VA Moves to Prevent Veteran Violence Over Disability Claims

To curtail confusion, the department wants to change when veterans can view the results of their disability exam online.

 Veterans Affairs officials want to change when veterans can view some of their medical records online, fearing that some could become violent if they see negative comments and think their disability claims will be denied.

A group of department officials said Monday that they fear some veterans could see the notes from the exam, assume from this partial picture that their claim is being denied, and take out their anger on local VA officials. They voiced their safety concerns Monday to members of the department's Advisory Committee on Disability Compensation at their meeting this week in Washington.

Source:  http://www.nationaljournal.com/defense/va-moves-to-prevent-veteran-violence-over-disability-claims-20141021

Navy veterans need help getting politicians to act: PennLive letters

The main item that needs to be addressed by Congress when back in session is House Bill HR543, The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Agent Orange Act. We vets need the American people to call their members of Congress and urge them to support this bill.  

Navy Vietnam veterans are the most-often denied for VA benefits because they served at sea not on land, yet are still infected and sick with Agent Orange. The deadly herbicide was in the air and in our drinking water at sea, a proven fact by the Institute Of  Medicine, which the VA ignores. 

Continue Learning>>>

http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2014/08/congress_navy_agent_orange_bil.html

Vietnam Veterans: Fighting For Care, part 1

"They (can) never take it away from you, and nobody will ever be able to say to you that you are less."

Anderson has serious health issues connected to exposure to Agent Orange. On Tuesday, the two-part series continues as veterans like Ken try to receive help from the local Reno VA, but are finding long wait times, denials and abrupt changes to disability claims.

Continue Learning>>>http://www.mynews4.com/news/story/Vietnam-Veterans-Fighting-For-Care-part-1/m-Pz37rQCkezVReoDD5WGA.cspx

Veterans welcome more support

FROM all theatres of conflict on land, air or sea, active and returned servicemen and women come home to a very different reality from scenes of stress and battle. Some local men who have been there, said all of them need recognition and support.

The Department of Veteran’s Affairs pledge of $5 million into research to avoid the legacy of forgotten soldiers that dogged Vietnam is not a bad investment according to Vietnam vet-erans and Inverell RSL sub-branch president Rob Schieb, pensions officer Brian McClellan and secretary Graeme Clinch. 

Continue Learning>>>http://www.inverelltimes.com.au/story/2371793/veterans-welcome-more-support/?cs=12

Those who served offshore should not be denied care

Many people believe all Vietnam veterans injured in the war receive health care from Veterans Affairs hospitals. This is not true. Any veteran who served offshore Vietnam is denied health care and compensation for any disease or disability caused by Agent Orange-dioxin.

These veterans are dying of the same conditions as troops who served on land, from the cancers, diabetes and heart diseases related to dioxin poisoning. The Australian navy, which served at the same time in the same waters off Vietnam, recognizes this fact. Why doesn’t our VA?

Continue Learning>>>http://www.buffalonews.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/letter-those-who-served-offshore-should-not-be-denied-care-20140608

Veterans Affairs declares Jacksonville veteran dead, but he's not

Wife receives letter of sympathy, notice of monthly benefit cancellation

Jacksonville resident Georgie Smith received a letter from the Veterans Affairs office last week offering her condolences on the death of her husband, Vietnam veteran Steve Smith.

The problem was her husband is very much alive.

Continue Learning>>>http://www.news4jax.com/news/veterans-affairs-declares-jacksonville-veteran-dead-but-hes-not/26060676

Veterans 65 and over: Are you receiving the Veterans Non-Service Connected Disability Pension? If not, you may be missing out on the Aid & Attendance benefit.

This is a little known and under-utilized VA benefit for veterans who served in wartime, and surviving spouses, 65 and over. The assistance can supplement one's income, especially if living in an assisted living facility, nursing home, or receiving home health care. These facilities and services can impose a tremendous financial burden on the veterans and families. The benefit can help avoid placing a tremendous financial burden on the veteran's family.

