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VA Hiding Data To Minimize Payouts

USVCP Staff Writers

September 14, 2018

        

A VA whistleblower reported that the VA may be hiding vital information about important research findings.   The whistleblower, a former epidemiologist for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) told lawmakers that the VA’s Office of Public Health buries or obscures research findings on veterans exposed to environmental toxins and hazards going as far back as the Persian Gulf War.

   

Another whistleblower, Steven Coughlin, who had worked more than four years for the VA before quitting over “serious ethical concerns,” said in testimony that leadership in the agency’s public health office did not want to find or reveal evidence that Gulf War illness and other sicknesses were linked to troops’ military experience.

   

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

  

 

 

According to Coughlin, "On the rare occasions when embarrassing study results are released, data are manipulated to make them unintelligible.” Coughlin also reported that his former office never released major findings of a $10 million study that produced data on 60,000 Iraq and Afghan war vets – of which up to 30 percent were Gulf War veterans – that revealed exposures to pesticides, oil well fires and more.

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Bob Nichols, 6/5/19
The VA in the Dallas area uses Doctors that like to perform a exam from 3 feet away.  They are hard to understand due to English not being their native language. The medical process is very slow and trying to get qualified help is very hard to do.

   

Beatrice Marshall, 6/4/19
I was stationed at Ft. McClellan,Alabama for basic training in November 1980. I have been exposed to toxic contaminants while there including cigarette smoke. There is a bill in Congress HR 3666.

     

Ronald Murphy, 10/24/18

I thought that the backlogs for veterans were alleviate during the last administration and that they were almost caught up , now you me that the backlog has gotten worst is there no end to all of this bureaucracy for the veterans. The veterans need someone to come to there aid. I have been waiting for the VA to settle a claim with me that they the VA said that they were in error and this claim goes all the way back to 2004. Patient is a VIRTUE, as well as a PAIN in the *^&%$#, enough said.

    

Donald Hardwick, 9/29/18

Stay away from the DAV they didn't help me at all. Finally got a lawyer. He help me get Total and Permanent. Once the BVA got my appeals they change it to TDIU + 60 which then gave SMC housebound. Get a lawyer yes I paid 20% to him well worth it as now I receive 5000 more a month tax free.

     

Russell Bourke, 9/25/18

I had an Appeal with a Traveler in April 2018. Guys, the so called Appeals process has been accelerated to get rid of you and the priority is to shut down claims or further remand them so they are not heard. MY Appeal in Albuquerque was Not a Hearing , it was a TRIBUNAL and the Tribune was a sharp knife lawyer with fancy veneers and a cheap bustier. I was not allowed to enter evidence or speak, my claims were scalped and now sits in a pile back in the VARO where it will remain in the "do Nothing Pile" until the VA-OIG gets through investigating them for fraud. President Trump wanted to help us- he mistakenly helped the VA & not the Veterans...

   

   

   

 

 

 

 

 

   

    

   

  

George Krisko, 9/16/18

I just learned that the VA DOES NOT consider COPD as a disability, although when I entered the Army in 1954, one of the issued items was a "small" pack of cigarettes in "C" Rations and smoking does contribute to COPD.

   

Jeff D., 9/16/18

I'm 44...been out of the USMC since 1997. I have NOT been to the VA once. The reason why is.....think about it. They don't give a sh!t about Veterans. They are there for a paycheck that's all.  Time to weed out these POS and get quality people that actually care.

    

Robert Floyd, 9/16/18

When dealing with the VA IT HELPS TO BE PATIENT and to use a VSO when submitting claims. The VA is a typical government red tape stall at all costs by requesting things such as documentation or proof your disability was service connected. It took me forty years before the VA admitted to and approved my disability based on Agent Orange exposure. Even when there was proof the VA stalled and said it needed approval from the VA budget division before treating Viet Nam veterans. A judge threatened to hold the VA in contempt if they denied care. These days if you go to the VA they "thank you for your service" and it sounds so phony it almost makes you laugh out loud in amusement. Use a VSO such as the DAV to assist you with paperwork!!