Showing posts with label VA law suit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VA law suit. Show all posts

Monday, August 8, 2011

Settlement reached in Army malpractice claim

Settlement reached in Army malpractice claim
By Kristin M. Hall - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Aug 8, 2011 13:42:25 EDT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — An Army soldier who filed a lawsuit over the treatment of his wife’s cancer at a military hospital at Fort Campbell, Ky., has reached a settlement with the federal government for $2.15 million.

U.S. District Court Judge John Nixon in Nashville on Friday approved the settlement of the medical malpractice claim made by Staff Sgt. Adam Cloer, of Missouri, on behalf of his wife Melodee Cloer, who died last year after being diagnosed with rectal cancer. The settlement is subject to final approval by the U.S. Attorney General.

The lawsuit claimed that medical staff at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital at the installation on the Tennessee-Kentucky state line failed to screen her for rectal cancer despite persistent symptoms. The lawsuit said her cancer spread and despite multiple surgeries, she died in May 2010 at the age of 53.
read more here
Settlement reached in Army malpractice claim

Army vet says VA blinded and disabled him

Army vet says VA blinded and disabled him
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Aug 8, 2011 14:18:11 EDT
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A 77-year-old Army veteran who is blind and brain damaged since getting an eye injection at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Nashville has filed a damage claim against the VA.

The $4 million claim first obtained by The Tennessean says Lloyd Sylvis of Nashville walked in the hospital in March seeking new glasses as an outpatient.
read more here
Army vet says VA blinded and disabled him

Friday, July 29, 2011

Vets with PTSD, government reach settlement

Vets with PTSD, government reach settlement

By KIMBERLY HEFLING Associated Press
Posted: 07/29/2011

WASHINGTON—More than a thousand Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder would be given lifetime disability retirement benefits such as military health insurance under the terms of a settlement reached between the government and the veterans.

Attorneys for the veterans, the Justice Department and the military jointly filed a motion on Thursday that spelled out the terms. The settlement must be approved by a judge to be final.

It also affects another thousand veterans who already had lifetime retirement benefits, but would receive a higher disability rating from the military. All of the veterans affected by the settlement would potentially receive new monthly disability compensation.

The settlement stems from a 2008 class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington by veterans unable to serve, at least in part, because of the anxiety disorder who said they were illegally denied benefits.

The law requires the military to give a disability rating of at least 50 percent to troops discharged for PTSD, but each of the plaintiffs received a disability less than that, said Bart Stichman, co-executive director of the National Veterans Legal Services Program, a nonprofit organization that represented the veterans.
read more here
Vets with PTSD government reach settlement

from CNN

Vets with PTSD get benefits under settlement
From the CNN Wire Staff
July 29, 2011 9:09 a.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder filed a class-action lawsuit
They claimed they were denied benefits
A settlement in the case will afford them compensation
Thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan vets suffer from PTSD


Washington (CNN) -- Anthony Koller's squad was ambushed in Iraq. He saw his friend die. He spent 14 months at war and returned home with a diagnosis that has become all too common for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans: post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Army discharged him but he did not receive medical benefits to which he said he was entitled. There were times when the family, with three small children, did not have any health care coverage at all.

But relief is on its way for Koller and more than 1,000 other Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who suffer from PTSD. Under the terms of a class-action lawsuit settlement announced Friday by a veterans advocacy group, those veterans will now receive lifetime disability benefits.

The National Veterans Legal Services Program said the U.S. military violated the law by failing to assign the veterans a 50% or higher disability rating that is needed to qualify for benefits.

"These veterans served our country in time of war, but have waited three to eight years to receive the disability benefits which they've earned for their service," said Bart Stichman, co-executive director of the veterans advocacy group.

"Today, a terrible wrong to our nation's war veterans is being righted," he said.
read more of this here
Vets with PTSD get benefits under settlement

Monday, February 14, 2011

Veterans for Common Sense Lawsuit on Veteran Suicide on KGO/ABC

VCS Lawsuit on Veteran Suicide on KGO/ABC
Written by Dan Noyes
Saturday, 12 February 2011 10:44

Two Part KGO News Investigation Reveals VA Turned Away Suicidal Veteran in California in 2010

Part One: Veteran's suicide reveals problems in VA system
February 8, 2011, San Francisco, California (KGO ABC 7 News) - Three hundred thousand of the military veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, according to a recent study. But many are not getting the care they need and the results can be tragic.

