[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 38, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 38CFR14.702]

[Page 597]
 
            TITLE 38--PENSIONS, BONUSES, AND VETERANS' RELIEF
 
                CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
 
PART 14_LEGAL SERVICES, GENERAL COUNSEL, AND MISCELLANEOUS
 
Sec. 14.702  Medical testimony in commitment or restoration proceedings.

    (a) Commitment. When permissable under State law, Department of 
Veterans Affairs physicans, upon request of the Regional Counsel, will 
sign interrogatories or certificates of mental illness or insanity and, 
unless unavailable, as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, will 
testify in proceedings which the Regional Counsel is authorized to 
institute under Sec. 14.701 to commit eligible veterans to the 
Department of Veterans Affairs.
    (b) Restoration. (1) When permissible under State law, Department of 
Veterans Affairs physicans, upon the request of the Regional Counsel, 
will testify in proceedings brought for the purpose of restoring a 
committed veteran to full civil rights when the veteran is a committed 
patient in a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital.
    (2) The Director of a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital or the 
Regional Counsel upon discharge of the veteran, may furnish a 
certificate of sanity or such similar certificate to the proper civil 
authorities.
    (c) Employment of private physicians. When testimony of Department 
of Veterans Affairs physicians is prohibited or is unavailable because 
of a duty assignment, comparative expense or other valid reason, the 
Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital, upon 
recommendation of the Regional Counsel, may employ any qualified 
physician for preliminary examination of the veteran and for testimony 
in any commitment or restoration proceeding which the Regional Counsel 
is authorized to institute under Sec. 14.701, and authorize the payment 
of a fee not to exceed the prescribed fee, or in the absence thereof, 
the customary fee charged for the service rendered.