§ 216 — Pay and care when injured or disabled in service

§ 216. Pay and care when injured or disabled in service. 1. Any\nmember of the organized militia who shall, when on duty or assembled\ntherefor, in case of riot, tumult, breach of peace, insurrection or\ninvasion, or whenever ordered by the governor, the commanding general of\nthe New York army national guard, the commander of the New York air\nnational guard, the commanding officer of the naval militia, or the\ncommanding general of the New York guard, or called in aid of civil\nauthorities, receive any wound or injury or shall incur or contract any\ndisability or disease, by reason of such duty or assembly therefor, or\nwho shall without fault or neglect on his part be wounded or disabled\nwhile performing any lawfully ordered duty, which shall incapacitate him\nfrom pursuing his usual business or occupation shall receive the pay and\nallowances provided by this chapter and the actual necessary expenses\nfor care and medical attendance during the period of such incapacity not\nexceeding ninety days. If authority therefor is granted by the chief of\nstaff of the state, pay and allowances provided by this chapter may be\nallowed for an additional period not exceeding ninety days and expenses\nfor such care and medical attendance as are necessary for the\nappropriate treatment of the wound, injury, disease or disability may be\nallowed until the incapacity resulting from such wound, injury, disease,\nor disability can not be materially improved by further care or\ntreatment. The determination of whether such injury or disease was\nincurred while performing such lawfully ordered duty shall be in\naccordance with this section and such regulations as may be prescribed\nby the adjutant general.\n 2. None of the benefits provided by subdivision one of this section\nshall be paid or allowed unless a claim therefor is presented to the\nchief of staff within one year after the date when such wound, injury,\ndisease or disability was incurred or contracted. None of the benefits\nprovided by subdivision one of this section and by section two hundred\nnineteen of this article shall be paid or allowed by the state for any\nperiod during which such a member of the organized militia is entitled\nto receive the same as a charge against federal funds.\n 3. a. Where a claim is made under this section the chief of staff may\ncause examinations of the claimant to be made from time to time by a\nphysician, surgeon or dentist designated for the purpose by the chief of\nstaff, and he may direct the removal of a claimant to, and his treatment\nin, a hospital designated by the chief of staff, and if the claimant\nrefuses to permit any such examination or if he refuses to go to such\nhospital or to follow the advice given or treatment prescribed for him\ntherein, he shall thereby forfeit and be barred from all right to any\nclaim or allowance under this section.\n b. The chief of staff may appoint a medical examiner or a board of\nthree officers, at least one of whom shall be a medical officer, to\ninquire into the merits of any claim presented under this section, and\nto recommend the amount or amounts, if any, to be paid or allowed under\nthis section, or he may, in his discretion, determine any claim without\nappointing a medical examiner or board and fix the amount to be paid or\nallowed under this section. If no medical officer is available, such\nmedical examiner or medical officer on such board may be a civilian\nphysician, surgeon or dentist.\n c. A medical examiner or board appointed under this section shall have\nthe same power to take evidence, administer oaths, issue subpoenas and\ncompel witnesses to attend and testify and to produce books and papers\nand to punish their failure to do so as is possessed by military courts.\n d. The findings and recommendations of the medical examiner or board\nshall be submitted to the chief of staff who may return the proceedings\nto such examiner or board for reconsideration or for taking further\ntestimony and who shall approve or disapprove the claim and fix the\namount, if any, to be paid or allowed under this section. The amount so\nfixed by the chief of staff shall be a charge against and be paid in the\nmanner provided by this chapter, by the county or city in which such\nduty was rendered, in every case where a county or city is by this\nchapter made liable to pay for the performance of military duty. In all\nother cases such amount shall be paid by the state in like manner as\nother military accounts are paid.\n