Letters Received to E.A. Markley, April 5, 1929

OOPY COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS 632 West 168th Street, New York. INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC HEALTH April 5, 1929. Mr. E. A. Markley Collins and Corbin 1 Exchange Place Jersey City, N. J. Dear Mr. Markley: I almost hesitate to write the following letter but I am sure you will understand. I had a talk with Dr. Knef and I ap- proached the subject to him and found him very responsive to the idea I am proposing. As you know I have had the handling of a number of these cases in Connecticut and have been able to have the families and companies concerned satisfied with the settlement agreed upon. Before the settlement is signed the Commissioner of Compensations has gone over the terms and has made any changes he saw fit. As you probably know the law of limitation has come into effect there but in spite of this the companies have been willing to do the fair and square thing for their girls so far as medical care, and compensation pay- ments are concerned. I was not calling on Dr. Knef to propose this to him but the op- ortunity arose and I took advantage of it. He has agreed, sub rosa, that he would be willing to refer all cases that come up under his observation to Commissioner of Compensations just as though the law of limitation did not prohibit, in other words, the girls would receive the same compensation as they would have if they were taken sick while working. The role of Com- missioner of Compensations would simply be to decide after a conference what he thinks the employee would be entitled to under the laws of compensation now existing. Dr. Knef would be willing to look after their teeth and his charges for such treat- ment would be sub ject to the approval of any committee of two or three dentist, if called into question. The girls would be examined electroscopically by myself or anyone approved by the company to decide if they were radium cases or not. He has even gone so far as to suggest in the Metz case that she could be sent to some sanitarium for awhile and that expense to the company would not be as great as if they were to fight the case to the end. He himself would also agree not to go around hunting up new cases and take only those which come under normal professional work. I might say now he has four other girls who are cases and are being held back from bringing law suit at this time.