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Archive for February, 2011
Monday, February 28th, 2011
According to a recently filed federal class-action lawsuit, the Pentagon mishandled and/or ignored multiple complaints concerning acts of sexual abuse and rape in the military. This is the claim of over 12 veterans; the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The plaintiffs state offenses inflicted upon them by their fellow soldiers ranged from insults to verbal and physical abuse to gang-rape. Should they win their lawsuit, the Pentagon will be forced to change the way they approach soldiers’ sexual abuse complaints. That new approach would include putting a third-party into place to handle these abuse complaints to remove the influence the local chain-of-command has over investigating the allegations.
Being verbally abused, assaulted, or raped should never be tolerated in civilian life, let alone in the military. Not only are the victims affected by the crime, but the units to which the victim belongs suffer as well. Forcing victims of sexual abuse to remain in service right alongside their attackers and remain charged with protecting their life as a member of the same military unit is more than most rape victims can handle, and understandably so.
Sexual abuse and rape cause tremendous stress to the military. The problems lie not only with the disgusting and cowardly act of the rapists themselves but also the military’s response when it comes to protecting their own soldiers. Some victims are involuntary discharged for not being able to handle being raped, while other victims find their own units have turned against them in a misplaced projection of angst over broken unit cohesiveness.
Being in the military is an honor and those in the military should be representing the best this country has to offer. Rape and any other form of assault or sexual assault should never be tolerated or condoned. Those who are guilty of committing these egregious acts against other soldiers should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and be prevented from remaining in the military or collecting any VA benefits. If the Pentagon has intentionally covered up or protected these rapists, they are just as guilty as the individual soldiers committing these horrendous crimes.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, contact LaVan & Neidenberg. You may be entitled to certain programs and benefits so contact our veterans disability rights firm today.
Tags: class action lawsuit, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Military Rape, Military Sexual Abuse, Pentagon
Posted in General, VA News | No Comments »
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
The number of disabled veterans is growing at an unacceptable rate. Research has shown engaging in physical activity and competing in sports has tremendous positive effects for people with disabilities. To that end, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) awarded $7.5 million in 2 separate grants to the U.S. Olympic Committee to improve competitive, therapeutic events for disabled veterans and soldiers.
These subsidies will be given to the:
- Olympic Committee’s member organizations;
- Paralympic sports clubs;
- Veteran organizations; and
- Military organizations.
The majority of soldiers and veterans who became disabled did so while they were likely in the best physical shape of their lives. Because of that, many retain a high level of competitiveness that fits well with participating in recreational and/or therapeutic sports programs designed for disabled veterans. The VA and the U.S. Olympic Committee will work to bring these sporting events to the community level.
The sporting events will be specifically tailored for disabled veterans and will likely vary by community. Different communities offer different resources, which will present different opportunities for adaptive sports. These grants will improve the lives of disabled veterans and their communities.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, contact LaVan & Neidenberg. You may be entitled to certain programs and benefits so contact our veterans disability rights firm today.
Tags: Adaptive Sports, Disabled Veterans, Therapeutic Sports, US Olympic Committee, VA grants
Posted in General | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
The housing crisis this country is currently faces is affecting almost everyone in one way or another, including military families. For those military families who purchased their homes with a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) home loan, there is help to avoid foreclosure if they begin having trouble with their mortgage. The Homeowners Assistance Program was developed by the Department of Defense (DoD) to help service members facing closing bases and/or realignments. More specifically, it helps them sell their home, which has lost value because of these situations. This program has since been amended to include those DoD families whose solider was either injured or killed while deployed.
There are two options available under the program. The government may purchase the families’ home for 75% of either the original price of the home or whatever balance is left on the mortgage. The other option pays the difference between 95% of the home’s appraised value prior to the announcement of the base closing and either the home’s appraised value or sale price after the announcement.
There are also options available for those soldiers given orders for a permanent change of station who are suffering a home that has lost value because of this mortgage crisis. Of course, there are specific qualifications to qualify for such relief.
