VA delay may stall benefits for Vietnam vets
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Mar 2, 2010 9:40:58 EST
Three veterans groups have threatened the Veterans Affairs Department with a lawsuit if VA does not publish regulations by March 12 about three Agent Orange-related diseases that the Institute of Medicine has deemed should be presumed connected to military service.
Every two years, the IoM reviews scientific evidence to determine if diseases could have been caused by dioxin, the harmful ingredient in Agent Orange. Agent Orange is an exfoliate widely used during the Vietnam War to clear forests.
In its latest review, IoM found that ischemic heart disease, Parkinson’s disease and B-cell leukemias all could be linked to Agent Orange exposure. VA is required by the Agent Orange Act of 1991 to publish a regulation, making veterans eligible for benefits, within 210 days of such findings. In this case, that would have been Feb. 19. VA doesn’t have to pay out benefits until after the regulation is actually published.
The American Legion, Military Order of the Purple Heart, and the National Veterans Legal Services Program sent a letter to VA on Monday demanding that the organization publish the regulation by March 12.
“VA Secretary [Eric] Shinseki in September agreed to add the three diseases,” said Barton Stichman, joint executive director of the National Veterans Legal Services Program. “But his agency has let him down on paying anyone their benefits.”
A VA official said the agency is working to make sure the regulation goes through correctly — and therefore causes no more delays — after severe snow storms in Washington, D.C., shut down the federal government for almost a full week in early February. The official added that veterans could get benefits retroactively, based on a lawsuit filed in 1984.
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VA delay may stall benefits for Vietnam vets
It is a terrible shame for not getting the Vietnan Vet what they deserve since they asked us to go and we went. Now I sit with medical problems includibg Parkinson's Disease and shake all the time and now I am diagnosed with another disorder and expected to die in two years.
ReplyDeleteThis would be a great nation if we ever lived up to the words "grateful nation" while veterans are alive, but we only manage to say those words when we lay you to rest. My prayers are with you.
ReplyDelete