New data shows that veterans are more than twice as likely as other Californians to commit suicide.

William Hamilton enlisted in the Army at 19 and served two tours in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division. His mother Diane says he loved the discipline and camaraderie.

"Every time he came back the commander said he did such a wonderful job," she said. Hamilton was guarding a rooftop in Mosul in 2005 with his best friend Christopher Pusateri when insurgents attacked.

"His best friend was killed, his very best friend, and I remember the day he called me, and he said, 'Mom,' it was his second tour and he says, 'Mom, I've never been in battle without him,'" Diane Hamilton said.


Back at Fort Bragg, Hamilton was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He got a general discharge from the Army, but his problems got worse. He developed an eating disorder and started taking drugs.

"He was tormented by it; when he first came home he didn't sleep, I could hear him crying at night," Diane Hamilton said.

Doctors at the VA hospital diagnosed Hamilton with schizoaffective disorder and he was hospitalized nine times at the Palo Alto VA's psychiatric ward, often for weeks at a time.

That is what his parents thought was going to happen last May when his father called local sheriff's to take Hamilton in on a 51-50 involuntary psychiatric hold. Staff at the Calaveras County hospital, where Hamilton was taken, wrote that he was "delusional" having "hallucinations...speaking of demon women and flashes of light." They attempted to contact the Palo Alto VA, but were told "they do not start transfers this late in the day."

Veterans' rights advocate Amy Fairweather says that is not acceptable.

"If a vet is in that kind of need of care 24-7, we've got to get it to them," Fairweather said. "The idea that after 4:20 in the afternoon you will not accept transfers of our soldiers who have been deployed repeatedly is absurd. It's absolutely absurd."

Hospital staff attempted admits at three VA hospitals before they finally found Hamilton a bed at David Grant Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield. His parents say they asked the hospital to extend Hamilton's stay to two weeks, as the Palo Alto VA had done at least four times before. But the hospital discharged Hamilton after just three days.

"That's the last time I saw him," Diane Hamilton said.

That night, Hamilton stepped in front of a train in Salida. The coroner's report says he died instantly.
read more here
VCS Lawsuit on Veteran Suicide on KGO ABC

Monday, February 8, 2010

VA Suicide Hotline has received almost 225,000 calls

"Hotline has received almost 225,000 calls" and that is a good thing on the surface but this many calls is an indication of how severe the risk is after service because there isn't enough being done.

Why would so many veterans reach such a desperate state, they end up on the verge of suicide? The VA says they "rescued about 6,800 veterans" out of that many calls. What happened to the others? Did they receive help? Did they end up with help filing their claims? Did they receive any kind of emergency help so that they would not end up needing to call the Suicide Prevention Hotline again? That's a point we all need to consider. What happens to the others should matter as much as how things got so bad for them in the first place.

Keep in mind we're not talking about your average citizen absorbed with their own problems. We're talking about men and women willing to lay down their lives for a greater cause other than themselves ending up wanting to die after they survived risking those same lives. None of this should be acceptable.

The other enormous factor is, if Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth did not file a law suit and seek documentation from the VA under Freedom of Information Act, nothing would have been done at all.


VA Saves Nearly 7,000 Suicidal Veterans

Secretary Shinseki honored Dr. Janet Kemp, who received the "2009 Federal Employee of the Year" award from the Partnership for Public Service. She helped create the Veterans National Suicide Prevention Hotline to help distraught veterans. Since August 2007, the Hotline has received almost 225,000 calls and rescued about 6,800 veterans, according to VA. VCS supports Dr. Kemp's work and the hotline.

VA set up the hotline after VCS filed suit in July 2007, and after many suicidal veterans had already been turned by a VA still unprepared to handle hundreds of thousands of additional patients from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars on top of the steady flow of new patients flowing into VA due to PTSD, Agent Orange, and the war-exacerbated global economic crisis.


Marine Cpl. Jeffrey Lucey's family had to file a law suit over this.

Posted On: January 24, 2009 by Lebowitz & Mzhen
Federal Government Settles VA Wrongful Death Lawsuit with Family of Iraq War Veteran who Committed Suicide
The federal government has settled a VA wrongful death lawsuit with the family of an Iraq war veteran who killed himself soon after he was denied mental health care. The family will receive $350,000.

