URGENT AGENT ORANGE INFORMATION
FRANK...THIS IS FOR YOU.
From: From: AVCDR, ALLVETS
URGENT AGENT ORANGE INFORMATION
On February 11, 1999, U.S. District Judge Thelton E. Henderson ruled for a second time in a 12-year old class action that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs illegally withheld government benefits from Vietnam veterans exposed to the herbicide "Agent Orange" during military service in Vietnam. "We estimate that yesterday's ruling will require the VA to pay over $70 million to over 1,000 veterans suffering from cancer and widows of Vietnam veterans who have died from cancer due to Agent Orange exposure," explained Bart Stichman, lead attorney from the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP), which represents the Vietnam veterans and their widows.
In 1989, Judge Henderson ruled that the VA had demanded an illegally high standard of scientific proof in reaching the conclusion that there is no link between Agent Orange exposure and all diseases other than a minor skin condition. The court directed the VA to reevaluate the scientific evidence, and in the 1990's the agency concluded that under the proper standard of proof, nine major types of cancer - including lung and prostate cancer - are related to exposure to the widely-used herbicide.
Although this about-face has thus far resulted in payment of monthly disability or death benefits to over 6,000 VA claimants, last June, NVLSP's attorneys returned to federal court. They charged that the VA had been systematically violating a 1991 court order by limiting payment of retroactive benefits to only those widows and Vietnam veterans who had specifically identified Agent Orange as the culprit for the veteran's cancer when they first applied for VA benefits. Yesterday's ruling affirmed this charge and Judge Henderson also authorized NVLSP's attorneys to conduct discovery aimed at identifying all VA beneficiaries who were denied retroactive benefits based on this erroneous interpretation of his order.
"Finally, after eleven years of fighting the VA, I'm going to receive some form of justice," said Janet George of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Ms. George is the widow of Greer George, a Vietnam veteran who died of lung cancer in 1987 at the age of 47. She stands to receive $50,000 in additional VA death benefits as a result of yesterday's ruling. "I was so determined to stand up to the VA, that when judge Henderson scheduled a hearing last November, I traveled all the way to San Francisco to be there. Throughout the hearing, I held a picture of Greer in my hands. I really feel for all the other widows and Vietnam veterans who have had to go through the same hell the VA put me through."
Vietnam Veterans and their widows should contact NVLAP's Agent Orange Resource Center:
Agent Orange Resource Center
National Veterans Legal Services Program
2001 S Street, N.W.
Suite 610
Washington, D.C. 20009-1125
202-797-8364
For more information go to ; NATIONAL VETERANS LEGAL SERVICES PROGRAM
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