HC Deb 16 April 1956 vol 551 cc43-4W
52. Sir D. Robertson

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance why he is employing a consultant physician to inquire into the case of Mr. John George Brotchie, Seaforth Highlanders, whose continuous ill-health and ultimate death have already been certified by an eminent surgeon, who had himself treated the patient, to be due to the sufferings which this man endured in German mines while a wounded prisoner of war.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

Because of the conflict of medical opinion as to the part played by Mr. Brotchie's service in the 1914 war in causing his death, I felt that the fairest way of resolving the matter was to obtain the opinion of an independent medical expert nominated by the President of the Royal College of Surgeons.