Jeffrey Lucey was a corporal in the US Marines who was based in Iraq in 2003. When he came back to the United States, family members says he was having nightmares, behaving erratically, suffering from insomnia and serious depression, and drank a lot. The 23-year-old was involuntarily committed to a VA medical center’s psychiatric unit but was discharged from the hospital after four days following a diagnosis of mood swings and alcoholism.

Two days later, Lucey’s family readmitted him to the hospital after he crashed a car in an attempt to kill himself. He was turned away by a VA hospital nurse who failed to have a psychiatrist examine him.

Lucey hanged himself on June 22, 2004. His family filed their Veterans Affairs wrongful death lawsuit alleging medical malpractice against the United States. The Federal Tort Claims Act allows plaintiffs to file tort lawsuits, including those involving medical malpractice, against parties acting for the federal government.

Although the settlement has been reached, the Assistant US Attorney for the case says the VA is not admitting that it was responsible for Lucey’s suicide. The veteran’s death, however, has led to changes in how the VA medical system works with veterans and suicide prevention.

In 2007, A CBS News’ Investigative Unit found that from 1995 – 2007, almost 2,200 active duty service members killed themselves. The journalism also discovered that when it asked all 50 states for their suicide data for veterans and non-veterans, information sent back from 45 states showed that in 2005, 6,225 individuals who served in the armed forces were among those who committed suicide.

The Lucey family’s wrongful death lawsuit is not the first complaint filed against the federal government alleging that a VA hospital was negligent and therefore responsible for an Iraq war veteran’s suicide.

U.S. to pay $350,000 to family of Belchertown veteran who killed himself, MassLive, January 15, 2009

Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans, CBS News, November 13, 2007
read more here
Federal Government Settles VA Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Lawsuit says VA mishandled claims
Updated 7/24/2007
By Laura Parker, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — A coalition of disabled Iraq war veterans sued the Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday, accusing the VA of illegally denying or delaying claims for disability pay and mental health treatment.
The lawsuit names Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, among others, and asks for sweeping changes in the way the federal government handles claims of more than 1.6 million veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-07-23-iraq-vets_N.htm



Notice
Oral argument was heard on the appeal of this case on August 12, 2009. The case is now under submission at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.


On July 25, 2008 Plaintiffs Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, Inc. filed a Notice of Appeal of the decision issued by Senior Federal District Court Judge Samuel Conti. In his decision, Judge Conti held that although it is clear to the Court that the VA may need "a complete overhaul" the the power to remedy this crisis lies with the other branches of government.

The importance of this appeal is underscored by the fact that a serious suicide epidemic among veterans continues to exist. Meanwhile, VA continues to turn away suicidal veterans, as shown by the recent case of Lucas Senescall in Spokane Washington. The flood of veterans with mental health problems will continue to increase as the wars go on. This is because, as a recent Army study found, repeat deployments increase the risk of PTSD by 50 percent, above and beyond what we are already seeing from veterans discharged from the first few years of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

In his decision, Judge Conti found that many veterans are suffering, and that the VA is the cause of much of that suffering. For these reasons, Plaintiffs believe they should continue to fight, that their cause is valid, and that Judge Conti was incorrect in holding that the courts are without power to grant veterans a remedy.
http://www.veteransptsdclassaction.org/


CBS joined the fight to force the VA to take care of our veterans.

April 21, 2008
VA Hid Suicide Risk, Internal E-Mails Show
Follow-Up Reporting On Exclusive Investigation Reveals Officials Hid Numbers
By Armen Keteyian

Veterans Suicides In Question

In a recently filed lawsuit, the Department of Veterans Affairs is accused of deliberately misinforming the American public about the number of veterans committing suicide. Armen Keteyian reports.

Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans
Help And Resources: Veteran Suicide
(CBS) The Department of Veterans Affairs came under fire again Monday, this time in California federal court where it's facing a national lawsuit by veterans rights groups accusing the agency of not doing enough to stem a looming mental health crisis among veterans. As part of the lawsuit, internal e-mails raise questions as to whether top officials deliberately deceived the American public about the number of veterans attempting and committing suicide. CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports.



In San Francisco federal court Monday, attorneys for veterans' rights groups accused the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs of nothing less than a cover-up - deliberately concealing the real risk of suicide among veterans.

"The system is in crisis and unfortunately the VA is in denial," said veterans rights attorney Gordon Erspamer.

The charges were backed by internal e-mails written by Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's head of Mental Health.

