AO & Stomach Cancer - Widow of Veteran Granted Benefits after Eleven Years

Widow of Veteran Granted Benefits after Eleven Years

Ethel Brown, the widow of a Vietnam Veteran, made a claim for benefits based on her belief that her husband had contracted stomach cancer and subsequently died because of Agent Orange exposure during his service in Vietnam. The firm of Jackson & MacNichol persuasively briefed the case, and after weighing the medical opinions, the Board found in Ms. Brown’s favor. This was a huge victory because no one else in the country has succeeded in persuading the Board that stomach cancer could be caused by Agent Orange. Source: Board of Veterans' Appeals decision on Docket No. 02-02 971, June 15, 2011.

The turning point of the case came when a local oncologist who is also a professor at the University of New England Medical School in Maine, Dr. Brian Dorsk, explained that although stomach cancer is not one of the many cancers that has been associated with Agent Orange, based on the limited studies available he felt that it was as probable as not that Mr. Brown’s stomach cancer was related to his exposure to Agent Orange.

After weighing the medical opinions provided by the VA opposing Ms. Brown’s claim and Dr. Dorsk’s opinion that the chemicals which make up Agent Orange could have caused the cancer, the Board found in Ms. Brown’s favor.

Jackson & MacNichol, Attorneys at Law, represent clients in social security disability, veteran’s benefits and injury and accident claims throughout New England. They handle veteran’s benefits claims on a national basis. For more information the firm can be reached at 800-524-3339 or on the web at http://www.jackson-macnichol.com.