By Jim Fausone
Veterans Disability Lawyer

After hearing from thousands of veterans, I know that the stress of military life and war impact every veteran. 

Over the next decade, I can only imagine the disability claims that will be submitted by drone operators.  It is probably predictable that the VA will deny these claims because the service members were not in combat.  However, the DOD’s own research acknowledges the stress placed on the men and women who operate drones. About one in three airmen who operate cameras on high-altitude, remotely controlled spy planes and 30% of those who fly attack drones used to kill terrorists have emotional exhaustion. An Air Force psychologist conducted a six-month study of drone operators from 2010 to 2011. Researchers found clinical distress and mental illnesses such as anxiety or depression. Sixty-five percent to 70% of those with mental illness signs are not seeking treatment for it, researchers found.  Nearly 900 Air Force personnel were surveyed. Seventeen percent are women and 60% married. When they were first asked broadly about burnout, nearly half admitted it.

Let’s hope VA does not forget the impact the war has on these men and women.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/story/2011-12-18/study-drone-operators-exhaustion/52053016/1

To learn more or to contact a Veterans disability lawyer, Veterans disability attorney, Veterans lawyer, or Veterans attorney call 1.800.693.4800 or visit Legalhelpforveterans.com

By Jim Fausone
Veterans Disability Lawyer

As a national firm helping veterans with disability claims, we use a lot of different tools to fill in the facts on fuzzy memories.  Often the veterans need buddy statements from guys they simply recall by first name “Bruce” or nickname “Curly”, “Lefty” or “Hoosier”.  We check unit records and other service records and help the veteran jog their memory so than can find that long-lost friend or that unlucky soul that died in the attack.  It is with that experience in mind that an article about Ancestry.com caught our attention.   You know Ancestry as the web based company that helps people doing genealogy. 

The Provo, Utah, based website has been adding historical records to its site for the past 15 years, accumulating more than 7 billion records. It normally charges a monthly fee to its users but until December 7, 2011 it is free.  Of particular interest for those searching veterans’ records are the World War II Navy Muster Rolls, which include 33 million quarterly reports filed from 1939-49, detailing the location, rank and other information about nearly all enlisted personnel who served aboard ships during those years. Previously unreleased draft cards, cemetery records, photos, and information about various ships are also available.

You can read more at  http://www.stripes.com/news/us/website-makes-wwii-records-available-for-free-through-dec-7-1.162316

To learn more or to contact a Veterans disability lawyer, Veterans disability attorney, Veterans lawyer, or Veterans attorney call 1.800.693.4800 or visit Legalhelpforveterans.com

We are delighted to share a happy ending to a long battle with the Veterans Administration (VA) for one of our clients. We will refer to her as “Cindy” and her husband “Max”.

With the death of her husband Max, an Army veteran of Vietnam, in March of 2001, Cindy began the long process of making a claim for dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) benefits. She filed her first claim with the VA for DIC in 2002. After many denials of service connected death she sought out our representation in April of 2006 where our claims developer Peter Worthington began research of information that would be submitted to the Regional Office (RO) with the hopes of a new favorable decision.

Our firm was successful in obtaining a remand from the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (USCAVC).  We submitted additional evidence; including a medical opinion in February of 2010 to the RO where the claim was once again denied. The medical opinion noted the veterans heart murmur in service was not related to the veteran’s cause of death. However, it did note the cause of death was due to Ischemic heart disease.  We appealed the denial from the RO to the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA). Subsequently, Ischemic heart disease was added to the list of disabilities recognized by the VA as being related to Agent Orange Exposure.

The out-come of the review by the BVA constituted a full grant of DIC benefits for the issue on appeal of service connected cause of death. This month, over 10 years after her initial claim to the VA, Cindy received over $130,000.00 in retroactive benefits; effectively changing the course of the rest of her life.

We hope this gives those fighting for their benefits a glimmer of light at the end of a long tunnel.

To learn more or to contact a Veterans disability lawyer, Veterans disability attorney, Veterans lawyer, or Veterans attorney call 1.800.693.4800 or visit Legalhelpforveterans.com

by Jim Fausone
Veteran Disability Lawyer

We get asked by veterans “should I get my Congressman to write VA about the delay and my claim.?” No is the short answer. It is a rare case that we ask for Congressional assistance. Why? Because VA stops everything it is doing on a case to respond to a Congressional staffer’s letter. A good example of this is a response we recently received from VA about the status of a claim:

“Mr. Fausone – We have received communication from the Des Moines Regional Office. They have stated the claim file is currently at the regional office and a review of the file has been made. The Veteran’s appeal is still open and pending a decision. (The Veteran had filed a claim for increase for Individual Unemployability (IU) during the appeal, which needed to be processed. There was also congressional interest-3 letters-which had to be reviewed and responded to in the past few months.) The appeal is currently pending completion of a Supplemental Statement of the Case by the appeals team Rating Veterans Service Representative.

