Disabled veterans ruled as "incompetent" ripped off

This story makes me sick. A friend of ours served in Vietnam, not once, not twice, but four tours. It took him 19 years to have his PTSD claim approved. After watching his mental state deteriorate over the years and reactions to the increased medications, a guardian being appointed to take care of his money made a lot of sense. He received a huge retroactive check after living off of only social security payments all those years. In his case, making irrational decisions was always a possibility. If his daughter ended up with control over his money, he would have been able to manipulate her into giving into whatever he wanted to do with his money. She's a sweet woman and loves her Dad making saying "no" to him very hard on her.

That's the good part of this Guardianship Act. The bad part is what is included in this article. The guardians are not just paid for taking care of compensation from the VA. They have been getting a percentage of everything!

While the VA says, If the Florida courts appoint a guardian, a 5% commission is permissible under the Florida Uniform Veterans Guardianship Act, a March 2010 Inspector General Audit found VA regional Officers are not consistently taking effective actions to insure the income and estates of incompetent beneficiaries are protected.

And that brings us back to Ed Brewer who is waiting for a guardian because the VA says he is incompetent despite the fact a psychiatrist who works for the VA says Brewer is totally competent, he is aware of his benefits, spending them wisely and doesn't need a guardian.

The other problem is, there are a lot of veterans able to take care of their own money still put into guardianship and this is wrong. Why hasn't the VA been able to correct this outrageous situation? People have been making money off of it for years and it has been easy money for them.

Vets lose benefits as VA covers up mistake

Written by
Mike Deeson


Thousands of veterans who served our country seem to be taken advantage of when it comes to their benefits. It involves vets who have been declared incompetent and are receiving VA benefits.

Meet Ed Brewer who like thousands of Veterans is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Brewer says now that he is old and sick and he needs what he fought for, they are telling him to go to hell.

Republican Congressman Walter Jones from North Carolina in a speech from the House floor told his fellow member if something isn't done about the vets who are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the situation is going to get worse.
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Vets lose benefits as VA covers up mistake