In the past, Katz has repeatedly insisted while the risk of suicide among veterans is serious, it's not outside the norm.

"There is no epidemic in suicide in VA," Katz told Keteyian in November.
Video Veterans Suicides In Question

read more here
Veterans Suicides In Question


As you can see, for the VA to be able to rescue any veteran, there were people pushing for them to make the changes and a news station willing to make sure the American people found out about it.

For more from Veterans for Common Sense, go here and read how hard they are working for veterans.

VCS Testimony Before Congress

On February 4, the day before the DC blizzard, VCS testified before Chairman Bob Filner and the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. We shared our strong support for President Obama's VA budget as well as our concerns about VA's inability to properly estimate Iraq and Afghanistan war casualties. This is important because our new war veterans wait longer for VA healthcare and benefits, and they often receive lower disability ratings.


There are too many things that still need to be corrected for the sake of our veterans. Because people are willing to step up and fight, things will change for the better. Maybe then we can finally live up to what George Washington thought,
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington


As bad as the numbers are right now, we will see more Iraq and Afghanistan veterans needing help flooding the system. As the VA tries to deal with the flood there is a tsunami offshore of new veterans heading in. We also have not reached all Vietnam veterans needing care. Because of those willing to fight for those we send to fight, we are closer than we would have been, but we have so much more needing to be done.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Former VA secretary calling termination wrong, unlawful

Veterans Affairs to see lawsuit
Former VA secretary calling termination wrong, unlawful

By Katherine Kehoe
Friday, December 11, 2009 1:08 a.m

The former Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary announced Thursday he will be taking legal action against the DVA Board, which fired him last month for suspicious activities.

In his suit, former secretary John Scocos claims his firing from the board was unlawful because of both state and federal laws that prohibit firing veterans within one year of their return from deployment.

A retired Army colonel who returned from Iraq in September, Scocos was fired in late November.

“Because the Wisconsin Board of Veterans Affairs chooses partisan politics over principles and ethics, I was unlawfully fired two days before Thanksgiving — the first Thanksgiving I would have with my family in two years,” Scocos said in a statement released Thursday.
read more here
http://badgerherald.com/news/2009/12/11/veterans_affairs_to_.php

Friday, October 16, 2009

Judge backs VA in Desert Storm vet’s suit

Judge backs VA in Desert Storm vet’s suit

By Ed White - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Oct 15, 2009 20:57:04 EDT

DETROIT — The family of an Army veteran who claims the government failed to diagnose an illness that spread to his wife and two children lost the case Thursday at a federal appeals court, ending five years of litigation.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said there is insufficient evidence that doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs should have known that Arvid Brown Jr. had symptoms of the parasitic disease leishmaniasis after serving in Saudi Arabia in 1991.

Because of that, the three-judge panel said, the VA cannot be held liable for failing to warn that the disease might spread to Brown’s family. Its decision affirmed a 2008 ruling by a federal judge in Detroit.

The court “just continues the pervasive and ongoing effort of the Department of Veterans Affairs to ignore those who have been injured in the first Gulf War,” said the family’s attorney, Robert Walsh.
read more here
Judge backs VA in Desert Storm vets suit

Monday, August 24, 2009

Judge tells VA Law Suit Lawyer, work it out

Veterans groups urge court to force the VA to speed up handling of disability claims and appeals
One judge has said the problem is beyond the court's power to correct, while another has given the two sides until Sept. 1 to mediate the issue.

By Carol J. Williams

August 24, 2009


Suicides among veterans average 18 a day, by the government's estimation, and a backlog of disability claims for post-traumatic stress disorder and other untreated ailments approaches 1 million.

With a massive military drawdown from Iraq and Afghanistan potentially on the horizon, lawyers for the veterans want a federal appeals court to order the Department of Veterans Affairs to make good on the nation's commitment to take care of those wounded in mind as well as body.

It is an onerous task that a lower court has already deemed beyond the power of the judiciary to correct. And the latest appeal, to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, has also been met with reluctance by the judges to tell a government bureaucracy how it should conduct its affairs.
read more here
Veterans groups urge court to force the VA to speed up

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

VETS WIN LANDMARK DECISION: Due Process Guaranteed for First Time

VETS WIN LANDMARK DECISION: Due Process Guaranteed for First Time
Posted on August 18, 2009 by gordonduff


VA ALTERS MEDICAL RECORDS

IGNORES EVIDENCE/SMACKED DOWN BY FEDERAL COURT

By Michael Leon STAFF WRITER

Editors Note: Must Read!

