charged from treatment and shall not thereafter be afforded medical relief by the Service by reason of his previous service.

(Sec. 610 (b), 58 Stat. 714, as amended; 33 U.S. C. 763c)

§ 31.16 Retired personnel; extent of

treatment.

(a) Any retired person specified in § 31.11 shall be entitled to medical, surgical, and dental treatment and hospitalization at medical relief stations of the first, second, and third class, upon presentation of satisfactory evidence of his status.

(b) Elective medical or surgical treatment requiring hospitalization shall be furnished only at hospitals operated by the Service.

(c) Dental treatment shall be furnished to the extent of available facilities only at medical relief stations where full-time dental officers are on duty; at other medical relief stations the dental treatment shall be limited to emergency measures necessary to relieve pain. (Sec. 610, (b), 58 Stat. 714, as amended; 33 U.S. C. 763c)

PART 32-MEDICAL CARE FOR SEAMEN AND CERTAIN OTHER PERSONS

diagnosis.

32.89

DEFINITIONS

Sec.

32.93

Notification to health authorities re

garding discharged patients.

SEAMEN ON OTHER FOREIGN FLAG VESSELS 32.106 Conditions and extent of treatment; rates; burial.

NONBENEFICIARIES; TEMPORARY TREATMENT IN EMERGENCY

32.111 Conditions and extent of treatment; charges.

consolidate and revise the laws relating to the Public Health Service, and for other purposes";

(b) The term "Service" means the Public Health Service;

(c) The term "Surgeon General" means the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service;

(d) The term "seamen" includes any person employed on board in the care, preservation, or navigation of any vessel, or in the service, on board, of those engaged in such care, preservation, or navigation, but does not include the owner or joint owners of a vessel or the spouse of any such owner;

(e) The term "vessel" includes every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water, exclusive of aircraft and amphibious contrivances;

(f) "Medical relief station" means a first-, second-, third-, or fourth-class station of the Service;

(g) "First-class station" means a hospital operated by the Service;

(h) "Second-class station" means a medical relief facility, other than a hospital of the Service, under the charge of a commissioned officer;

(i) "Third-class station" means a medical relief facility, other than a hospital of the Service, under the charge of an acting assistant surgeon;

a

(j) "Fourth-class station" means medical relief facility, other than a first-, second-, or third-class station, under the charge of an authorized Government representative;

(k) "Active duty", with respect to an enrollee of the United States Maritime Service, means that the enrollee is on the active list of that service, as distinguished from being on inactive status, and includes absence on authorized leave or liberty.

(1) "Commercial fishing operations" means the gathering of any form of either fresh water or marine animal life for sale on a commercial basis through available markets.

(Secs. 2, 321, 58 Stat. 682, as amended, 695, as amended; 42 U.S.C. 201, 248) [21 F.R. 9823, Dec. 12, 1956, as amended at 30 F.R. 2151, Feb. 17, 1965]

(1) Seamen employed on vessels of the United States registered, enrolled, or licensed under the maritime laws thereof, other than canal boats engaged in the coasting trade, hereinafter designated as American seamen;

(2) Seamen employed on United States or foreign flag vessels as employees of the United States through the War Shipping Administration;

(3) Seamen, not enlisted or commissioned in the military or naval establishments, who are employed on State school ships or on vessels of the United States Government of more than five tons' burden;

(4) Seamen on vessels of the Mississippi River Commission;

(5) Officers and crews of vessels of the Fish and Wildlife Service;

(6) Enrollees in the United States Maritime Service on active duty and members of the Merchant Marine Cadet Corps;

(7) Cadets at State maritime academies or on State training ships;

(8) Employees and noncommissioned officers in the field service of the Public Health Service when injured or taken sick in line of duty;

(9) Persons afflicted with leprosy.

(10) Seamen on foreign flag vessels other than those seamen employed on foreign flag vessels specified in subparagraph (2) of this paragraph;

(11) Non-beneficiaries for temporary treatment and care in case of emergency.

(12) Persons who own vessels registered, enrolled, or licensed under the maritime laws of the United States, who are engaged in commercial fishing operations, and who accompany such vessels on such fishing operations, and a substantial part of whose services in connection with such fishing operations are comparable to services performed by seamen employed on such vessel or on vessels engaged in similar operations.

NOTE: 32.6 does not list all the persons entitled to care and treatment by the Public Health Service.

(b) Separate regulations govern: (1) The medical care of certain personnel, and their dependents, of the Coast Guard, Coast and Geodetic Survey, and Public Health Service (see Part 31 of this chapter); (2) physical and mental examinations of aliens (see Part 34 of this chapter); (3) care and treatment of narcotic addicts (see Part 33 of this chapter); and (4) Medical Care for Indians. (See Part 36 of this chapter.)

(c) While regulations of the Public Health Service are not required with respect thereto, circular instructions by the Service cover the care and treatment or physical examination of the following:

(1) Persons not otherwise eligible for treatment, for purposes of study:

(2) Persons detained in accordance with quarantine laws;

(3) Persons detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, for treatment at the request of that Service;

(4) Persons entitled to treatment under the Employees' Compensation Commission Act and extensions thereof; (5) Beneficiaries of other Federal agencies on a reimbursable basis;

(6) Medical examinations of: (i) Employees of the Alaska Railroad and employees of the Federal Government for retirement purposes;

(ii) Employees in the Federal classified service, and applicants for appointment, as requested by the Civil Service Commission for the purpose of promoting health and efficiency;

(iii) Seamen for purposes of qualifying for certificates of service; and

(iv) Employees eligible for benefits under the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, amended, as requested by any deputy commissioner thereunder.

as

is necessary preference shall be given to other Federal medical facilities when reasonably available and when conditions permit.

