No New AO presumptives?

[Berta]

I have had a bad cold all week and just started checking my emails....this AM a Florida Newspaper stated that VA had decided Not to add anymore AO presumptives.

They gave no link for that statement. Have I missed something?

This came up on a Google Alert I have had for a long time regarding the potential new AO presumptives the VA Secretary would consider.

Has anyone received any definitive news from the VA or any vet org, that there will be no new AO presumptives in the future?

[Gastone]

Like Sienfeld's "Soup Nazi," VA has an "AO Presumptive Nazi," "No New AO Presumptive for You!" Please check back in the future, like a prison term, say 5 to 10 yrs and always remember "We Appreciate your Service."

[john999]

I thought there was evidence of a relationship between high blood pressure and AO.   I know they don't want to open that can of worms because high blood leads to strokes and strokes lead to disability and death.  That leads to the VA having to pay out sums of cash and we know this is their real function which is to discourage payouts to sick vets and spouses who might get DIC.

[Berta]

I thought I had posted this info- the newspaper story was untrue and I am still waiting for the Newspaper ombudsman to call me back or retract it. Maybe they did by now----

I will find out and breathe down their throats on Monday if they dont fix it.

The woman who wrote the article asked me Who are you? I told her I am a veterans advocate, AO is the most impotant issue of my life, and I am an AO widow-and I am asking for retraction on behalf of about 800,000 Vietnam vets, still alive, who need to have accurate news on AO, because this article can cause them to lose hope if they have any of the potential new presumptives. She knew right away she had made a serious error, my source was what she had used ( from Starts and Stripes)

We dont know what Sec Shulkin will do - but I will believe it when it comes from him and not some newspaper (in Florida of all places, that has a good sized vet population.

Thanks for reminding me of this.

[Gastone]

John,  I think the IOM listed Historical Hypertension Evidence of Association with AO as " suggestive but Limited." That's not enough for a BIG $$$ Presumptive addition.

[Berta]

Good point Gastone, but that was what former Sec,. Shinseki based the 2010 AO IHD regulations on:

"The Health and Medicine Division (formally known as the Institute of Medicine) of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine concluded in its report "Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2008" released July 24, 2009, that there is "suggestive but limited evidence that exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides used during the Vietnam War is associated with an increased chance of developing ischemic heart disease."

https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/conditions/ischemicheartdisease.asp

I think that also was the same wording for some other past AO presumptives-I need to check the  older IOM reports later.

I still remember my shock at the IHD news in 2010. I never believed that would ever happen.

Stroke is also being considered..if a veteran had had an ischemic stroke and also has a AO IHD rating- it is Highly likely the ischemic stroke would have the same environmental etiology as the heart disease did. I have a letter to that effect to send to the Secretary.

If he disagrees ( I feel I need  one more strong  piece of medical evidence to add to that), I  sure want to know his medical rationale, as ischemia of heart or brain is basically the same thing.

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2018 by Berta

[Tbird]

FYI:

HMD Reports on Agent Orange 

Share Tweet Share VA contracts with the Health and Medicine Division (HMD) (formally known as the Institute of Medicine) of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, a non-governmental organization, to scientifically review evidence on the long-term health effects of Agent Orange and other herbicides on Vietnam Veterans. HMD determines whether the evidence points … Continue reading