EDICAL TESTS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2628, 25 November 1915, Page 4

EDICAL TESTS

A PKAOTiOAL step has been taken by tho military authorities, presumably by tho head of the Medical Department, in the direction of minimising the grounds of complaint which exist in connection with tho medical teste applied to recruits. Apart from the lack of uniformity in the testing of the men, there appears also to havo been in too many instances a lack of common sense. Some"of the examining doctors have in some cases adhered too rigidly to the prescribed conditions regardless of what their, judgment might, dictate, and no doubt they were quite within the letter of their, instructions. Indeed, the Defence authorities appeaf to have encouraged this attitude, and their complaint is rather tho other way, that is that there is laxity on the part of medical men. Examining doctors who have ventured to do more than write "fit" or "unfit" under the heading on the official form which invites "Remarks" have been promptly snubbed, and told in effect that their opinions were not wanted. A doctor, for instance, might be compelled under a literal interpretation of the tests to describe a man as "unfit" because of a minor defect or shortcoming, and yet consider the recruit eminently suited for the Army Service Corps or tho Ambulance Corps, or even for the Infantry service, but he is prevented from making any comment or suggestion in such a case. We know of cases in which medica! men of long experience in judging the physical capacity of men havo expressed the opinion that they are forced to reject some of the very best material for a fighting force, and to pass men of quite inferior stamp. Hardy toiltoughened bushmen. accustomed to hardship and tests of endurance, aro thrown out under conditions imposed, and men of much inferior physique, from offices and shops, who, however, conform to the. requirements of the medical tests, are accepted.. We do not suggest that in'all cases, or, indeed, in the uiaiorj ity of cases, that the tests as applied [are unsatisfactory, but we do_ believe that there is room for a wider and a _ wiser discretion, and that discretion can be best exercised by allowing the examining doctors tho privilege of expressing an opinion when it is considered advisable under the "Remarks" heading. The principal medical officer should have a fair idea'of the value to be attached to the individual opinions of those examining doctors who make such suggestions. Our immediate purpose, however, in referring to tho matter of the medical tests is to congratulate the head of the Department on the step ho has taken in appointing two experienced medical officers, Drs. Anson and De Lautour, to decide as to the question of fitness for service in doubtful cases which, may arise after the men go into camp. It is a very real hardship as well o!b a great disappointment to men to give up their positions after passing the medical test in their home towns, and then on going to Trentham to bo rejected porhaps becauso of some unduly strict or too literal interpretation pi tho tests by a camp officer, possibly of limited experience. Both Dr. Anson and Dr. De Lautour aro known to be men of wide experience in such matters, and while they will necessarily requlra tp conform to the rngulnUom mi max be relied on to take a

broad and common-sense view in arriving at a decision on the individual cases submitted to their judgment.