By Jim Fausone

We have dozens of Marine veterans ask each year about their exposure to toxic drinking water at Camp Lejeune. While the existence of the contaminated water is now well documented, the medical nexus to specific disabilities has not been accepted. Recently, VA recognized that ingestion of contaminated water could cause ratable disabilities. There are 2,044 pending legal claims by people who lived and worked at the Marine base from 1957 – 1987. The Corps is having people potentially exposed register in a database. To date, 160,000 have registered. This proves once again that you should never give up on your claim because sometimes the VA is really slow to get it right.

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=68944&sendemail=1

By Jim Fausone

When final rules come out, VA will add three new presumptive illnesses due to Agent Orange exposure – Parkinson’s disease, ischemic heart disease and B-cell leukemias. Over the next two years, VA expects 200,000 new claims for these illnesses. If you have any of these illnesses, submit a claim to VA now. VA wants to “fast track” those claims with a private-public partnership and maybe new software. Many are worried these new claims will get to the front of the line and the 1,000,000 claim back log will only get worse.

Read more at www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange.

The US Supreme Court recently heard about how things operate in the VA world. Chief Justice Roberts was shocked when a government lawyer admitted the VA was wrong about 70% of the time. The discussion came up in a social security case where the Chief Justice learned the government was not substantially justified in the positions it asserted in 40% of social security cases and over 70% in veteran cases. Those of us who practice before the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims know that the VA is wrong closer to 90% of the time. Maybe now the Supreme Court will pay attention to the problems we all face in that veteran system. Read a recent article how Justice Roberts responded to the startling news.

www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nffeb10/nf022410-8.htm