Legal Help for Veterans blog.
News and Press
Reports of sexual assaults by members of the military shot-up 50% in the past year, according to the Pentagon’s annual report released last week. But that sharp increase could be a result of a vigorous campaign to make victims feel more comfortable to come forward about being sexually assaulted, officials say. “There is no indication […]
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Medical Issues / Disability, News and Press
Thousands of veterans who served during the Gulf War in the 1990s continue to report mysterious symptoms, especially short-term memory loss and debilitating fatigue, over 20 years later. The collection of ailments that active duty soldiers and veterans reported after the operation to oust Saddam Hussein from Kuwait ended in 1991 were known as Gulf […]
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News and Press
Between 2011 and 2012, the Michigan homeless population dropped modestly from 94,033 to 93,619. But during the same year-to-year period, the trend among homeless veterans moved in the opposite direction, increasing from 4,073 to 4,243 individuals. And there is reason to believe that veterans’ greater tendency to fall into social isolation has helped deteriorate figures […]
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Claims Processing, Medical Issues / Disability, News and Press
Kristina Derro Veteran Advocate This is just disgraceful. CNN has been reporting for months on the extended delays for health care appointments suffered by veterans across the country and who died while waiting. However, new revelations of secret lists and shredded evidence show that long-waits could be just the tip of the iceberg. At least […]
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Claims Processing, Medical Issues / Disability, News and Press
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) took a step forward toward alleviating the backlog of disability claims, but that problem is still far from solved. For the first time since February 2011, the number of backlogged disability claims dropped below the 350,000 mark. That’s a decrease of more than 250,000 cases in the past year, […]
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News and Press
Jim Fausone, Esq. Veteran Disability Lawyer Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a widely accepted disability today and I have been writing on the topic frequently. It was not always so. Now the condition is at the center of a lawsuit against the US Military. The lawsuit, which seeks class action status, could ultimately affect […]
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News and Press
Kristina Derro, Esq. Veterans Disability Lawyer The government has launched a new process to expedite Social Security disability claims for a special category of veterans, the Social Security Administration announced Tuesday, March 18. Under the new process, Social Security claims from veterans with a Veterans Affairs Department disability compensation rating of 100 percent Permanent […]
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News and Press
Kristina Derro, Esq. The Department of Veterans Affairs’s (VA) “appeals resolution time” shot up to 923 days in fiscal year 2013 – that’s up 37% from 675 in the previous year, according to the department’s annual performance report. The appeals resolution time is the average time it takes for a denied claim to work […]
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News and Press
We often report on the issues and hardships facing our nation’s veterans. But what many don’t realize is the impact these returning veterans have on families and their children. Life goes on after and life beyond the touching homecoming video clip or news report and it is not always a “happily-ever-after” scenario. It’s estimated that […]
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Medical Issues / Disability, News and Press
Jim Fausone, Esq Veteran Disability Lawyer Many veterans experience respiratory problems after returning from active duty, and this has been even more common for those who have served in the Persian Gulf region. Iraq War veterans often think their respiratory problems stem from smoke from a burn pit – however, this assumption may be […]
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