Agent Orange List

[evandc]

From VA

http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1796

[Berta]

Unfortunately we still have no IHD ,Parkinsons, or Hairy Cell B regs proposed in the Federal Register-

It concerns me that this is taking so long for them to develop regs on Secretary SHinseki's announcement for these 3 new AOs.

With the new ships list -whereby some Brown Water vets can now attain AO comp and the pending HR2254 bill-(furure outcome still unknown) the VA might be adding up the potential costs of all this stuff in order to somehow circumvent some valid comp situations under all of these potential AO claims .

They also owe retro under Nehmer to many vets and widows under the 3 new presumptives as well as the new Brown Water situation.

Cripes no wonder the VA had to be given a fast letter to get off their butts on award payments they were holding back- as in the case of some of us here at hadit.

The odd part about that is even if an AO vet or their surviving spouse dies-Nehmer says they have to pay any Nehmer retro to the next of kin.There is No advantage under AO claims-to the VA- if the claimant dies.

I cannot fathom why VA would withhold AO retro but they have been doing that since the late 1990s when Nehmer was won by Beverly Nehmer and NVLSP.

[JRW]

Below is an excerpt taken from the Department Service Office Newsletter of an American Legion post. The link is also provided. This may (or may not) give us a better idea of when the new regulations for the three new agent orange illnesses may go into effect. This may have been published on this forum sometime in the past, I do not know.

I think the key statement in the overall context of this issue is when did the VA actually receive the National Academies Institute of Medical Report? Once that is established, then the law will apply, as to the final publication of the new regulations.

http://www.post3legion.com/DSO%20Newsletter/DSO%20Newsletter%20110109.htm

38 U.S.C. § 1116© (1) states that the VA should adhere to the following timeline when promulgating regulations to implement presumptive service connection for agent orange-related diseases:

• Not later than 60 days after the date on which the Secretary receives a report from the National Academy of Sciences, the Secretary shall determine whether a presumption of service connection is warranted for each disease covered by the report.
  
  
  In this case, the Secretary determined that presumptive service connection was warranted for Parkinson's disease, ischemic heart disease and B cell leukemia on October 13, 2009.
  
  
  
  
  • If the Secretary determines that a presumption is warranted, the Secretary, not later than 60 days after making the determination, shall issue proposed regulations setting forth the Secretary's determination.
    

  If VA adheres to this requirement, they must issue proposed regulations by Saturday, December 12, 2009.

  [*]Not later than 90 days after the date on which the Secretary issues any proposed regulations, the Secretary shall issue final regulations. Such regulations shall be effective on the date of issuance.

  However, in Liesegang v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 312 F.3d 1368, 1378 (Fed. Cir. 2002), the Court indicated that there is no harmful error if the VA misses the specific deadlines under § 1116©(1), as long as final regulations are issued within 210 days of the date the VA receives a report from the National Academy of Sciences.

  The most recent National Academies, Institute of Medicine Report, Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2008 was released on July 24, 2009. Presuming that this is the date the VA "received" the report, the final regulations are required to be published no later than February 19, 2010, pursuant to Liesegang.

[Julie2]

Julie2,

For what its worth, it appears to me that Vietnam veterans with an Agent Orange claim go through much faster, if their illness has already been medically diagnosed by outside doctors, prior to submitting the claim. In your case, it is clearly noted on the death certificate. If the regulations for the three new illnesses continue to follow in the path of the previous 12 illnesses on the list, I would think that you all you will need to do is just set back and let your claim speak for itself. Your claim, to me, looks "cut and dried."

JRW- Thanks again for responding to my Smoking question. Good point you made about Diabetes too. You are absolutely right. I was reading somewhere that they were looking at smoking and obsity, but, since Hypertension was Service connected before 40 years of smoking, I should be alright. I filed for DIC before I even knew anything about "Ischemic Heart Disease" because "Atheroscerosis" is a Progression of Hypertension. The Pathologist wrote that his Hypertension is one direct caussitive factor in his resullant Heart Attack. So, I guess I just sit and wait on a letter of some kind. Don't know if I should tell the VA guy to file it as AO or just to leave it alone, already been 7 months and haven't heard a thing. Thanks again.

