Don Anderson's comments:

on Veterans' Affairs

A friend suggested I tune in to the Vets show today. I was able to hear Mrs Geddry speak and would have liked to join the discussion, but could not see the numbers on the phone through the tears. I'm a Vietnam Vet, struggling for many years w/o help from the VA. In '75 I entered the old brick hospital on the hill in Portland. I'd lost 60 + pounds, had tremors over entire body and several bouts of blacking out. Before receiving results from blood tests, a myelogrm was ordered and done. Against orders, a med student took it upon himself to withdraw the dye and puncured my sciatic nerve. A couple hours later the blood tests showed a hyperactive thyroid condition. I believe to this day it was from agent orange exposure. I spent months learning to walk again and still deal daily with the continued sciatic pain, cramps, pins and needles in both legs and feet. In '85, after ten years of outpatient work,the doctors suggested I file a claim for disability. Within a month, all medical records from my admission to the date of claim mysteriously disappeared. There were other complications during that stay, including, but not limited to active TB five months after admission. All claims since have beeen denied due to the fact that "I'm not submitting the necessary medical records to substantiate my claim." I finally received a hearing in 2006, but was told two months later that neither of the tape recorders had worked...?

PTSD has also been an ongoing issue since my return from Vietnam in Oct of 1966. For some strange reason, the VA declared I now have it 42 years after the fact and gave me an 80% disability rating for that alone, retroactive to Dec of 2006. No mention of the previous 40 years. Last week, I read the following article in US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT:

If military veterans applying for benefits either haven't gotten a reply from
the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or received a different response than
expected, it could mean that evidence for their claim file wound up in the
shredder.

A nationwide review of the VA's 57 regional offices has found that 41 had
records in their shredder bins that shouldn't have been there. In all, nearly
500 benefit claims records had been erroneously slated for destruction,
including claims for compensation, notices of disagreement with a claim
decision, and death certificates.

That number could drop, because the investigation is still tracking down some
claims folders to see whether or not the records have already been incorporated into them. But officials also remain unsure how long the situation has been going on?and how many veterans may have been affected.

"The common problem in the VA system has been delays in getting the mail to the [veteran's] file," says Steve Smithson, deputy director of veterans affairs at the American Legion. "But shredding documents that may be relevant to the claim is new to us."

The issue first surfaced when audits by the VA's Office of Inspector General
found records erroneously placed in shredder bins in the VA office in Detroit.
In an ensuing nationwide review, the VA discovered that the Detroit office was
only part of the problem. There are 474 documents that still cannot be
identified as duplicated in veterans' claim files. Three offices have
contributed more than half: St. Louis, with 94; Columbia, S.C., with 95; and
Cleveland, with 53.

Particular individuals in the Columbia and St. Louis offices are being "looked
at closely" in an ongoing investigation, VA Undersecretary for Benefits Patrick Dunne says. "They are not handling clients." Sources from veterans'
organizations say they believe the two potential perpetrators to be under
administrative leave. The Cleveland office also remains under investigation,
and no particular worker has yet been identified as the source of the problem
there.

VA's shredder bins typically are emptied once or twice a week, meaning that the 474 documents may represent only a few days' worth of errors. It will be nearly impossible to figure out how many documents had been incorrectly destroyed in the past?or if any have, Dunne says.

The approximately 50 different kinds of records found slated for
destruction?including nine compensation claims, 18 notices of disagreement
with a decision, and two death notices?could be key pieces of evidence for a
veteran's application for benefits, says Jerry Manar, the national veterans
service deputy director for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. If a key piece of
evidence has been shredded, "it can result in the denial of a claim," Manar
says. More than 800,000 claims of various kinds are currently pending in the
VA's backlog.

The VA has taken swift action in an attempt to get the situation under control. All regional offices were immediately ordered to halt any shredding until changes are put in place. Training began in some of the regional offices this week to re-educate employees on the proper procedures for filing and shredding papers.

Meanwhile, a policy is being drafted to strengthen oversight in the regional
offices. The revised policy likely will include a two-person review, in which
an employee will initial and date a document slated for shredding, give it to
his or her supervisor for review, and only then destroy it.

Some in the veterans community are urging more oversight. Rep. Bob Filner, head of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, recently announced that he will hold a hearing on the issue the week of November 17.

Veterans are urged to call their service officers or the VA itself if they have any reason to think their claims file is incomplete, particularly if they have not received a letter of acknowledgement for the submission of a claim after 30 days or if the VA's list of documents received seems incomplete.

"We can't tolerate even one veteran's piece of paper being missing," Dunne says. "We're taking action to make sure it doesn't happen again."


My Response is below:

VA Shreddergate

Id like to think my missing records were among those found going into the
shredder; however, with my personal case going back to VA problems 33 years
ago, I'm afraid they have long since gone into a landfill. Since returning from Nam in OCT. of 1966, I've encountered various illnesses and anomalies that no one else in my family or friends group has. In March of '75 I entered the VA Portland, OR hospital and was severely injured by a male med student, more interested in showing off than following orders. "I'll be right back, don't touch anything." said the doctor, after dong a myelogram where dye is injected into the spinal column. A fellow physician had asked for a short conference on another patient in the hallway outside the room. As soon as she was out the door, this young, upstart doctor inserted the needle in my spine and penetrated the sciatic nerve rather than the canal where the dye was located. As a result of this "accident", I spent ten months there learning to walk again, amongst other complications like getting active TB five months after my admission. Sciatica problems continue today. Doctors in '85 said they'd done all they could and I should file a claim. Ten years worth of medical records disappeared immediately. It took another 21 years of CLAIM DENIED letters from them to gain my first hearing. Along with witnesses of my stay there in '75, a few pages of VA records obtained by my Cong Peter DeFazio, and testimony to their claims rep and two tape recorders, I foolishly thought I'd win. Two months later I was told by that same rep that they'd "FUBARD me". She apologized that both tape recorders had failed to record!? A new hearing would be requested immediatetly. Three days short of a year later, my 2nd hearing was held. Their representative had never held a meeting before, had no clue about operation of the recorders,and was greatly intimidated by the seven witnesses I brought, and our eight tape recorders. Again, my claim was denied because I, the Veteran / Patient, had failed to supply the necessary documentation to substantiate my claim. Over 33 years now since the original injury, and my paths have crossed with countless other Vets facing similar and worse personal issues. Many of them have since died, unable to support their families, or deal with the constant rejections and brush off from the government they willingly served. Am I cynical that the VA cares about any of us...? You Bet!
Don Anderson ~Lebanon, Oregon

posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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