Legal Help for Veterans blog.
News and Press
by Kristina Derro An article in The Denver Post highlighted the recent award an Army veteran received for having a surgical clamp left in his chest after surgery at the Denver VA Medical Center—only $130,000. It is astounding as to how little an injury like that is actually worth in the eyes of the VA. […]
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Claims Processing
by Jim Fausone Our local VARO is representative of others around the country. Detroit is better than many from our experience. VA nationally reports its accuracy rate on disability claims of 83% so it makes errors 17% of the time. A recent VA IG report is troubling as Detroit had a 21% error rate. The VA IG found in Detroit: Management […]
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Claims Processing, PTSD, Veterans Law
by Jim Fausone The VA is in the process of finalizing new rules that liberalize evidentiary standards for proving stressors in claims for PTSD. The goal is to lessen the burden of proving stressors when the basis of the claim is fear of military action and terrorist’s actions. The VA has recently issued a Frequently Ask […]
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News and Press
By Kristina Derro Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC is organizing a free event in September that is sponsored by the Canton Community Foundation and the Holbrook Charitable Trust. It will be an opportunity for veterans, their friends, and their family to get together to learn about all the various benefits that are available from VA. […]
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Medical Issues / Disability, News and Press
By Jim Fausone It has been almost twenty years since the Gulf War, last year the VA once again reviewed how it was handling GW veteran claims. In August, VA announced three new Gulf War illness studies: • A five-year study on the impact of resistance-exercise training to treat chronic musculoskeletal pain. • A four-year study on […]
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Mental Health, News and Press
By Kristina Derro An article published in “USA Today” reviewed the recent findings from an Army study. https://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2010-07-29-army-suicides_N.htm?POE=click-refer The study found that in 2009, 160 active-duty soldiers committed suicide, 146 more died during “risky activity” such as drug use, and 1,713 soldiers attempted suicide. The study found that a record high number of suicides are […]
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News and Press
by Jim Fausone About 1.8 million women have served in the U.S. military. Over the last few years 245,000 female soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. It is estimated that within a decade, women will make up 16 percent of all veterans. As someone with a wife who has been […]
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Claims Processing, Medical Issues / Disability, News and Press, Veterans Law
by Jim Fausone In late July 2010 the US House passed a funding bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Within the bill was $13.4 billion for the payment of benefits to Vietnam veterans and survivors for exposure to Agent Orange related to the three diseases recently added to the “presumptive-connection” list: Parkinson’s disease, ischemic […]
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Mental Health, News and Press, PTSD, Veterans Law
by Kristina Derro Cooperative efforts between the VA and several local state courts have allowed for the implementation of a specialty court. These specialty courts around the state of Michigan (with many others in different states as well) give service members from World War II up through the recent Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts rehabilitation from […]
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News and Press
by Jim Fausone VA has issued a department directive allowing veterans to use marijuana in those states that have legalized the drug for medicinal purposes. The policy will not permit VA doctors to prescribe marijuana. But it will address the concern of many patients who use the drug that they could lose access to their prescription pain […]
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