Vietnam Veteran's daughter with spina bifida still seeks justice

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Daughter of Vietnam Vet Seeks Benefits From VA

By Phil Parker
Of the Journal
Gina Montoya believes she is owed benefits by the federal government because of debilitating deformities that might be a direct result of her father's service in Vietnam.

Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., thinks so, too. But officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs disagree.

With Udall's help, Montoya is appealing to get the benefits she has so far been denied, but the process could take months.

"I can't live like this anymore," the 32-year-old Chimayó woman told the Journal, crying. "It's not my fault I was born this way."

The VA says a neurologist who reviewed Montoya's case file found that, while she has a severe congenital problems, she doesn't have spina bifida — a finding in conflict with that of Montoya's current New Mexico doctors. And the VA says rules prohibit giving her benefits, because she wasn't diagnosed with spina bifida at birth.

Meanwhile, Montoya struggles day to day at home in Chimayó. She's low on butane, and her medical bills are piling up. Montoya lives in the house she once shared with her mother, who died 2 1/2 years ago.

Her mother's death, Montoya said, spurred her to apply once again for spina bifida benefits under the Veterans' Benefits Act of 1997. She had been denied previously, in 2004, and gave up until last year.

Gina's father, Ray, was a soldier in Vietnam. He remembers loading barrels into trucks during his service, and remembers an orange band around the drums, from which the chemical inside got its name: Agent Orange.

Read more: ABQJOURNAL UPFRONT: Daughter of Vietnam Vet Seeks Benefits From VA Daughter of Vietnam Vet Seeks Benefits From VA
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