diabetes One More Question On Death Of Veteran While Claim At Bva

[derenick52]

HEY ALL,THANKS FOR THE INPUT ON MY POST THE OTHER DAY ON INFO FOR WIDOW-SUBSTITUTION,ETC,SO HIS CLAIM AT BVA IS FOR DIABETES,HE DIED FROM LUNG CANCER ANOTHER AGENT ORANGE MEDICAL CONDITION WHICH WAS JUST DIAGNOSED A WEEK BEFORE HIS DEATH-DOES HIS WIDOW HAVE ANY RECOURSE ON THE LUNG CANCER ISSUE OR IS IT MUTE AS HE HAS PASSED ON-? THANKS TO ALL YOUR HEROES

[sharon]

When she files for benenfits she need to state that he died of a service connected conditon "Lung Cancer". They will have to do a rating for her DIC claim.

[Berta]

Yes, Sharon is always right on the button with her advise.

The widow might be eligible for accrued benefits due to the DMII , and then also eligible for DIC due to the lung cancer death.

Was he a VA patient?

How could someone die of lung cancer a week after a diagnosis?

Was an autopsy done?

That diagnosis and death sure concerns me if he was receiving continuous medical care.

Agent Orange claims have always been fairly cut and dried.

What I mean is, as long as the veteran had proven exposure to AO ( Vietnam service, or fitting into the Korea AO regs or the AO Thailand Directive,

and the veteran also had an AO presumptive disability----- these claims were practically no brainers for VA to award.

Can you tell us why this claim went to the BVA ????

Was he a Blue Water Navy vet?

Something doesn't make sense to me here.

[derenick52]

Hey,He was a Blue Water Navy Vet,we Appealed to Bva for Direct service connection under the Plausible causability fact,as we docked in Da Nang at the pier and brang Contaminated equipment aboard-Helicopters/trucks/Brown water Navy craft,see Blue water navy-Da Nang Harbor report,he had lost a lung about 3 months ago,Lung had filled with fluid,when drained- tried to fix problem and lung collapsed-pernamently,had to go on oxygen to get by,No cancer at that time,only got real sick in last 2 weeks,Did several biopsy's and only until last week did Lung cancer show up as positive,Imagine that,I could not believe it, also,almost sounds like misdiagnosis,they are doing a Autopsy today,anxious to see results,am still in shock,thanks for the help

[Berta]

YES! it sure sounds like a major misdiagnosis to me too.

If this all occurred at a VAMC, there could be potential for a Section 1151 DIC claim as well as a claim for DIC AO death.

Also the widow might sure be able to FTCA them. FTCA is a tort action against the VA.

We have plenty of info on these types of claims in our FTCA/Section 1151 forum here.

I filed under both types of claims when my husband died and won the Section 1151 DIC in 1998, and then won the AO DIC in 2010.

They only send one DIC check but ,my story is in the FTCA forum and how I recovered my entire FTCA offset, awarded for wrongful death, when I trumped them with evidence of an AO death.

http://www.bluewaternavy.org/

John Rossie, President of BWNVVA and Carol Olzenacki , a Blue Water AO widow are doing a lot of work to see if the AO Equity Act will finally pass.

Blue Waters ave a very hard time with these types of claims but they can succeed sometimes.

I posted a “Widow's Story” recently in our DIC forum from Carol.You can see the struggle she had and she can be contacted via the above BWN site.She as helped many widows with BWN AO claims.

The report on Danang Harbor is at the site too.

VA makes a big concession for 'docking' as compared to an anchor dropping and Danang Harbor claims can be very problematic. You seem familiar with the Blue Water site.Do you know Carol?

John and Carol also have done SVR shows here available in the SVR radio archives on Blue Water Navy AO veterans.

The most updated AO ship's list is here too:

VA will concede AO exposure in most cases, if the veteran served on any of these ships during the Vietnam War.

I am so glad an autopsy is being done on this vet. Sometimes an autopsy can reveal far more then a death certificate.

My husband was autopsied because he was an organ donor but I didnt realize at the time that his autopsy would be critical to my proving to VA that they killed him with piss poor medical care.(FTCA/1151)

After that I fully believe most veterans should be autopsied at death.

The very first heart slide I read in his autopsy proved malpractice.

Autopsies can be confusing to read.I used lots of medical texts to decipher his 6 page autopsy.. The VA refused to read it, until the General Counsel VA forced them to award my DIC.

I can well imagine you and this veteran's widow are in shock.

She should obtain copies of ALL of his VA medical records (I assume he was a VA patient) and a copy of his C file.

And not tip them off in any way that she might file 1151, or FTCA.

Do you know the exact wording of the death certificate?

What caused the loss of the lung?

Edited May 31, 2012 by Berta

[Berta]

Just to add, this was a successful Docked in Danang AO claim:

http://www.va.gov/vetapp/wraper_bva.asp?file=/vetapp10/Files4/1037559.txt

In Part:

In January 2006 the Board ordered extensive development

concerning the USS Lloyd Thomas and the possibility that the

Veteran either stepped foot on land in Vietnam or served in the

inland waters thereof. In compliance, both the deck logs and the

command histories for the USS Lloyd Thomas for 1970 and 1971 were

obtained. Significantly, the command histories indicate that on

December 10, 1970 the USS Lloyd Thomas "arrived Danang," and

departed on December 11, 1970. Similarly, the record shows an

arrival in Danang on December 13, 1970 with a departure on

December 14, 1970.”

“ORDER

Service connection for diabetes mellitus is granted. “

Also the VA's AO Ships list has grown in great part because BWN vets have proven their ships should be on the list with evidence from command histories , deck log info, eye witness accounts and enough details that the VA had to concede the ship was within "inland' waters.

[derenick52]

Hey Berta,thanks so much for the link to Bva decision,this is same situation as my friends claim,will have his Widow submit this decision as evidence,SO-JUST CHECKING If I understand Her situation,if she Wins Diabetes claim-she is Entitled to accured benefits till the time of his death-THEN If his Death certificate states Lung cancer as cause of death-she can file for Survivors pension,waiting for a copy of his death certificate in next few days,thanks soo much for the help