitals. III. Advantages to veterans' facilities of the development of a major medical center in conjunction with the medical school and the Sawtelle veterans' facilities. 1. Hospital beds made available in this area will release some of the pressure on the veterans' facilities. Patients apply for entrance there because they cannot get into other places. Patients are also referred out by the veterans' facilities here to distant areas because they cannot be taken care of here. (Los Angeles has 3.1 beds per 100.000 as contrasted to San Francisco with over 6 beds per 100,000). 2. Local specialty organizations could be formed with the staff at the veterans' hospital, the medical school, and the hospital facilities joining together in all of the special branches, i. e.: (a) Cancer research study sections (b) Surgical seminars. (c) Psychiatric therapy seminars. (d) Tropical disease sections. (e) Atomic energy medical research groups, etc. 3. The pooling of brains and equipment, around such a center, would make possible research and medical care otherwise impossible. IV. Advantages to veterans of specific installations placed upon tracts C and H. While no commitments, of course, have been made, the following types of medical facilities are contemplated as being of mutual advantage to the veterans' facilities and the medical school: 1. A district health office would provide the following services to personnel at the veterans' facilities, as well as the community: (a) Tuberculosis diagnostic and treatment clinics. (b) Venereal-disease clinics. (c) Communicable-disease consultation to the veterans' hospital. (e) Health education. (f) Seminars would be open to the staff at the veterans' hospital. (g) Mental-hygiene clinics. 2. A cancer custodial, research, and treatment hospital would make possible the following advantages: (a) Special cancer patients might be transferred from the Veterans' Administration to the cancer hospital. (b) Special cancer research organizations could be formed in which information is exchanged (c) Special cancer equipment installed, i. e., high-voltage X-ray, radioactive element treatment facilities would be available. (d) Seminars open to staff. 3. A geriatrics (old age) hospital would serve as a nucleus around which the department of geriatrics in the medical school and the veterans' hospital medical staff could investigate the problems of old age. Studies need to be made on(a) Nutrition in old age. (b) Physiotherapy in old age. (c) Cancer prevention in old age. Seminars and joint research projects could be organized. 4. A crippled-children's hospital is badly needed in this area and would bring people into the area specially trained in the problems of— (a) Spastics: This problem is also present in veteran paraplegics. (b) Orthopedics: The prevention and treatment of crippling conditions, including poliomyelitis, is common to both children and adults (veterans). 5. A tropical and contagious disease unit would bring trained personnel and equipment to this area. (a) The war emphasized the importance of tropical medicine. No longer are we isolated from the rest of the world. (b) Los Angeles, being next to Mexico and the Orient, is in a strategic area for the development of tropical medicine. 6. A psychiatric and mental-hygiene unit would bring trained personnel and equipment to this area. 7. Of special import is the responsibility of the veterans' hospitals to train their own resident doctors. This program, placing the training of residents and care of patients under the supervision of medical schools, patterned after the great medical centers of our country, has already proved its worth in giving better care to veterans. At the present time, however, residents cannot complete their training at the veterans' hospitals because of inadequate facilities. They must be "farmed out" for such things as (a) Children's orthopedics. (b) Women's medicine and surgery. (c) Special basic science work. (e) Communicable disease, etc. Medical facilities could be placed upon this area which would make a complete medical center supplementing the veterans' hospital and medical school with specially trained staff, equipment, and clinical material. In such a center it would be possible to care for any type of disease in this area, to do all types of medical research and to truly further the science of medicine. V. It is proposed that an advisory committee from the local veterans' facilities be set up to assist in designating the medical facilities to be placed upon this area. VI. It is proposed that the medical center established on this C and H tract be designated as a memorial medical center, as a living memorial to the men of the United States armed services. 80TH CONGRESS 2d Session } SENATE { REPORT No. 1536 AMENDING VETERANS REGULATION No. 1 (A), PARTS I AND II, AS AMENDED, TO ESTABLISH A PRESUMPTION OF SERVICE CONNECTION FOR CHRONIC AND TROPICAL DISEASES JUNE 7 (legislative day, JUNE 1), 1948.-Ordered to be printed Mr. MILLIKIN, from the Committee on Finance, submitted the following REPORT To accompany H. R. 3889) The Committee on Finance, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 3889) to amend Veterans Regulation No. 1. (a), parts I and II, as amended, to establish a presumption of service connection for chronic and tropical diseases, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with amendments, and recommend that the bill as amended do pass. The amendments are as follows: On page 1, line 10, after the word "hypertension", insert the following: "myocarditis,". On page 2, lines 6 and 7, strike out the following "functional disorders of the nervous system;". On page 2, line 7, before the word "scleroderma", insert the following: "encephalitis lethargica residuals;". On page 2, line 12, strike out the following: ", amebic or bacillary". On page 2, line 12, strike out the words "fungus diseases;". On page 2, line 13, strike out the word "lieshmaniasis", and insert the word "leishmaniasis". On page 2, line 14, strike out the following "oracontiasis (or dracontiasis)" and insert the word "dracontiasis". On page 2, line 15, strike out the following: "relapsing fever;". On page 3, line 10, strike out the following: ", amebic or bacillary" On page 3, line 10, strike out the following: "fungus diseases;". On page 3, line 12, strike out the following: "oracontiasis (or dracontiasis)", and insert the word "dracontiasis". On page 3, line 13, strike out the following: "relapsing fever;". |