As the U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs (DVA) has become infamous for its culture of denial of veterans' claims, a potentially landmark decision may signal an end to this bureaucratic phenomenon that has caused veterans' advocates to shake their heads in disbelief for decades.

Signaling a judicial mandate that U.S. governmental agencies follow the law, a top federal appellate court has ruled the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) and the Dept of Veterans Affairs (DVA) violated the due process rights of a Vietnam War Marine veteran in wrongfully deciding his disability case.

The case, Cushman v. Shinseki (No. 08-7129), rules that this Marine veteran like other Americans is entitled to a fair hearing in administrative law courts such as the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC).

"The Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment guarantees that an individual will not be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. [U.S. Const. amend. V.] Due process of law has been interpreted to include notice and a fair opportunity to be heard," ruled the Court
read more here
Due Process Guaranteed for First Time

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Florida Veteran will sue VA over HIV

Fla. veteran says he is HIV+, will sue VA

The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Aug 18, 2009 18:56:21 EDT

MIAMI — A South Florida man, who claims he contracted HIV during an endoscopic colonoscopy at a Miami Department of Veterans Affairs hospital, has filed a notice that he will sue the federal government

Juan Rivera, 55, an Army veteran, claims he contracted HIV during the procedure on or about May 19, 2008. Rivera said he had been tested twice and both times he was positive for the disease. He served in the Army from 1979 to 1989.

Ira Leesfield, an attorney for Rivera, said the notice is necessary under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Rivera has to give the federal government six months before he files a federal lawsuit. Leesfield said this lawsuit will be filed against the VA through the United States of America. He added the claim states Rivera will sue for $20 million in damages.
Fla. veteran says he is HIV will sue VA

Monday, August 10, 2009

Impact of VCS-VUFT Lawsuit against the VA

This was part of the reason I resigned from the NAMI Veterans Council. They gave Dr. Katz an award for what he was forced to do when it came to the suicides of our veterans.

This is from an online report about the NAMI Convention
Veterans Affairs Mental Health Program

by
Cole Buxbaum
There has been an increase in homelessness, criminalization, and suicide among veterans. 14% of service members are now suffering from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) During the last few years 1.6 million veterans have had a psychiatric diagnosis. The Veterans Affairs Department has called for post-deployment periodic evaluations for all combat veterans.

Since 2006 the VA has hired over 4,000 new mental health practitioners to deal with the growing demands, and more new hires are planned. In late 2008, the VA issued a directive to all VA health care facilities to significantly restructure their mental health programs, establishing scores of new approaches to help veterans transition, reintegrate and recover.

The key speaker at this workshop was Ira Katz, M.D., director, Office of VA Mental Health, Washington, D. C.



This is from the convention
NAMI VETERANS COUNCIL DEDICATION TO VETERANS MENATL HEALTH CARE AWARD

Ira Katz, MD

Dr, Ira Katz left a comfortable position at the University of Pennsylvania and the VA Medical Center to join the Department of Veterans Affairs. Within two years of his arrival, members of Congress and the press were calling for his resignation or termination over the issues of rising suicides among veterans-especially veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In spite of blistering criticism, Dr. Katz worked tirelessly behind the scenes to launch the VA's first ever suicide prevention initiative, including a nationwide crisis call line in conjunction with SAMHSA that has intervened in thousands of potential suicides by veterans. While managing this delicate task and fending off critics, Dr. Katz spearheaded VA-wide approval of a dramatic reform of its mental health programs to embrace recovery principles. All veterans receiving mental health care in the VA are better served today because of the work of Dr. Ira Katz. We are proud to honor him for his dedication to improving the mental health and the mental health care of veterans.

"Proud" is what they were but the fact is, none of what happened with the VA and steps taking would have happened without these law suits and Congress getting invovled. If the NAMI Veteran's Council is so uninformed on what the facts were behind all of this they awarded one of the people responsible for the harm done, then we have to ask what else they have gotten wrong. What excuse can they have for not knowing? What can they say to the families of our veterans when they were so hopeless they committed suicide at the same time Katz was denying it was happening on national TV? These are not average citizens unable to know what's going on. They are supposed to be experts on what they are talking about. So how is it they didn't know what was behind all of this? How is it that they gave an award to Katz after all of this?