There were about 20,000 families with VA home loans who lost their homes to foreclosure last year. Approximately 12,000 DoD families applied to the Homeowners Assistance Program for help. A slowing in requests for help is not likely as foreclosures in zip codes rose 32% between 2008 and 2010, which is a full 11% above the national rate for foreclosure filings.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, contact LaVan & Neidenberg. You may be entitled to certain programs and benefits so contact our veterans disability rights firm today.
Tags: Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), home foreclosures, Homeowners Assistance Program, housing crisis, VA home loans
Posted in Veterans' Dependents, Veterans' Resources | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011
Providing care for sick or disabled veterans is a very tough and draining job, both physically and emotionally. It is one job that demands much attention and takes a lot from the caretaker as well. The Department of the Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced the opening of the National Caregiver Support Line, a help line for those caregivers. Whether the veterans’ disability comes from illness, service-connected injuries, or just aging, veterans’ caregivers can call the line whenever they need some support of their own.
The Support Line falls under the service umbrella of the VA Caregiver Support Program, a program designed to help veterans’ caregivers. Caregivers can be defined as anyone from a professional to family members to friends and they don’t even have to live with the veteran they take care of. As long as a person provides some level of support or assistance to a veteran who cannot care for themselves, they are considered a caregiver.
It is not strange for caregivers to feel overwhelmed in the course of their work. Stress, depression, and burn out are common in the care giving field. Because of the long hours spent caring for these veterans, many care givers disregard their personal health and end up sick themselves. As it is not a lucrative field, financial stress is also very frequent. There are plenty of pitfalls in which caregivers can find themselves, and that is why the VA designed the Caregiver Support Program and the Caregiver Support Line.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, contact LaVan & Neidenberg. You may be entitled to certain programs and benefits so contact our veterans disability rights firm today.
Tags: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), National Caregiver Support Line, National Caregiver Support Program, Veterans’ Caregivers
Posted in General, Veterans' Resources | No Comments »
Monday, February 21st, 2011
Implementing the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” is not going to be an overnight process, and some expect the process to last up to a year, according to a recent Department of Defense (DoD) report. During this time, Congresswoman Gwen Moore is fighting for the benefits of discharged gay soldiers and making sure they are not denied benefits accorded non-gay veterans. Moore sent letters to both Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Sec. Eric Shinseki and Defense Secretary Robert Gates signed by 4 openly gay Congress members as well as 28 other House Democrats.
The letters speak of the soldiers who were discharged under the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law and how many of them were not granted honorable discharges, which would entitle them to collecting full benefits. Those veterans saddled with an “other than honorable” discharge are not only limited in the benefits they can use, if they were to apply to the VA for health benefits, the VA can limit or even deny treatments for service-related injuries. Further, an “other than honorable” discharge bars them from being able to use the GI fund for college.
Some gay veterans were given “other than honorable” discharges depending on how their commander interpreted the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law, making the discharges more subjective than they should have been. Moore’s letter requests the DoD and VA “fast-track” the cases of those discharged, gay veterans who apply for a change in their discharge status so they don’t have to deal with the , time-consuming process of working their way through the standard boards.
There have been approximately 14,000 veterans discharged under the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law since it took effect. Approximately $193 million has been spent replacing those soldiers discharged under the law. The new law treats every soldier as equal, and their benefits should be no different.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, contact LaVan & Neidenberg. You may be entitled to certain programs and benefits so contact our veterans disability rights firm today.
Tags: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Don't Ask Don't Tell, gay veterans, Veterans' Benefits
Posted in General, Veterans' Benefits | 2 Comments »
Thursday, February 17th, 2011
A year ago it was dirty dental equipment that put the John Cochran Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospital in the news. Improperly sterilized dental equipment lead to the John Cochran VA possibly exposing 1,800 veterans to HIV with their contaminated equipment. Now, the John Cochran VA Hospital is in the news again because of another potential contamination issue. According to the hospital’s medical director, surgical tools that appeared to be dirty forced the VA hospital to cancel and reschedule 35 surgeries.
