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DIABETIC VIETNAM VETERAN BATTLES VA FOR
BENEFITS --
"They just lie to you. I've been down a few
times in
my life, but never anything like this."
For more on diabetes, use the VA Watchdog
search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=diabetes&op=and
Story here...
http://www.bnd.
com/homepage/story/113647.html
Story below:
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Diabetic veteran battles VA for benefits
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK
News-Democrat
COULTERVILLE -- Charles Cassady, a former Marine machine-gunner in
Vietnam, said that after 10 months of trying to get the Veterans
Administration to make a final ruling on his disability claim, he has
stopped believing federal officials.
"They just lie to you," he said.
The 58-year old Cassady's frustration was heightened on Thursday when he
received a form letter from the VA's Chicago regional office, basically
stating he was starting all over again and advising him to be patient.
Ryan Steinbach, a VA spokesman, described the sending of the form letter
as "mysterious," adding that it should not have been mailed. Still, it
caused panic for Cassady.
He said that after receiving it he was shocked because a few days
earlier he told his story to a News-Democrat reporter and signed forms
allowing officials to comment to the press about his medical condition.
After the newspaper called VA officials in Washington, D.C., he was told
the matter would be quickly resolved, maybe within days.
But after receiving the form letter, Cassaday borrowed $20 for gas from
a neighbor on Friday and drove to Belleville determined to find private
medical records from a second physician to speed up his claim that he
has Type 2 and not Type 1 diabetes.
The distinction is crucial. If Cassady is found to have Type 2 or adult
onset diabetes, he can receive service-connected disability payments
that will augment his only income, a $1,000 monthly pension. His medical
records show he takes insulin every day. The payments from his
disability claim would be retroactive to October.
Cassady said that since October, when he filed his disability claim, his
health quickly deteriorated. He said that in February of 2006 he had a
quintuple heart bypass operation that kept him in a hospital for a month
and, after eight months back on the job, left him unable to work as a
plumber after 23 years. He said he was hospitalized twice again when his
lower legs became infected, probably because of diabetes. And he said
his eyesight seems to be getting worse, another symptom of severe
diabetes.
Cassady's savings have been used mostly for living expenses. Calls from
creditors, particularly those for an auto loan, are coming in at the
rate of a dozen daily, he said. He and his wife care for two
grandchildren who live with them.
"I've been down a few times in my life, but never anything like this,"
he said.
At the center of his disability claim are 25-year-old medical records
that cover Cassady's treatment since his diabetes was diagnosed by a
private physician in 1982.
Those records show Type 1 diabetes, said Steinbach, a condition that is
inherited and cannot be said to have been caused by military service.
Type 2 is covered under the so-called 1991 Agent Orange Act, which
covers a variety of illnesses attributable to the deadly herbicide
widely used in Vietnam.
But Cassady said that he has been treated for years for Type 2 diabetes,
and even receives treatment and monthly insulin and testing supplies
from the VA hospital in Marion. He said he must pay $500 for the
supplies monthly.
When he received a rejection of his claim on Aug. 15, he obtained a
letter from Belleville physician Dr. David Rawdon that stated, "Mr.
Cassady has Type -II diabetes and he was diagnosed in 1982." Rawdon's
letter said he began treating Cassady in 2001.
"Somebody, somewhere isn't reading those records right," Cassady said,
"and their mistake is meaning disaster for me."
On Friday, Cassady drove to the Memorial Hospital office of Dr. Wael
Girgis, a diabetes specialist who treated him in 2002 upon referral by
Rawdon, and obtained his medical records. On every page of the four-page
report, Type 2 diabetes is listed.
The report is backed up by three pages of laboratory reports referring
to efforts to control Cassady's blood sugar rate. Diabetes generally
means the body does not produce insulin, or enough insulin to properly
control the metabolism of sugar. If blood sugar falls too low, death can
occur. It is also a leading cause of amputations and blindness in
adults, according to a federal medical study.
Cassady said that months ago he sought the help of U.S. Sen. Dick
Durbin, D-Springfield, and U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Belleville, but
his case still languished.
However, Steinbach, the VA spokesman, said Friday: "The case is well in
hand," and that it looked like Cassady would indeed be found to have
Type 2 and not Type 1 diabetes. Steinbach said while the ultimate
determination must be made by a senior VA physician, evidence has been
received from private physicians supporting Cassady's Type 2 claim.
"Almost everyone here is pretty sure it's Type 2," he said.
Steinbach said that when an official medical examination is conducted,
probably this week, Cassady could receive added monthly payments for
other disabling medical conditions once the proper diabetes diagnosis is
made.
"I can empathize with Mr. Cassady. You know, needing money and hoping
that it's at the end of this tunnel," he said, "We're trying to get him
through this as quickly as we can."
Cassady said he spent a bleak Sunday, mainly worrying about money. He
said he doesn't have enough to buy his grandchildren supplies for school
that begins this week.
"I just hope this doesn't happen to any other veteran," he said, "it
just shouldn't be."
Contact reporter George Pawlaczyk at
gpawlaczyk@bnd.com and 239-2625.
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Larry Scott --
