Am I Wasting My Time?

[Seabee Wife]

My late husband, a 'boots on the ground' Vietnam Vet, passed away in 2015. His death certificate showed cause of death "Tongue Cancer." I have finally been able to get the death certificate amended to show PART I, "Squamous Cell CA Tongue" as cause of death and PART II, contributing conditions to show "Sepsis, DM2, and CVA.

The cancer is not on the agent orange presumptive list, however, DM2 is, and possibly soon CVA will be on the list. Since these two illnesses are only contributing conditions on his death certificate, will the VA award DIC or will I be required to jump through hoops to no avail?  My husband had never applied for disability. The DM2 diagnosis and CVA occurred after the cancer diagnosis.

Thank you for your time and input in this matter.          

Edited September 17, 2017 by Seabee Wife

[Berta]

That is GREAT! There should be no problem at all with the claim......But then again......I have been a hard core claimant many times with the VA and they gave me problems with just about every claim I filed...as a widow of a Vietnam vet.I just fought back until I got the right decisions.

I hope this goes well for you. Thank you!!!!!! for giving me the opportunity to learn a little about the Seabees..

I bet they built the Danang Air Base where my husband was at. They did plenty of hard work in Vietnam!

Here is a  Unit page for CBMU 301

http://www.military.com/unitpages/unit.do?id=714435

Here is some Dong Ha photos of his unit:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/108800147@N03/sets/72157637704185505/

More here http://www.vietvet.org/seabees.htm

And they have a Facebook page.

He definitely served after they sprayed the AO!

BTW all here- the new Ken Burns PBS Vietnam War Documentary is Fabulous----on PBS!

I missed Part one but l ast night they showed the amtracks unloading the Marines on the beach at Danang.

Match 1965

My husband was one of those Marines, but a few months after the videos were taking of the First Wave Rolling Thunder.June 1965.

As my husband said, they were all scared to death  to land,and it seemed  just ike the movies of the WWII Normandy landing, where men got shot before they even touched the beach, and plenty died on the beach......

but the Marines, in 1965, as one video shows got a great reception from the Vietnamese, and didnt see any action at all .....for a short while....one of my best friends is a VA Chaplain and VA Chaplain services emailed all VA Chaplains to watch the documentary if they could.

I hope VHA asked ALL VA  hospital employees who deal with Vietnam vets to watch this doc.

And maybe it will stir up some good diaglogue from civilians who watch it and could learn a lot about what our men and women dealt with there.And why so many vets have PTSD from the war.

The Vietnam War ( mere paragraphs in my veteran daughter's high school history book years ago), is still a major Lessons Learned facet of warfare training. And revealed the incredible bravery and courage of our Armed Services...and they had an enemy who was far more sophisticated in war maneuvers than our Government first thought.

 

 

[Seabee Wife]

Ms Berta...I cried when I saw the pictures of Paul's unit and when I watched Part 4 of the PBS documentary tonight. You have been such a blessing. I will keep you posted on my progress...or lack of...Since you are a site elder, can you see my email address and send me yours? I would like to send you something when this is all over...I hope you are right and this will be over soon. Just watching that documentary tonight makes me hopeful that every Vietnam Vet gets 100% disability for ever having to fight this war...  

[Berta]

SeaBee Wife-

I hope I have not misunderstood your post-----

our advice here is always free....but the  hadit  site will accept donations.

The photo of your husband is wonderful !....

My daughter , a veteran herself, made me a beautiful collage of my husband's  medals and ribbons, and  3 photos of him- one in his Altar Boy garment,on the last  Sunday before he left for Quantico, and one in his USMC utilities with his mother, prior to Vietnam and one from the BT book they get after their training....an innocent kid.....the parents had to sign papers for him--he was only 17, to be enlisted.

About 10-15 years ago I had to close my personal contact info here. Too many problems. Others here however have their emails available I think.