VA is telling us that the claim for IU filed during the claim and the 3 congressional interest letters was slowing down the process at the Regional Office (RO). The 3 letters in the past few months “had to be reviewed and responded to” by the VA staff. This means the RO is not working on the claim. So involve your Congressman selectively and not repeatedly. VA is slow enough without giving them another roadblock to getting the basic work done.

To learn more or to contact a Veterans disability lawyer, Veterans disability attorney, Veterans lawyer, or Veterans attorney call 1.800.693.4800 or visit Legalhelpforveterans.com

by Jim Fausone
Veteran Disability Lawyer

Most veterans know that  the expansion of the Agent Orange (AO) presumptions last year were long over due.  But some in Congress question that decision and its costs.  Certain  Senators argue the Agent Orange Act of 1991 is flawed, providing too much au­thority to the VA secretary and allowing compensation awards based on a mere “association” between a disease and herbi­cide exposure rather than evi­dence that exposure “caused” the ailments. This debate is about how much authority should the Secretary of the VA have to create new presumptions. 

As an attorney who practices in this field, I know that without presumptions most veterans would not be able to prove the medical case for obtaining compensation.  They do not have the money to pay for medical opinions or the testing and research that would be necessary.  Keep an eye on the Senate as this issue is debated. 

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20110814/NEWS02/108140325/New-Agent-Orange-claims-surpass-84-000

To learn more or to contact a Veterans disability lawyer, Veterans disability attorney, Veterans lawyer, or Veterans attorney call 1.800.693.4800 or visit Legalhelpforveterans.com

by Jim Fausone
Veteran Disability Lawyer

Many veterans believe that they were exposed to Agent Orange (AO) outside of Vietnam.  Those veterans want the VA’s presumptive illnesses to apply to them. The VA and DOD have limited the areas where it is recognized that AO was used and exposure was possible.  Some veterans are trying to get the Korean government to pressure the US to recognize that AO was more widely recognized than just in the DMZ.  Read about its use and burial at Camp Carroll.

http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/korea/2-veterans-urge-s-korean-lawmakers-to-pressure-u-s-over-agent-orange-1.150062

To learn more or to contact a Veterans disability lawyer, Veterans disability attorney, Veterans lawyer, or Veterans attorney call 1.800.693.4800 or visit Legalhelpforveterans.com

by Jim Fausone
Veterans Disability Lawyers

You have to pass a bar exam to become a lawyer.  To be a claims agent you have to pass an accreditation exam.  Both are required to take continuing education to stay VA accredited.  Now Congress is considering a bill that would require an annual competency test for veterans’ claims processors.  Those opposed to the idea argued that such testing and retraining would cause the claim backload to grow even worse.  I doubt that Congress will ultimately pass the legislation but the idea, and the need for it, is worth exploring.  VA leadership should consider this idea and implement it voluntarily.  Keep an eye on the legislation and read more below.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2011/07/military-bill-would-test-competency-of-va-claims-workers-072211/

To learn more or to contact a Veterans disability lawyer, Veterans disability attorney, Veterans lawyer, or Veterans attorney call 1.800.693.4800 or visit Legalhelpforveterans.com

by Kristina Derro
Veteran Disability Lawyer

A recent order by the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims put a stay on all cases in which the VA alleged that the Veteran did not appeal a denied Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision within the 120-day deadline. A recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, Henderson v. Shinseki, 131 S. Ct. 1197 (2011), held that the 120-day deadline which the Veteran has to appeal a denied Board decision is not jurisdictional. Therefore, the Supreme Court found that the 120-day deadline is subject to equitable tolling.

What this means, is that if the Veteran had a legitimate reason for not being able to appeal the decision within the 120-day period, the Court will have to consider it. Right now, the Court put all the cases on hold while the judges confer and issue a decision in Henderson about what facts will constitute a “good excuse” for equitable tolling.

To learn more or to contact a Veterans disability lawyer, Veterans disability attorney, Veterans lawyer, or Veterans attorney call 1.800.693.4800 or visit Legalhelpforveterans.com

by Jim Fausone
Veteran Disability Lawyer

The most frequent question we get is “How long will it take VA to make a decision?”  My nephew, who just returned from Afghanistan, asked me this at a Father’s Day brunch last weekend. 

