Agent Orange veterans victory

In a victory for former sailor Jonathan L. Haas, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans ruled last week that veterans can be eligible for medical and disability benefits from the results of Agent Orange that occurred while they were at sea. Up until Wednesday, the exposure had to have occurred on land (Viet Nam). More here.

This ruling will affect many disabled Navy veterans who had been exposed to Agent Orange while they were in Viet Nam waterways. Hurray! Of course, the ruling has come how many years later? Conveniently, many of those affected are dead by now. Savings for the government!

What is the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans? This is the "court" where, if they are very persistent, veterans end up after a long ordeal of bureaucratic nonsense. First, if a veteran thinks they might be entitled to disability compensation and medical care for a disability that was incurred in service, they file a claim with their Regional Veterans Department. There the VA has a "duty to assist" in the development of that claim. Also, veterans organizations such as The American Legion, The Disabled American Veterans, and The Viet Nam Veterans of America can assist the veteran at his or her request. Most claims are denied at this stage, especially in certain states, like Ohio.

The next stage is to ask for a Decision Review, or to appeal to the Board of Veterans Appeals in Washington, D.C. At this stage the veteran can add information to their claim, and either travel to D.C., wait for a traveling board member to come to their city, or have a teleconference. The veteran cannot have an attorney with them for this hearing, but a Veterans Service Officer from a veterans group may assist them. Get the feeling this isn’t a level playing field?

At this point, if the claim is denied--and usually it will be--the next step is the U.S. Court of Appeals. Now the veteran can retain an attorney, if they can find one willing to take their case. Oddly, there isn’t a long list of attorneys willing to tackle the federal government. Those few attorneys who are willing to do so may pick and choose their clients, wanting to represent cases that have the greatest chance of winning. So a lot of veterans face the appeals court without an attorney, simply because no one wants their case. They invariably lose.

If the veteran should somehow prevail at the U.S. Court of Appeals, often their case is remanded, or sent back, to the Board of Appeals or the Regional Office for further development, which is to say for further delays.

Some veterans go through this trying process as much to set precedent and to pave the way for others to receive just compensation as for their own benefit. It’s an emotionally draining and time-consuming process, one undertaken when a person has little in the way of financial or emotional resources left. The process can take ten years or more.

So, we should all be grateful for the sacrifices that Mr. Haas made, both in Viet Nam and in the jungles of bureaucracy that is the VA.