Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 74.djvu/940

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PUBLIC LAW 8 6 - 7 5 7 - S E P T. 13, 1960

[74 S T A T,

Public Law 86-757 AN ACT September 13, 1960 [H. R. 12574] 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.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the ai^d°^ibor^work- ^''^^^^^ States of America in Congress assembled., 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 USC 901, 907.

"MEDICAL SERVICES AND SUPPLIES

7. SELECTION OF PHYSICIAN.— (a) The employer shall furnish 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. .Panel of physi"(b) The employee shall have the right to choose an attending phycians. Choice of attend- sician from a panel of physicians to be named by the employer subject ing physician. 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 Secretary, 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 necessity, 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. Physicians. "(c) The deputy commissioner shall approve the qualifications of Qual ifications, the panel of physicians named by the employer and shall determine etc. the number of physicians to be named. I n 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. Defatdt by " (d) If the employer fails to provide the medical or other treatployer. 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, services, and supplies and select a physician to render treatment and services 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, "SEC.

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