Continue Learning>>>http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Veterans-65-over-Are-you-1329427.S.5872070141264543748?view=&item=5872070141264543748&type=member&gid=1329427&trk=eml-b2_anet_digest-null-2-null&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=27YRD1gXs-8mg1

Panel to Study at Agent Orange Residue Exposure

Fred Berman, director of the Toxicology Information Center at Oregon Health and Science University, said the VA "established new laws of chemistry" in denying the C-123 veterans' exposure claims.

In response, he and others co-authored a study in the April issue of the journal Environmental Research that concluded dioxin levels in the aircraft after the war were "likely to have exceeded several available exposure guidelines."

Continue Learning>>>http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/panel-study-agent-orange-residue-exposure-23717310

Judge’s Surprise Ruling On Veteran’s Exposure to Toxic Chemicals On U.S. Military Base Called “Turning Point”

House has doggedly pursued any information that might help get his claim approved and prove to VA that he’s not fabricating his exposure. His claim was repeatedly denied by the VA until last week, when a judge with VA’s Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA) acknowledged that House’s suffering resulted from chemical exposure at Camp Carroll, though it stopped short of naming Agent Orange.

"I was determined to show that I was telling the truth about why I’m so sick"” House said. "I gave up countless hours of my life, including years of my vacation time that I should have spent with my family, digging for facts. I have a very understanding wife. I had to do what I had to do"”

The VA portrayed the ruling as a single administrative finding that applies to this one man. But House and others who have long alleged a government cover-up regarding Agent Orange and other toxic chemicals say it is an acknowledgement of the malevolent consequences of veterans’ exposure to those chemicals, even if, at this stage, it is unclear how the ruling will affect cases that are specifically about Agent Orange.

Continue Learning>>>http://www.ibtimes.com/judges-surprise-ruling-veterans-exposure-toxic-chemicals-us-military-base-called-turning-1569225

American Legion helps local veterans with disability claims

The Vietnam veteran had claims related to Agent Orange, post-traumatic stress disorder and a knee replacement he needed because of a grenade injury.

“I struggled through the process at first, but eventually got myself together,” Brown, 66, said Thursday during a three-day service campaign being held at American Legion Post 178 in south Augusta. “My job now is to help veterans.”

Continue Learning:  http://m.chronicle.augusta.com/news/metro/2014-03-13/american-legion-helps-local-veterans-disability-claims

Many reasons for VA delays

"Make no mistake, we are manufacturing veterans at a rate, as a result of the Middle East, that we have never done before"” said Nevada’s 2nd U.S. House Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, and a veteran who was in the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps. "That is why the VA budget, even in these times, has gone up every year in the last few years"”

Veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will be filing disability claims for decades to come, Amodei said.

Continue Learning:  http://www.rgj.com/article/20140302/NEWS/303020051?nclick_check=1

Scope of missing federal military records grows

The number of missing or destroyed military records at a federal government warehouse in St. Louis is significantly larger than initially reported.

      A 2012 audit found that a file clerk at the National Personnel Records Center wrongly filled nearly three-fourths of 1,200 files assigned to him over a three-month period. Archives workers could earn bonus pay through an incentive program for completing more filings.





Continue Learning:  http://www.ky3.com/news/local/scope-of-missing-federal-military-records-grows/21048998_24731574

Veterans Affairs purged thousands of medical tests to 'game' its backlog stats

About 40,000 appointments were “administratively closed” in Los Angeles, and another 13,000 were cancelled in Dallas in 2012.

That means the patients did not receive the tests or treatment that had been ordered, but rather the orders for the follow-up procedures were simply deleted from the agency’s records.

It is not known how widespread the practice is, or how many veterans hospitals have mass-purged appointment orders to clear their backlogs.

Continue Learning:  http://washingtonexaminer.com/veterans-affairs-purged-thousands-of-medical-tests-to-game-its-backlog-stats/article/2544580

 
VA Defends Deleting Veteran Medical Appointments

VA Ignores Medical Conditions Linked to El Toro

Exposure to TCE directly affects the genitourinary (GU) system, and also causes cancer of this system. TCE is broken down in the liver to vinyl chloride and excreted by the GU system. TCE is also excreted in the urine. Together they can cause renal (kidney) and bladder tumors, like the transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder that Mr. O’Dowd had. These chemicals also cause non-cancer illness like interstitial cystitis, hyperactive bladder, and prostatitis. These problems occur from several days to decades after exposure. The latency appears to be dose related and over different periods of time.