I cannot tell you how truly disgusted I am with this. I had such high hopes for the Veterans Council believing they were putting veterans first and knew as much about what was going on as I did. After all, they are the "experts" and were supposed to know. Yet given the fact I would receive emails with links to reports days after I had read them and posted them, as if it was big news and they never seemed to manage to send out links to the really big stories, that should have given me a clue they didn't really know much of what they should have know and been informing others on.

Again, I still believe in NAMI but after this award to Katz, I don't believe the Veteran's Council is about doing what is best for the veterans. If they were really interested in the truth then they would have given an award to Veterans for Common Sense or Veterans United for truth instead because their efforts were behind all of it.


Impact of VCS-VUFT Lawsuit
Two years ago Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth made history with our lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs.
We are tired of the endless delays caused by VA, including the fact that VA medical centers turned away suicidal veterans seeking mental healthcare - a dire moral outrage during a time our Nation fights two wars.While some at VA called our suit a nuisance, and VA tried in vain to have the suit dismissed, our lawsuit provided several victories for veterans.
The court ruled VA was harming our veterans with unreasonable delays in healthcare and benefits.

The court forced VA to release internal documents showing VA concealed a terrible and tragic suicide epidemic and even sought to block access to healthcare and disability benefits for veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.Your contributions makes a difference!

Please set up a monthly gift to VCS today so we can keep the heat on VA to improve access to timely services for our veterans.


Be a Part of History - Watch Hearing and Support VCS
This Wednesday at 9:30 AM, our attorneys in our case, Gordon Erspamer and Morrison & Foerster and Sid Wolinsky at Disability Rights Advocates, appear before the Ninth District Court of Appeals in San Francisco. C-SPAN will carry the case live.

Read our appeal brief here. How important is this lawsuit? Two widely respected veterans organizations, the Vietnam Veterans of America and Swords to Plowshares, wrote the Appeals Court and agreed that VCS and VUFT were right and that the current crisis demands court intervention to overhaul and reform VA.

How historic is this case?

Last week, Gordon Erspamer was presented with the prestigious pro bono attorney of the year award by the American Bar Association.

You can view a video about Gordon here.

After VCS and VUFT filed our lawsuit, VA set up a toll-free suicide prevention hotline at 800-273-TALK. So far, 150,000 distraught veterans have called, and VA performed more than 3,200 rescues, including a soldier on active duty in Iraq.

Your support keeps the needs of veterans front and center in the news.

Please donate to VCS today so we can improve how VA takes care of our veterans. Sincerely,

Paul Sullivan

Executive Director

Veterans for Common Sense

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Two veterans think they are the link to the VA and spread of HIV

This veteran contacted the lawyer dealing with the law suits against the VA. The kicker here is that there is another veteran also thinking he was the source. That makes two veterans suffering because they think they are to blame for this, but the truth is, the VA should have done a better job.

Nashville Vet Could Have Spread HIV
Man Says He Always Told Health Care Workers Of Virus
Reported By Nancy Amons

POSTED: 4:37 pm CDT July 28, 2009

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- A Nashville veteran who had a colonoscopy there says he feels a heavy burden knowing he could have spread HIV infection to others.

Yet, he said, his conscience is clear because he did all he could to warn the Veterans Administration about his status.

Ron Hereford said his lifestyle 20 years ago contributed to his contraction of HIV. But now he wonders if his HIV made other veterans sick.
read more here
http://www.wsmv.com/health/20205835/detail.html

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Philadelphia V.A. hospital sued by Vietnam Vet

Philadelphia V.A. hospital sued!
July 15, 2009 (NewYorkInjuryNews.com - Injury News)

New Source: JusticeNewsFlash.com
Legal news for Pennsylvania Veteran’s Affairs medical malpractice lawyers.

Attorneys representing a Vietnam veteran sue Department of Veteran’s Affairs

Philadelphia, PA–The Philadelphia Inquirer reported a medical malpractice claim was filed against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) by a Vietnam veteran. The veteran, 59 year-old Barry Lackro, filed the lawsuit after news broke about a certain Veterans Administration medical facility executing botched cancer treatments. There have been 92 cases in which the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, in Pennsylvania, admitted to administering an insufficient, or excessive, amount of radiation. Lackro was one of the 92 patient’s who received negligent care.
go here for more
Philadelphia V.A. hospital sued

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

2nd Ky. widow settles suit over husband's VA death

2nd Ky. widow settles suit over husband's VA death
By JIM SUHR

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) — The second of two Kentucky widows has settled her federal lawsuit over surgical care they say killed their husbands at an Illinois Veterans Affairs hospital where major surgeries have been halted for nearly two years after a spike in patient deaths.

