Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 86.djvu/1296

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75 Stat. 203. 33 USC 914.

PUBLIC LAW 92-576-OCT. 27, 1972

[86

STAT.

other than the injury, the compensation shall be known as a death benefit and shall be payable in the amount and to or for.the benefit of the persons following:" (e) Section 14 of such Act is amended by striking out subsection (m). MEDICAL SERVICES

74 Stat. 900. 33 USC 907.

SEC. 6. (a) Section 7 of the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act is amended to read as follows: MEDICAL SERVICES AND SUPPLIES

Physician, selection.

Authorized physicians.

Report.

"SEC. 7. (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. "(b) The employee shall have the right to choose an attending physician authorized by the Secretary to provide medical care under this Act as hereinafter provided. If, due to the nature of the injury, the employee is unable to select his physician and the nature of the injury requires immediate medical treatment and care, the employer shall select a physician for him. The Secretary shall actively supervise the medical care rendered to injured employees, shall require periodic reports as to the medical care being rendered to injured employees, shall have authority to determine the necessity, character, and sufficiency of any medical aid furnished or to be furnished, and may, on his own initiative or at the request of the employer, order a change of physicians or hospitals when in his judgment such change is desirable or necessary in the interest of the employee. Change of physicians at the request of employees shall be permitted in accordance with regulations of the Secretary. "(c) The Secretary may designate the physicians who are authorized to render medical care under the Act. The names of physicians so designated in the community shall be made available to employees through posting or in such other form as the Secretary may prescribe. " (d) An employee shall not be entitled to recover any amount expended by him for medical or other treatment or services unless he shall have requested the employer to furnish such treatment or services, or to authorize provision of medical or surgical services by the physician selected by the employee, 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 or authorize the same; nor shall any claim for medical or surgical treatment be valid and enforceable, as against such employer, unless within ten days following the first treatment the physician giving such treatment furnish to the employer and the Secretary a report of such injury and treatment, on a form prescribed by the Secretary. The Secretary may, however, excuse the failure to furnish such report within ten 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 the employee unreasonably refuses to submit to medical or surgical treatment, or to an examination by a physician selected by the employer, the Secretary may, by order, suspend the payment of further compensation during such time as such refusal continues, and no compensation shall be paid at any time during the period of such suspension, unless the circumstances justified the refusal. , ,,,

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