Fairness To Vets

[flhtci2004]

You know, 43 years ago a lot of us vets took off our uniforms and never looked back. Some never joined parades, protested nor joined veterans organizations but instead<br style="min-width: 0px; ">immersed ourselves into school or the work place and continued with our lives. There was not mention on exiting the service interview that we may of been poisoned during our one or two tours in Nam, so be aware in the future years and contact the VA if you have anyproblem...no mention of this at all. I remember in the early 90's that there was an AO lawsuit going around and somehow, someone contacted me to be part of of the class action. The biggest reportedproblem at that time were problems involving birth defects. Both my boys were grown by then and had no known effects from AO so I declined to try and squeeze the government of any moneyI didn't feel I deserved. Fast forward to 2007 and a report from my urologist that I had a very aggressive prostate cancer that needed to be removed. My only real option was radical prostatectomy so in Feb. 2008the prostate and limp nodes were removed just in time as the cancer had erupted from the prostate. Still no connection whatsoever to Nam for me. Apparently somewhere in the late 90's there were newspaper articles associating prostate cancer with the VA and AO that was now covered as a service connected disability. Well, unless you actually had it in the 90's or maybe 'total recall" I believe the majority of us would not of connect our prostate cancer 10 years down the road to Nam or some obscure newspaper article 10 years earlier. Two years after my operation every newsprint that mentioned prostate cancer now draws my eye and I happened to view a newspaper article about this very subject that basically informed us to seek out compensation from the VA, which I did and it is still on someone's desk waiting for approval. I don't fault the VA for the time it is taking to reach any decision because apparently they are buried in paperwork, my complaint is that they will not back up your claim to the date of the operation. They admit AO caused the problem but the VA is hiding behind the fact that somehow we should of known? I don't get it. They pay 100% if somehow you knew in advance of the problem but not if you were unaware that the VA owes you money? If all the vets that have had this same problem were to somehow come together (and there seems to be many) maybe we could petition the VA to back up our illness and paper work to the date of our surgeries? Just saying!

[Pete53]

Welcome to Hadit. Many of us left the service with no information or guidance about our benefits that we had earned.

[Mcafee]

Hello All Hope All Is Well.

Welcome to Hadit.

I also had gone through Lapriscopic Prostatectomy Dec 2010 due to Cancer.

In the event of what I have seen so far when it comes to Veterans gaining according to Veterans Administration rules and regs have made it very difficult even when you have the documentation to support your claim.

I wish you all the best in Health I have learned things can change rather quickly in health as I have gotten older.

Kinda like GE has all the Loop Holes to Not Paying Taxes the VA has all the Loop Holes covered to not paying Service men and Women for SERVICE.

Have a Great Day

[vmo]

flhtci: Welcome aboard. You are in the right LZ now----many helpful people here at Hadit (a lot of knowledge and experience). *I think it is very important that all Viet vets see a "urologist" at least once per year. Get PSA blood work and digital exam. This should be done in addition to your regular family (primary care) physician. I am sorry to hear you were not aware of the prostate cancer associated to Vietnam service back in 2007. **I have often thought the VARO's should send referral letters to "all" oncology centers across the United States----. Informing them of the Vietnam Agent Orange cancers/diseases, requesting the oncology centers/hospitals to refer veterans to VA to file VA Compensation (or followup medical care if needed). In closing, when I left military service in 1971, after 4 yrs, there was nothing about Agent Orange illnesses available. The problem is not just being informed at military separation, but keeping us continually updated and informed about these illnesses. Finally, process and pay the dang claims in a reasonable amount of time.

[john999]

If you don't go for AO Registry exam you don't get updates about what is and isn't on the AO presumptive list. I did the AO exam in 2000. This was 30 years after service in Vietnam. They found three conditions that were presumptive for AO. Nothing really life threatening at that point but there were there. You know most veterans don't know zip about their benefits. You can go out to your local VAMC and find someone who has some condition that sould be SC and they don't know it. They are usually living in poverty and no one has ever told them they can get extra compensation for that heart problem or the DMII complications.