As of May 31, more than 800,000 disability claims are pending across the country, according to a House VA Committee news release. Of those, more than 60 percent have been pending for more than 125 days and could increase to 230 days by next year. As a rule of thumb, we tell people the initial claim may take a year – and each step in the appeal process thereafter will take a year.  So you can’t give up just because it will take so long.   

One problem that the passage of time creates is change in veteran contact information.  You must make sure that VA, and your representative – lawyer or claims agent -   has your current contact information.  If you change your address or telephone number or email address – you must let them know.  If VA sends notices to an old street address that you did not change, that is your problem.  If VA sends a notice of a C&P exam to an old address, you will miss the exam and your claim maybe denied.   It seems simple but it is important to update your contact information at VA.gov anytime it changes.  You will use VA Form 20-572.  You can find it at the link below.

http://www.vba.va.gov/pubs/forms/VBA-20-572-ARE.pdf

To learn more or to contact a Veterans disability lawyer, Veterans disability attorney, Veterans lawyer, or Veterans attorney call 1.800.693.4800 or visit Legalhelpforveterans.com

by Kristina Derro
Veterans Disability Lawyer

This month, the VA’s Office of Inspector General released its report on the systemic issues identified at 16 VA Regional Offices (VAROs) from April 2009 to September 2010. You can view the full report here: http://www.va.gov/oig/52/reports/2011/VAOIG-11-00510-167.pdf

Unfortunately, the report revealed the ineptitude that all the veterans experience and suffer from on a daily basis. The report identified that VARO staff incorrectly processed 23% of an estimated 45,000 claims. The biggest mistakes involved claims for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injuries (TBIs).

Over 8% of claims for PTSD were not adequately processed because the VARO staff “lacked sufficient experience and training to process these claims accurately. Additionally, some VAROs were not conducting monthly quality assurance reviews”. The bulk of the errors were in failing to properly verify claimed stressors and assigning incorrect effective dates for the grant of benefits for PTSD.

75% of VAROs inspected did not follow VA policy when processing claims for residuals of a TBI. In December 2009, it was estimated that 28,000 veterans suffered from a TBI, with many more being added to that list daily with the increase of bombings and IED attacks that our military is exposed to in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Inspector General’s findings regarding the VAROs’ incompetence in processing these claims can have disastrous effects for our veterans. Over 19% of claims for TBIs were not processed correctly. The report found that 42% of the errors were due to the VARO staff utilizing inadequate medical examinations which did not contain sufficient information upon which to make a decision. Evidently, the VA medical examiners were not using the most current examination formats and therefore not providing the VARO staff with sufficient information. Unfortunately, due to the VAROs staff’s lack of experience and training, they did not recognize when an examination was inadequate and failed to send it back to the VA examiner for corrections.

Compounding this problem is the fact that when the VARO actually did grant service connection for a TBI, 42% of errors involved the VARO assigning incorrect evaluations for the residuals of TBIs. The VA policy requires a separate evaluation for any disability with a distinct diagnosis related to a TBI, such as headaches or tinnitus. Regrettably, VARO staff failed to give separate ratings for disabilities and instead lumped them together in one rating.

A statistic which will come as no big surprise to any veteran that has sent information to VA is the fact that the report found 75% of the VAROs failed to properly control and process mail according to VA policy. Shockingly, the majority of mistakes were attributed to the staff being “generally unaware of policy requirements, including date stamping, governing mail processing at VA facilities. Further, VARO workload management plans contained unclear procedures or first-line supervisors did not always follow guidance delineated in these plans”. The failure to properly date-stamp materials obviously has catastrophic effects on a veteran’s claim. For instance, the document may be considered to be untimely, even though it was timely submitted but the VARO staff failed to properly date stamp it. Additionally, if a claim came in on January 31^st, then the start date for benefits when the claim is ultimately granted would be February 1^st. However, if the item isn’t date stamped until February 1^st, then the start date for benefits would be March 1^st.  This would cause the veteran to lose out on a month of benefit payments.

An interesting read for sure, the report details the mistakes that the 16 VAROs made, along with the Inspector General’s suggestions for improvement. All we can do is wait and see if VA actually gets around to implementing the suggestions. Until then, veterans’ claims continue to be improperly handled on a daily basis…

To learn more or to contact a Veterans disability lawyer, Veterans disability attorney, Veterans lawyer, or Veterans attorney call 1.800.693.4800 or visit Legalhelpforveterans.com