The canceled surgeries were the last, although very necessary step. The John Cochran VA has been suffering a series of complaints focusing on the hospital’s allegedly unsanitary and detrimental conditions. Once the potentially contaminated surgical equipment was discovered, hospital personnel examined and tested all the other surgical equipment throughout the entire facility as well as any piece of equipment that could even come into contact with a surgical environment.
There have been hundreds of complaints made about the hospital, and a full investigation is planned concerning the possibility for infection the dirty surgical tools caused. Although VA hospitals boast of their superior health care, two contamination issues under a year in the same hospital scream of incompetence. Guaranteeing top-ranked health care for veterans is something for which every VA medical center should always strive.
It is not known how many veterans could have been affected by this latest possible contamination issue. The VA is working with those veterans whose surgeries needed to be rescheduled to make sure everything is as smooth as possible. There is no indication as to when the hospital will be back to performing surgeries.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, contact LaVan & Neidenberg. You may be entitled to certain programs and benefits so contact our veterans disability rights firm today.
Tags: Contaminated Surgical Equipment, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), John Cochran VA Hospital, VA Health Care System, VA hospital investigation, Veterans Health Care
Posted in General | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
The electronic health record initiatives (EHR) put forward by both the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) are falling short on both an individual agency level as well as being a combined effort, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a congressional investigatory agency. It its most recent review, the GAO found problems with both the VA’s and the DoD’s EHR models at a basic level. Without immediate attention to these problems, very little future progress will be possible.
Instead of working together to form a single EHR, the VA and the DoD are each developing and implementing their own. Seemingly, they plan on integrating these two programs into a single EHR. Further, both agencies see this integration as happening “seamlessly.” To this point, however, neither agency can put forth any method or means for how they will employ information technology (IT) to solve universal problems within health care systems.
The final, single EHR initiative will place certain IT demands on both agencies, but many of those demands will need to be handled by both agencies working together. Neither the VA nor the DoD has been able to express any detail as to their final policies or procedures for addressing these demands. The GAO also identified a lack of strong steps by both agencies to identify a design that will serve as a guide for “joint I.T. modernization efforts.”
Why the agencies decided to go this path instead of designing a single EHR was not addressed in the GAO’s report. Neither agency has even made a simple plan showing how they will transform from their current I.T. design to where they will need to be in their joint effort. Whatever they plan on doing, it has to work to the benefit of both agencies or the transition will not be as seamless as they think.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, contact LaVan & Neidenberg. You may be entitled to certain programs and benefits so contact our veterans disability rights firm today.
Tags: Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Electronic Health Record (EHR), Joint EHR Initiative, VA Health Care System
Posted in General | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) understands the impact of end-of-life care on veterans and their families, which is why they have developed a training program that will teach care takers how to improve care in these areas.
The Education of Palliative and End-of-Life Care for Veterans Project will be implemented at all 153 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers by the end of this year. The program will educate VA staff about how to best care for those veterans nearing the end of their life. The VA has partnered with We Honor Veterans, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization so as to ensure the military’s training program is complete and addresses the variety of issues associated with end-of-life care.
Approximately 670,000 veterans will die of various causes this year. The VA issued an edict in 2008 entitling all veterans to both palliative and hospice care as part of their VA benefits.
Veterans present a unique situation for palliative caregivers. Conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can complicate issues in that symptoms can present themselves unpredictably and without warning or provocation. When this happens, veterans can be forced to deal with horrible memories of combat or military sexual abuse, which mandates their caregivers are able to recognize what is happening, and understand how to deal with specific issues and symptoms.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, contact LaVan & Neidenberg. You may be entitled to certain programs and benefits so contact our veterans disability rights firm today.
Tags: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), End-Of-Life Issues, Hospice Care, National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, Palliative Care, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), VA Health Care Service, We Honor Veterans
Posted in General, Veterans' Benefits | No Comments »
Monday, February 14th, 2011
Total body health care is just that: total body care. Many health care providers, however, view some medical services as a waste of time and money. Chiropractic services tend to fall into this category. New legislation, however, will increase veterans’ and their dependants’ ability to access chiropractic services through the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) health care system and the Department of Defense (DoD) TRICARE system.