Terms of Darla Marshall's April settlement over 61-year-old James Marshall's July 2007 blood infection death six days after his lymph node biopsy at the VA hospital in Marion were not disclosed in online court records. The Benton, Ky., widow had sought $10 million in her wrongful-death lawsuit, filed here in April of last year.

Another widow, Katrina Shank of Murray, Ky., last year settled for $975,000 her lawsuit involving Robert Shank III, an Air Force veteran who was 50 when he bled to death in 2007 a day after undergoing gallbladder surgery at the Marion site. Katrina Shank had sought $12 million in damages.
read more here
2nd Ky. widow settles suit over husband VA death

Friday, July 3, 2009

Doctors win law suit against Bay Pines VA

Federal jury orders Department of Veterans Affairs to pay $3.7-million for retaliation at Bay Pines hospital
By William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Jul 02, 2009 12:07 PM


TAMPA — A federal jury on Thursday decided the Department of Veterans Affairs retaliated against four employees at its Bay Pines hospital in St. Petersburg and awarded them $3.73-million in damages.

The four employees, three of them doctors, accused the VA of a broad pattern of discrimination against employees who file employment discrimination complaints.
go here for more
http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/veterans/article1015241.ece

Friday, February 6, 2009

Family forced to sue VA for lack of care

It's not just the VA that failed this Marine. He took steroids to build himself up for redeployment according to his parents. He didn't want to get out, he wanted to stay in. It didn't matter he had PTSD from a prior deployment. He just wanted to serve his country. The problem is, the DOD didn't see it that way and kicked him out with a dishonorable discharge. When he turned to the VA for help, they didn't want him either because of the discharge.

In a perfect nation, the men and women like Robert Cafici would be valued. Their loyalty to the country would compel them to work with them, get them treated for substance abuse and find out what's behind the use of drugs. After all, these are not your average citizen. These are people so dedicated to the country, they are willing to die for it. But this is not a perfect nation. Far from it when the troops and our veterans get to the point where they have just taken too much abuse, lost too much hope and cannot find one reason to stay alive in this country.
Parents of ex-Marine who killed himself sue VA
Newsday - Long Island,NY,USA
BY MARTIN C. EVANS martin.evans@newsday.com
February 5, 2009

The Oak Beach parents of a 21-year-old ex-Marine who died of a heroin overdose are suing the Department of Veterans Affairs, saying admissions personnel at a VA hospital in Pennsylvania incorrectly advised their son that he was ineligible for medical coverage assistance when he sought treatment there the day before he died. The suit alleges that VA officials told Robert Cafici he was ineligible because of his less than honorable discharge.

Cafici had gone to a VA hospital in Lebanon, Pa., on Dec. 13, 2007, complaining of symptoms of jaundice, according to his parents, Vincent and Concetta Cafici.

The lawsuit claims that a routine check of VA medical records would have shown VA personnel in Pennsylvania that Cafici was being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder and other unspecified ailments at the Veterans Administration Medical Center at Northport. Doctors there considered him a suicide risk because of a similar overdose six months earlier, according to the records.

The lawsuit, which was drafted last year, comes amid allegations by veterans groups that Washington has been incompetent in addressing the psychological needs of U.S. troops and veterans stressed by more than seven years of war. Last month, both the Army and the Marines released figures showing sharp increases in suicides among uniformed personnel.

"I don't know if the public is informed about how our boys are being treated," Vincent Cafici said. "A lot of them need help, and I don't know if they are getting it."

A spokesman for the VA, Phil Budahn, said the department does not routinely comment on pending lawsuits.

He also said "for most veterans, the VA will only care for problems caused by or aggravated during their military service, and that in some circumstances, a less than honorable discharge can limit a veteran's eligibility for medical care and other VA services."

Cafici's parents said their son, who lost 100 pounds in order to join the Marines, and served between December 2003 and March 2006, began struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder while he was stationed in Iraq. Concetta Cafici said her son was particularly distraught after having to pull the bodies of two Marines from a Humvee that was immolated during an attack.