TCE and vinyl chloride have profound effects on the liver and can cause liver failure from direct toxicity to the hepatic cell. Vinyl chloride has also been positively linked to a rare malignancy of the liver, hemangiosarcoma. The hemangioma found in Mr. O’Dowd’s liver has to be followed carefully, because it could be or could change to a malignant tumor. 

 

Continue Learning:  http://www.salem-news.com/articles/february162014/va-el-toto-ro.php

 

 

Marine Denied VA Disability For El Toro

More than 1,800 vets' records intentionally destroyed or misfiled by 2 clerks

Some employees seeking to earn an incentive bonus were intentionally misfiling, or "stashing"” records to finish more quickly, state court files show. Although Halkmon denied stashing files and said he'd lacked proper training, a tribunal handling Halkmon's appeal of the rejection of his unemployment benefits said his claims were not credible.

Continue Learning:  http://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/more-than-1-800-vets-records-intentionally-destroyed-or-misfiled-by-2-clerks-1.264849

House passes bill to give veterans in-state tuition, halt VA executive bonuses

The measure, approved on Monday, was introduced last year by Reps. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) and Mike Michaud (D-Maine), who head the House Veterans Affairs Committee. It would require all schools eligible for GI Bill benefits to give veterans in-state tuition rates regardless of where those individuals have actually established residence.

The legislation would also eliminate all bonuses for VA senior executives during fiscal years 2014 through 2018, for a projected savings of $18 million over that period, according to an analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Continue Learning:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/02/05/house-passes-bill-to-give-veterans-in-state-tuition-and-halt-va-executive-bonuses/

Veterans Secretary Eric Shinseki defends bonuses despite patient deaths and disability claims backlogs

Shinseki is under growing pressure from Congress, the media and veterans groups to explain why top executives collected bonuses worth tens of thousands of dollars even though they ran hospitals where patients needlessly died, or benefits offices with huge backlogs of disability claims.

Shinseki statements came in a Jan. 31 response to a letter Miller sent in August seeking information on several top executives who were either rewarded or not disciplined despite failing to deliver services to veterans.

Continue Learning:  http://washingtonexaminer.com/veterans-secretary-eric-shinseki-defends-bonuses-despite-patient-deaths-and-disability-claims-backlogs/article/2543684

Disabled local veteran caught up in VA red tape

"The Secretary of the VA has to sign off on it, so that's where we are," said Haynie.

General Shinseki oversees 285,000 employees and a $153 billion annual budget and has to decide if Haynie can get a new toilet and shower at his two bedroom home in Spring. And until that happens, he will wait on a federal government that promised to take care of him in combat in 1964 and is still seemingly struggling to keep the promise 50 years later.

Continue Learning:  http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/in_focus&id=9425483

LIVING WITH AGENT ORANGE: Vietnam veteran to receive high school diploma

Agro has diabetes. His exposure to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam makes him eligible for disability payments. The Veterans Administration office sent him to school for training to become an armed guard. But most places want a diploma, he said. 

Someone at the Veterans Administration’s office told him high school diplomas are available to veterans who served in Vietnam. The service had been available to World War II and Korean War era veterans. In November, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy extended the benefit Vietnam vets.

Continue Learning:  http://www.myrecordjournal.com/meriden/meridennews/3177553-129/vietnam-veteran-set-to-receive-high-school-diploma.html

Study links traumatic brain injury and PTSD

The findings add to a growing body of research on the long-term psychological and physical consequences of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan where improvised explosive devices have often been the enemy’s weapon of choice, and head trauma — as well as psychological struggles afterdeployment — has proliferated. Past studies have shown the symptoms of TBI and PTSD overlap, and the research by the VA-funded Marine Resiliency Study made public this week adds evidence of a causal connection.

Continue Learning:  http://www.stripes.com/news/study-links-traumatic-brain-injury-and-ptsd-1.257017