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Social Security Disabilty

• Scottsdale-based maker of Zicam faces lawsuit
  Jun 23, 2009

  In what could be the opening salvo in a new wave of lawsuits against the Scottsdale-based maker of Zicam, lawyers filed suit on Monday on behalf of 117 people who claim they have suffered loss of smell after using the popular nasal spray.

  Company officials are bracing for additional lawsuits after the Food and Drug Administration last week issued a warning letter linking Zicam nasal gel and swabs to loss of smell. The company responded by voluntarily recalling its Zicam Cold Remedy nasal gels and swabs from retailers nationwide. The company has more than a dozen oral Zicam products that were not targeted by the FDA and remain in stores nationwide.

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• Social Security Speeds Disability Claims Review
  Oct 30, 2008

  Under a new Social Security program people with cancers and severe medical conditions will begin to see disability claims work faster. This new Social Security program will focus on diseases where a person cannot continue working due to the severity of the disease or treatment. These disability claims will be able to be approved solely on confirmation of the diagnosis, like leukemia, ALS, and pancreatic cancer. - 62 - 70

Veterans Disability

• Agent Orange Concerns for Veterans with Disabilities
  Aug 31, 2010

  Due to Agent Orange fears, about 270,000 Vietnam veterans - more than one-quarter of the 1 million receiving disability checks - are getting compensation for diabetes, according to Department of Veterans Affairs records obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act. After noting that more Vietnam vets are being compensated for diabetes than for any other malady, including post-traumatic stress disorder, hearing loss or general wounds there are tens of thousands of other claims for common ailments of age that are getting paid as well because of a possible link, direct or indirect, to Agent Orange. These payments are the responsibility of the taxpayers  who soon maybe responsible for even more as Veterans Affairs adds heart disease, Parkinson's disease and certain types of leukemia to the list of conditions that might be connected to Agent Orange.

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• Veterans Affairs Doctor Misdiagnoses Woman with Breast Cancer
  Jul 20, 2010

  Janice Fenwick, a retired asset manager for the Marines," who in 2009 was told she had the earliest stage of breast cancer.  She was treated with a partial mastectomy and began radiation treatment from the advise of the Veterans Affairs Hospital. Later the VA Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida told her the diagnosis was incorrect.
  
  It turns out that the diagnosis of the earliest stage of breast cancer can be surprisingly difficult and prone to both outright error and case by case disagreement over whether a cluster of cells is benign or malignant.
  
  If you have been misdiagnosed not only have you probably undergone unnecessary surgerys and treatments but the emotional stress and anger can ruin a person's life. Contact a personal injury attorney to get the compensation you deserve. - 64 - 70

• Veterans Affairs Hopsital Fails to Notify Patients of HIV Exposure
  Jul 08, 2010

  The Miami Veterans Administration hospital announced that it had failed to contact 79 veterans after discovering that "more than 2,400 veterans might have been exposed to HIV, hepatitis or other diseases during their colonoscopies." New rounds of hearings are being called before the House Veterans' Affairs Committee into how the Miami VA hospital, and VA hospitals across the country, are run.
  
  Miami isn't the only ones with the issue, the St. Louis VA hospital said almost 2,000 veterans might have been exposed to HIV and hepatitis by improperly cleaned dental equipment.
  
  The problems began in 2009 when the Veterans Affairs revealed that more than 2,400 Miami-area vets were given colonoscopies with improperly cleaned equipment. - 65 - 70

• Veterans Affairs Giving Benefits to Marines Exposed to Toxic Water
  Jun 22, 2010

  The U.S. Department of the Navy says that more research is needed to connect ailments suffered by Marines who served at Camp Lejeune and their families who lived there to decades of water contamination, yet the Department of Veterans Affairs has begun awarding benefits to a few Marines who were based at Lejeune.

  It's estimated that as many as a million people were exposed to the water from the 1950s to the 1980s. The water was laced with trichloroethylene, known as TCE; tetrachloroethylene, known as PCE; benzene and other volatile organic chemicals. While the Department of the Navy , which oversees the base, is funding continuing research on the issue, in some cases the VA has acknowledged that as likely as not, some Marine veterans' ailments were caused by drinking and bathing in poisonous water.

  If you have been exposed to toxic chemicals and are filing for disability contact a Veterans Disability Attorney. Many times without the help of a disability lawyer individuals who should not get denied benefits are denied multiple times. Help yourself by getting a disability attorney who will work for you while you work on keeping yourself healthy. Contact the Veterans Disability attorney at Rutter Mills, 757.622.5000.

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• $300 Million to cope with Agent Orange in Vietnam
  Jun 18, 2010

  Thirty-five years after the Vietnam War, a joint panel of U.S. and Vietnamese policymakers, citizens and scientists released an action plan urging the U.S. government and other donors to provide an estimated $30 million annually over 10 years to clean up sites still contaminated by Agent Orange.

  The funding would also be used to treat Vietnamese suffering from disabilities, including those believed linked to exposure to Agent Orange, which was dumped by the U.S. military in vast quantities over former South Vietnam to destroy crops and jungle cover shielding communist guerrilla fighters.

  "The war is over but the wounds from the war still remain in many areas of Vietnam...Many Agent Orange victims have died, but many other victims, including children with disabilities, have been fighting diseases under extreme hardship and they are in dire need of treatment and support."

  - 67 - 70

• Veteran's Affairs hospital fined for prostate cancer dosage mistakes
  Mar 18, 2010

  The Department of Veterans Affairs was fined over $200,000 after incorrect radiation doses were given to 97 veterans with prostate cancer at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) levied the fine against the Veterans Affairs, which was cited for lacking procedures to ensure and verify the treatments were done correctly, failing to properly train staff and neglecting to immediately report mistakes. Still proponents of the hospital say issues with the prostate cancer treatment do not reflect the high level of healthcare offered throughout the Veterans Affairs system. - 68 - 70

• Veterans Affairs Reconsider Benefits for Gulf War Veterans
  Mar 02, 2010

  "The Veterans Affairs Department says it will look again at the rejected claims of veterans who say their Gulf War service caused a mysterious illness, the first step toward potentially compensating them nearly two decades after the war ended.

  Veterans Affairs Department Secretary, Eric Shinseki said the decision is part of a "fresh, bold look" his department is taking to help veterans who have what's commonly called "Gulf War illness" and have long felt the government did little to help them. The VA says it also plans to improve training for medical staff who work with Gulf War vets, to make sure they do not simply tell vets that their symptoms are imaginary — as has happened to many over the years."

  - 69 - 70

• Thousands of Veterans May Get Benefits Boost
  Jan 26, 2010

  Military officials have agreed to pay millions of dollars to veterans who were medically retired due to post-traumatic stress discorder with disability ratings of less than 50 percent. The military is required to give a rating of at least 50 percent to anyone whose post-traumatic stress discorder warranted a discharge. This rating qualifies the veteran and his family for lifetime medical treatment ans tax-free retirement payments if the "rating is combat-related."
  
  The attorneys for the National Veterans Legal Services Program stated that "at least 4,300 veterans diagnosed with PTSD by the military received ratings of less than 50 percent between Dec. 17, 2002, and Oct. 14, 2008." The military feels that they were not bound by the 50 percent rating law.

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