She said her son fell into a depression after receiving a less than honorable discharge when he was discovered to have used an illegal steroid to bulk up as he prepared to again be deployed to Iraq.click link for more

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Judge rejects bid to force faster VA payments

Judge rejects bid to force faster VA payments
By Hope Yen - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Dec 17, 2008 18:39:44 EST

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Wednesday rejected a bid by veterans groups to force the Veterans Affairs Department to speed up handling of its disability claims, saying it was not the court’s role to impose quicker deadlines.

Vietnam Veterans of America and Veterans of Modern Warfare, which represent roughly 60,000 military veterans, had filed the lawsuit asking the VA to process initial disability claims within 90 days and resolve appeals within 180 days. If the VA failed to do so, the two groups were seeking interim payments of roughly $350 a month.

At a court hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said he was sympathetic to the plight of disabled veterans, many of whom he acknowledged might face unemployment and homelessness in a tightening economy. But Walton said that setting a blanket rule of 90 days for processing claims was a role for Congress and the VA secretary to decide.
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Another law suit to get the government to take care of PTSD veterans

Anoher law suit so that the government will take care of our veterans. Isn't that a very sorry statement of the plight of our veterans that groups have to file law suits before they do the right thing? Appalling when you think of all the times our President and this administration has said "support the troops" when they clearly did not.

Stressed soldiers sue for disability benefits
CNN International - USA
Story Highlights
Soldiers: Army denied them disability rating, so they were denied benefits
Lawsuit filed by veterans advocacy group on behalf of vets with PTSD
In October, Army ordered all future PTSD sufferers to be eligible for benefits
Soldiers want eligibility to go back six years


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Army intentionally denied benefits to soldiers suffering from a widespread stress disorder after they returned from service in Iraq and Afghanistan, a veterans advocacy group charges in a suit filed Wednesday.

The lawsuit, filed by the National Veterans Legal Services Program, accuses the Army of illegally cutting off benefits to thousands of veterans and their families by refusing to assign a proper disability rating to those veterans after they had been discharged with a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

As a result, the veterans have been denied benefits, including, among other things, lifetime monthly disability payments and free medical care for themselves and their families.

"I experience firsthand the horrors of war" said Juan Perez, an Iraq veteran and one of five plaintiffs in the lawsuit. "My expectation was that the military would be there for me, and my country would be there for me. Instead, the way I was treated felt more like a slap to the face."
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Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Vietnam Veterans of America and Veterans of Modern Warfare VA Law Suit Begins

Disability claims lawsuit begins against VA

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Dec 16, 2008 17:17:49 EST

A hearing begins Wednesday in a lawsuit aimed at cutting the time that the Department of Veterans Affairs takes to process disability claims to no more than 90 days.

Vietnam Veterans of America and Veterans of Modern Warfare filed the lawsuit against VA after learning the department took as long as a year to come up with disability benefits decisions, and as long as four years to rule on appeals of those decisions. The average time for an initial decision is about six months.

VA has a benefits claims backlog of more than 400,000 cases.

Rita Reese, principal deputy assistant VA secretary for management, told Congress in January that the department would increase the number of fulltime case workers from 14,857 to 15,570, with a goal of reducing the disability claims backlog to 298,000 by the end of fiscal 2009, which would be a drop of 24 percent.

The lawsuit asks for monetary relief for veterans if VA can’t reduce its processing time.

“Delayed disability benefit awards create an additional and, in many cases, unmanageable stress for an already suffering population,” VVA and VMW officials said in a joint press release. “According to the VA, the suicide rate among individuals in the VA’s care may be as high as 7.5 times the national average, and every night, more than 150,000 American veterans are homeless.”
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Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Widow settles VA hospital suit

Widow settles VA hospital suit
Her husband died after '07 surgery in Marion facility
By Deborah L. Shelton Tribune reporter
November 25, 2008
A widow who sued the U.S. government over her husband's death at the Marion VA Medical Center has accepted a settlement of almost $1 million.

Robert Shank III of Murray, Ky., died in the hospital after gallbladder surgery last year. His widow, Katrina, sued this year, alleging medical negligence and accusing the government of failing to adequately check the background of her husband's surgeon, Dr. Jose Veizaga-Mendez, before hiring him."It was a combination of negligence in the way he did the surgery and post-operative care, and institutional negligence for allowing him to practice there," her Chicago attorney, Dr. Stanley Heller, said Monday.

The suit was settled Nov. 13.
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