Helping a Widow Win Against the VA

AC-130 Hercules aircraft

I treat every claim seriously, but there’s just something about helping with survivor cases that adds to the seriousness and gravity of the situation. They weigh heavily on me.

Last year I had a widow referred to me who’s Veteran husband had just tragically died from a hypertension-related brain hemorrhage. His condition had spiraled rapidly, and before she even knew what was going on, he was gone. He had previously filed a number of VA claims and even had some pending at the time of his death, but everything up to that point had been denied, and the VA had never acknowledged any TERA chemical or environmental exposures (including Agent Orange) related to his service.

I immediately got to work filing for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC), for accrued benefits, and for her to substitute for him for his pending claims. 

US Air Force personnel at the Washington-Moscow direct communications link

He had served during the Vietnam War and my hope was that we could prove he was exposed to Agent Orange, as hypertension is a presumptive condition from exposure, which would make his death service-connected. He was in the Navy and had never been boots on the ground in Vietnam which made things difficult, but after some legwork, the VA eventually admitted that he was exposed to Agent Orange based on his service on ships in the territorial waters off of Guam and American Samoa during a certain time period.

Because hypertension was one of the conditions listed as his cause of death on his death certificate, the VA had no choice but to grant that his death was service-connected, granting his wife a DIC payment of roughly $1600+ per month for the rest of her life along with several thousand dollars in backpay. The VA also service-connected a back injury as directly connected to his service, but denied another 10 conditions that were part of a claim pending when he died.  

Infantry patrol moves up to assault - Operation Hawthorne

I wager there would be some advocates out there who would call that a job well done and move on to the next one, but not me. I’m just getting started. I’ve enlisted the help of a medical expert to comb through his records and draft medical opinions to support many of those denied conditions and we’re going to keep fighting. And you can bet that if I can get at least some of those denied conditions service-connected, that I’m also going to also be looking at whether the VA should have been paying him special monthly compensation as well. 

Every win is exciting, but helping the surviving family members of a Veteran or service-member carries special significance. 

If you are a surviving spouse and need help you can contact me here.