[JRW]

<<<< Don't know if I should tell the VA guy to file it as AO or just to leave it alone, already been 7 months and haven't heard a thing.>>>>

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Just to be on the safe side, I would discuss it with the VA rep. to help clarify that part of the question. It wouldn't hurt.

[Julie2]

<<<< Don't know if I should tell the VA guy to file it as AO or just to leave it alone, already been 7 months and haven't heard a thing.>>>>

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Just to be on the safe side, I would discuss it with the VA rep. to help clarify that part of the question. It wouldn't hurt.

Julie 2

Thanks JRW I will go tommorrow and bring it to the VA guys attention. It's like after they have filed your claim, there done with you. I contacted him 2 months ago, and he said, Well, you'll know something before I do. He knows I don't know anything about this, I was the 2nd wife, 8years, and my husband did not talk to me about any of this, all he told me was his 2 brief cases contained important papers, and if anything happened to him, to look at them. So, my oldest daughter and I went down to the VA with the paper work, that's when I learned about DIC. He never spoke of it to me. Ex-wife got half his pension, so, he never put me on his half, guess he must of thought that DIC would pay me more, so why bother. He was right about that, as Dic will pay more than half his pension. Thanks, and real good talking to you.

[vperl]

Hey do not want to be a kill joy, but any time in Febuary for final rules is a

sad joke.

The VA seems be not be concerned of the rules.Who is going to make them

follow the law?

When the Federal Registary is posted the VA proposed rules, these rules

sit there for 60 days, during this time feel free to comment, which is very easy to do

.

After the 60 days, the time starts to finalize the rules, they have 30 days for this activity.

This process by law, the VA ignores

Try this site to locate the proposed rules, good luck.

http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#home

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^*******

Below is an excerpt taken from the Department Service Office Newsletter of an American Legion post. The link is also provided. This may (or may not) give us a better idea of when the new regulations for the three new agent orange illnesses may go into effect. This may have been published on this forum sometime in the past, I do not know.

I think the key statement in the overall context of this issue is when did the VA actually receive the National Academies Institute of Medical Report? Once that is established, then the law will apply, as to the final publication of the new regulations.

http://www.post3legion.com/DSO%20Newsletter/DSO%20Newsletter%20110109.htm

38 U.S.C. § 1116© (1) states that the VA should adhere to the following timeline when promulgating regulations to implement presumptive service connection for agent orange-related diseases:

• Not later than 60 days after the date on which the Secretary receives a report from the National Academy of Sciences, the Secretary shall determine whether a presumption of service connection is warranted for each disease covered by the report.
  
  
  In this case, the Secretary determined that presumptive service connection was warranted for Parkinson's disease, ischemic heart disease and B cell leukemia on October 13, 2009.
  
  
  
  
  • If the Secretary determines that a presumption is warranted, the Secretary, not later than 60 days after making the determination, shall issue proposed regulations setting forth the Secretary's determination.
    

  If VA adheres to this requirement, they must issue proposed regulations by Saturday, December 12, 2009.

  [*]Not later than 90 days after the date on which the Secretary issues any proposed regulations, the Secretary shall issue final regulations. Such regulations shall be effective on the date of issuance.

  However, in Liesegang v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 312 F.3d 1368, 1378 (Fed. Cir. 2002), the Court indicated that there is no harmful error if the VA misses the specific deadlines under § 1116©(1), as long as final regulations are issued within 210 days of the date the VA receives a report from the National Academy of Sciences.

  The most recent National Academies, Institute of Medicine Report, Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2008 was released on July 24, 2009. Presuming that this is the date the VA "received" the report, the final regulations are required to be published no later than February 19, 2010, pursuant to Liesegang.