There is a downside to being a veteran's advocate.....as well as being a widow.

I had a terrible experience just a few months ago, and I thought those days were over, because someone-this is an isolated farm community but I am 20 miles from a VAMC-someone locally  got my contact info from my church's directory and I received one of the worse phone calls I ever got.

It was all triggered by  the fact that I am a veteran's advocate and a widow ....Long story....I took action against them but more is yet to come.....

We ,as widows, have to be very careful. I have noticed that guests can read our profiles and possibly can get our emails there if they have open emails here. Vets , here ,as well must be careful of that.I hope everyone here has very good security on their PCs.

As soon as the Secretary makes a decision on any new VA presumptives in November I will post that here in our AO forum.

I dont think HBP will be on the list ( then again I am still surprised that IHD is) but feel CVA, if ischemic in nature, should definitely be. 

At some point the VA will send you a letter if they more evidence or information.

You can register at the ebenefits site and possibly keep updated that way on your claim.

 

 

 

Edited September 21, 2017 by Berta

[Seabee Wife]

Ms. Berta...gotcha...I understand...You have been such a delight and so knowledgeable. So glad that I "met you."

I too, will be very interested to see what is added to the presumptive list. My husband's stroke was ischemic. So, with 11 months on the ground, and diagnoses of tongue cancer, MRSA, ischemic stroke, and diabetes, I remain pretty pissed off about this war. Youngsters fighting. You are my new favorite person. May God bless you abundantly and keep you safe.       

[john999]

Of course , VA will ask if your husband was a smoker or chewed or dipped snuff?   If DMII contributed to his death  then you should get DIC.   Berta......are you still recommending all Vietnam vets get autopsy.  I understand those autopsies are expensive and not routine even if you are an organ donor.  I have found that doctors are apt to just quote most likely cause of death on death certificates because no autopsy was done.

[Berta]

Yes John autopsies , I have learned over the years , are Very costly ,...I dont know if the Organ Bank here in NY does them for free-

I heard the VA will do one for free if the vet dies at the VA-----not sure----a VA employee told me that...

and then again who would they get to even do the autopsy?

Under unusual circumstances I think a coroner can order an autopsy for any one whose death was very unexpected or suspicious..but dont know who would pay for it.

The problem is that many vets die before the ten year DIC rule , and die of NSC causes, and something they never claim might contribute to their death and be on the death certificate or found on the autopsy findings.

Or due to something they died of or contributed to death ,with a claim pending for it , that would involve DIC but the surviving spouse would have to prove that it was a SC disability.

The VA would have continued their statement in a 1997 denial that my husband died of cocaine  overdose, because tyhe failed to give the posthumous Doc ( and even the VACO doctor) a copy of the autopsy, whih revealed only minimal amount of VA meds in my husband's system.

In any case where the vet or their survivors feel the health care  was inadequate and could have caused their loved one's death, they will either wonder  about that the rest of their lives or they will somehow get the money for an autopsy to be done, but that decision has to be made right away.

I know a family that still wonders why a member, after getting a clean cardio bill of health, suddenly dropped dead of a massive heart attack.He was not a veteran and they didnt want an autopsy done, but it still haunts them as to why he died.The doctors gave them a reason, saying it was a rare congenital heart condition, but I wonder how the doctors , who treated him, never picked up on it. A Death Cert is usually  always  correct, and it is an educated guess ,done often by a coroner who does not have the deceased medical records or any knowledge of the living habits, meds, etc etc of the deceased ,but an autopsy ,without all those things too, is a very definite way to determine the cause of death and any contributing factors a coroner or Dr at an ER might be completely unaware of.

In any event ,even without an autopsy, hopefully the vet has claimed anything in their lifetime that could possibly cause their death.

I  have seenmany widows claims here John, with 1151 potential , that will be denied ,unless the widow gets an IMO, and the cost of the IMO might be a similar cost to having had an autopsy done. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 22, 2017 by Berta