Section 4711 - Exceptions in favor of employes totally and permanently disabled(a) Any present or future county employe, except persons who are employed in accordance with the provisions of subsection (c) of this section and persons who are reemployed in accordance with the provisions of subsection (b) of section 1715, who has been in employ for a period of not less than twelve years, upon application to the board, may receive a retirement allowance plus a service increment, if any, in accordance with the provisions of section 1712, if he or she becomes mentally incapacitated or totally and permanently disabled physically, even though such county employe has not reached the age of sixty years, provided that proof of such mental incapacity or total and permanent physical disability shall be by the unanimous opinion and sworn statements of three practicing physicians of the county designated by the board. Application in behalf of a mentally incapacitated county employe for a retirement allowance plus a service increment, if any, shall be made by a duly appointed guardian who shall be entitled to receive such retirement allowance plus a service increment, if any, to which the mentally incapacitated county employe may be eligible to receive.(b) Once each year, the board may require any former county employe, who is receiving a retirement allowance plus a service increment if any by reason of such mental incapacity or total and permanent physical disability, to undergo a medical examination by a physician or physicians designated by the board. Should such physician or physicians thereupon report and certify to the board that such former county employe is no longer mentally incapacitated or totally and permanently physically disabled, or that such former county employe is able to engage in a gainful occupation, and should the board concur in such report, then the amount of the retirement allowance plus a service increment if any, shall be reduced or discontinued, as the board may determine.(c) No person entering the employ of the county or county institution district as a county employe after the first day of August, one thousand nine hundred fifty-three, who has attained the age of fifty-five or more years at the time of such employment, shall be eligible to receive a retirement allowance by reason of total and permanent physical disability as herein provided.1953, July 28, P.L. 723, art. XVII, § 1711. Amended 1955, May 31, P.L. 111, § 1; 1970, Dec. 10, P.L. 919, No. 291, § 5; 1973, June 1, P.L. 37, No. 19, § 1, imd. effective; 1976, June 29, P.L. 461, No. 116, § 2, imd. effective.