(b) If eligibility cannot be established at the time of application by the seamen or by the person who applies in his behalf, the applicant shall be notified that the authorization for treatment is conditional and that the payment of reasonable expenses by the Service for such treatment shall be subject to proof of eligibility.

(c) In every such case of emergency treatment or hospitalization, authorized either conditionally or unconditionally, a full report shall be submitted promptly by the authorizing officer to the Surgeon General. The authorizing officer shall keep himself informed regarding the progress of the case to the end that treatment or hospitalization shall not be unduly and unnecessarily prolonged. As soon as practicable, unless the interests of the patient or the Government require otherwise, treatment or hospitalization shall be continued at a medical relief station or at another appropriate Federal medical facility.

(d) Expenses for consultants or special services, or for dental treatment other than emergency measures to relieve pain, shall not be allowed except when authorized in advance by the headquarters of the Service or, in extraordinary cases, when subsequently approved by such headquarters upon receipt of report and satisfactory explanation as to the necessity and urgency therefor.

(e) Certified vouchers on proper forms covering expenses for emergency treatment or hospitalization shall be forwarded to the Surgeon General by the authorizing officer, and each such voucher shall contain a statement of the facts necessitating the treatment or hospitalization.

§ 32.13 Application for treatment.

A sick or disabled seaman, in order to obtain the benefits of the Service, must apply in person, or by proxy if too sick so to do, at a medical relief station or to an officer of the Service as specified in § 32.12 and must furnish satisfactory evidence of his eligibility for such benefits.

§ 32.14 Evidence of eligibility.

(a) As evidence of his eligibility an applicant must present a properly executed master's certificate or a continuous discharge book or a certificate of dis

charge showing that he has been employed on a registered, enrolled, or licensed vessel of the United States. The certificate of the owner or accredited commercial agent of a vessel as to the facts of the employment of any seaman on said vessel may be accepted in lieu of the master's certificate where the latter is not procurable. When an applicant cannot furnish any of the foregoing documents, his certification as to the facts of his most recent (including his last) employment as a seaman, stating names of vessels and dates of service, may be accepted as evidence in support of his eligibility. Documentary evidence of eligibility, excepting continuous discharge books and certificates of discharge, shall be filed at the station where application is granted. Where continuous discharge books and certificates of discharge are submitted as evidence of eligibility, the pertinent information shall be abstracted therefrom, certified by the officer accepting the application, and filed at the station.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in §§ 32.11 to 32.23, inclusive, documentary evidence of eligibility must show that the applicant has been employed for 60 days of continuous service on a registered, enrolled, or licensed vessel of the United States, a part of which time must have been during the 90 days immediately preceding application for relief. There may be included as a part of such 60 days of continuous service as a seaman time spent in training as (1) an active duty enrollee in the United States Maritime Service, (2) a member of the Merchant Marine Cadet Corps, (3) a cadet at a State maritime academy, or (4) a cadet on a State training ship. The phrase "60 days of continuous service" shall not be held to exclude seamen whose papers show brief intermissions between short services that aggregate the required 60 days: Provided, That any such intermission does not exceed 60 days. The time during which a seaman has been treated as a patient of the Service shall not be reckoned as absence from vessel in determining eligibility. When the seamen's service on his last vessel is less than 60 days, his oath or affirmation as to previous service may be accepted.

on a vessel shall be entitled to care and treatment without regard to length of service.

§ 32.16 Seamen from wrecked vessels.

Seamen taken from wrecked vessels of the United States and returned to the United States, if sick or disabled at the time of their arrival in the United States, shall be entitled to care and treatment without regard to length of service.

§ 32.17 Lapse of more than 90 days since last service.

Where more than 90 days have elapsed since an applicant's last service as a seaman and he can show that he has not definitely changed his occupation, such period of time shall not exclude him from receiving care and treatment (a) if due to closure of navigation or economic conditions resulting in decreased shipping with consequent lack of opportunity to ship or (b) in the event the applicant has been receiving treatment at other than Service expense.

§ 32.18 Procedure in case of doubtful eligibility.

When a reasonable doubt exists as to the eligibility of an applicant for care and treatment, the matter shall be referred immediately to the headquarters of the Service for decision. If, in the opinion of the responsible Service officer, the applicant's condition is such that immediate care and treatment is necessary, temporary care and treatment shall be given pending receipt of the decision as to eligibility. § 32.19

False

service.

document

evidencing

Persons who own vessels registered, enrolled, or licensed under the maritime laws of the United States, who are engaged in commercial fishing operations, and who accompany such vessels on such fishing operations, and a substantial part of whose services in connection with such fishing operations are comparable to services performed by seamen employed on such vessel or on vessels engaged in similar operations shall be entitled to care and treatment by the Service under the same conditions, where applicable, and to the same extent as is provided for American seamen. [30 F.R. 2151, Feb. 17, 1965]

§ 32.61

MARITIME SERVICE ENROLLEES AND MERCHANT MARINE CADETS Use of Service facilities. Enrollees in the United States Maritime Service on active duty and members of the Merchant Marine Cadet Corps shall, upon written request of the responsible officer of the station or training ship to which such enrollees or cadets are attached, identifying the applicant, be entitled to medical, surgical, and dental treatment and hospitalization at medical relief stations of the Service. Whenever an enrollee or cadet applies for relief without the above-mentioned written request and in the opinion of the responsible Service officer the applicant's condition is such that immediate care and treatment is necessary, temporary care and treatment shall be given pending verification of the applicant's status as an enrollee or cadet.

§ 32.62 Use of other than Service facilities.

(a) When an enrollee on active duty or a cadet requires medical, surgical,