The bill is strongly supported by the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) as well as the Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC). The Chiropractic Care to All Veterans Act (H.R. 329) has been reintroduced to the house and is strongly comparable to legislation the House passed in 2010. That legislation, however, was never considered by the Senate. If passed, the Chiropractic Care to All Veterans Act, will populate all chief VA medical centers with chiropractic physicians by 2014. Just as important, however, it would amend the VA Health Care Programs Enhancement Act of 2001, which would ensure veterans and their dependants could not have chiropractic health advantages denied.
Chiropractic care is currently available through 36 VA medical facilities, which leaves 100 main VA facilities without such care available. Prior Congressional action attempting to staff such facilities with chiropractic physicians has unfortunately fallen short. The Chiropractic Care to All Veterans Act will help many veterans with their recovery as over 50% of veterans returning from Southwest Asia and the Middle East seek treatment for musculoskeletal issues.
The Chiropractic Health Parity for Military Beneficiaries Act (H.R. 409) would allow military dependants to draw chiropractic care through the TRICARE program. Only active-duty soldiers are able to use chiropractic care as it is now. Taken with H.R. 329, this bill will provide very comprehensive care to veterans, active duty soldiers, and their dependants.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, contact LaVan & Neidenberg. You may be entitled to certain programs and benefits so contact our veterans disability rights firm today.
Tags: Military Chiropractic Care, The Chiropractic Care to All Veterans Act (H.R. 329), The Chiropractic Health Parity for Military Beneficiaries Act (H.R. 409), US Military Legislation, Veterans disability, Veterans' Benefits
Posted in US Military Legislation, Veterans' Benefits, Veterans' Dependents, Veterans' Resources | No Comments »
Thursday, February 10th, 2011
Despite it being the most inclusive veterans’ educational benefit bill since the Montgomery GI Bill, the Post-9/11 GI Bill got off to a rocky start. The bill has undergone little to no change since then, but those times have ended. Following a late year passage through the Senate in the end of 2010, President Obama recently signed into law the Post-9/11 Veteran’s Education Assistance Improvement Act of 2010 (GI Bill 2.0).
GI Bill 2.0 will implement many necessary changes and improvements from its predecessor and will be positive for most, but they do come at a price. The passing of this act will provide benefits for approximately 400,000 veterans who did not have access under the Post-9/11 GI Bill (GI Bill 1.0). Limited budgets however, mean in order to provide educational benefits to these who did not have them before, the amount of benefits provided to some veterans currently receiving them were cut.
In contrast to GI Bill 1.0. GI Bill 2.0 allows a housing allowance for those veterans taking online courses. Under GI Bill 1.o these were not allowed and consequently, disabled veterans unable to attend classes and therefore limited to enrolling in online classes did not collect a housing allowance.
Probably the biggest amended benefit implemented under GI Bill 2.0 is providing educational benefits for National Guard veterans who performed full-time service. These previously excluded veterans alone number more than 85,000, and this number includes Guardsmen deployed to the Gulf of Mexico to help with the oil spill.
Another huge change in GI Bill 2.0, which will benefit about 6,000 veterans, is allowing educational benefits to be used for tuition at vocational schools, non-college degree programs, on-the-job training, flight and correspondence training.
With ups come downs. More veterans than ever qualify for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) educational benefits. To fund these new benefits, allotted housing allowances were cut. Housing allowances will only be paid for those days the veteran-students are actually attending school. Additionally, veterans’ housing allowances will be pro-rated by the amount of credit hours taken.
Benefits will no longer be paid during mandated school breaks and private school tuition will be capped at $17,500. With these new changes, it is imperative veterans ensure their benefits are properly allotted.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, contact LaVan & Neidenberg. You may be entitled to certain programs and benefits so contact our veterans disability rights firm today.
Tags: Educational Benefits, GI Bill 2.0, Post-9/11 GI Bill, Post-9/11 Veteran’s Education Assistance Improvement Act of 2010, Veterans' Benefits
Posted in Veterans' Benefits | 2 Comments »
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