Vet Warns of Misidentification Possibilities for VA Services

Vet Warns of Misidentification Possibilities for VA Services


05/16/09
By Stephanie Miller
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By STEPHANIE MILLER

Robert Mansfield Price, Jr., has issued a warning to all veterans - check and double check the identification number assigned to them when they receive their medical treatment and/or any information or correspondence with the Veterans Administration.

Price joined the military when he was 18 years old.

“I had four years active duty in the Air Force as a Structural Engineer,” said Price, explaining, “I built roads runways, bridges and buildings. I was a general contractor. They transferred me with a team called Red Horse with the 556 Squadron to Udipi, Thailand. I stayed there about 10 months. I was in Vietnam two months where I was a combat engineer. I served two years in the reserves.”

Then Price came out of the military and came back to Laurens County where he intended to live a normal life.

“When I got out of service I didn’t file a disability claim. I got out in 1969 and I didn’t file a claim until 1979. I was totally disabled in 1979 from chronic pulmonary disease, asthma, I suffered from depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),” he said.

At that time Price went to the Carl Vinson VA Med Center in Dublin. Price was given an ID card to use every time he came to the VA for treatment, which over time generated a thick medical record file. All of that was handled correctly, but it turns out the number he was given by “regional” to file a disability claim was incorrect and each time he attempted to file a disability claim the clerk used the number he had been assigned to pull up the medical records of Robert M. (Merrell) Price (not the same man as the Laurens County resident). Yet, Robert Mansfield Price, Jr., never knew his claim number actually belonged to another man with nearly the same name.

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