VA ordered to pay claim faster after local veteran files suit

TOWN OF NEWBURGH — A Vietnam-era veteran has won his case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims to force the Department of Veterans Affairs to pay out his court-ordered claim in a more timely manner.

In September 2008, the Veterans Court ordered the Veterans Administration to pay veteran Cleveland Harvey compensation pay instead of military retirement pay, to assign an earlier start date for the payments and to calculate and pay out any additional money to which he was entitled.

But nothing happened for 18 months because of a series of VA delays and mistakes, which the court called “a parade of administrative miseries,” and Harvey returned to court in March 2010 to get his answer.

The court sided with Harvey and ordered the VA to pay his legal costs and a $20,000 sanction for civil contempt, noncompliance and lack of reasonable diligence.
Harvey was represented by Katrina Eagle, of Finklestein & Partners law firm.

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As a nephew, son, and grandson of military veterans this is sickening. You would think after the Walter-Reid scandal, the VA would've gotten it's collective **** together. Of course that was just wishful thinking, the sad part is that you will see more of this **** happen if Obamacare isnt fully destroyed.

VA ordered to pay claim faster after local veteran files suit | recordonline.com

It is despicable to treat our military Vets like this. They volunteer to face the unknown and follow orders that sometimes are the result of the dumb-asses in Washington playing at their jobs ad if they had a clue what goes on in the real world of war, and these young people do it because they are trained to and almost never question idiots at the top.

I have been against the lefts ideas of how we should conduct a war since I learned about Korea and then it was enforced during Vietnam. Clinton played the fool in Somalia and look at what we have to show for ir.

Treating our Vets as though they are a problem is a major problem and I would like to see heads roll for this injustice and others. It's total BS.

I believe we should avoid war until it an absolute necessity but once committed we need to be in it to win it and back our troops in the field and keep supporting them when they come home and to hell with the cost.

chevydriver1123 said:

As a nephew, son, and grandson of military veterans this is sickening. You would think after the Walter-Reid scandal, the VA would've gotten it's collective **** together. Of course that was just wishful thinking, the sad part is that you will see more of this **** happen if Obamacare isnt fully destroyed.

VA ordered to pay claim faster after local veteran files suit | recordonline.com

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This story hits home more than you know.

I have posted about Butch Smith, the singer in the band I played for 12 years with. He was wounded in Vietnam, and had lots of problems with hernias. He checked into the VA, and they operated, reinforcing his abdominal wall with plastic mesh. They also gave him hepatitis C. They also refused to treat him for it, saying that it must have been his fault. He won his lawsuit against the VA, and they were ordered to begin treatment. This is where the delays came in. Butch had to go back to court, and the VA was found in violation of a court order. Under the threat of criminal prosecution, the VA finally began treatment which saved Butch's life, but now he needs a new liver. Due to the delays by the VA. He has less than 25 percent of his liver left. He went back to court, and was put at the top of the list for a new liver, which he is going to be getting soon. He finally got his disability too, after VA delays that lasted almost 10 years. He believes that the VA was waiting for him to die, so that his lawsuit would go away, but he is a pretty tough old SOB. The VA should not have messed with him. It is now costing them much more than if they had admitted their screwup and treated him in a timely manner. LOL. BTW, Butch is one of the vets who was featured on Good Morning America a few years ago, in their segment about the VA giving soldiers a bad deal.

Lindell Hightower, the lead player in the band, had an accident that ended the Smith & Hightower Band. The day before our CD release party, and a week before we were to begin our European Tour, Lindell fell off the roof of his house, and crushed his wrists. He has metal plates and about a dozen screws in each wrist now. When he was in the VA, getting the procedure done, they found a spot on his lung, and the doctors recommended that it be looked at. That order was overridden by some bean counter, and 17 months later, it was found to be lung cancer, which had spread to his chest cavity and lymph nodes. After a lung resection, along with chemo and radiation, he was given 6 months to live. But after another massive dose of both chemo and radiation, the cancer disappeared. Also, when he was in the VA, he had another problem with fluid around his heart, due to his accident. As a result, he had a heart attack. At that point, his wife got involved. She used to be Ron Paul's nurse, when he had his practice, and is the head nurse at Brazoria County Hospital in Angleton. She pulled a few strings, and as a result, the VA was forced to accept an outside doctor, who put a stent in one of the arteries of his heart. Lindell survived, despite the VA's best efforts to screw it all up with their own patented brand of mismanagement.

Lindell's lawsuit against the VA is now in progress, and Butch has already won his lawsuit against them.


Finally, my brother in law had been getting treatment for a deep vein thrombosis in his leg. The VA put him on blood thinners, and forgot to take him off of them after the blood clot was gone. He finally saw another doctor, who took him off the blood thinners. That doctor told him that much more time on the blood thinners, and he might have died.

I would not recommend the VA to anybody, at least not the one in Houston. Red tape and incompetency is killing people here.

I was working in 1992 with my dad when I ruptured a disc in my back. Because we were a farm we had no workers compensation or any other kind of insurance. As I fought that battle my dad – who did the WWII Memorial commercial for Wal-Mart – suggested that I go to the VA clinic. I did and they helped me until my wife got insurance with The US Post Office. After surgery that didn’t do much good I kept going to the VA for annual check-ups and minor ailments. One day while I was waiting I was the councilor’s office and went in. The guy I met was new to the job and had been up for three days moving to take the job. He asked what he could do for me so I told him that my back was wrecked and had been since I loaded bombs in Thailand. He said that the VA doesn’t give out disability for backs and especially after so long. Then she asked what else I had so I told him that I was almost deaf. He filled out a form about half way and said that if they need more information they would call me.

I had no idea that this half assed effort would go anywhere but in about six weeks I got a letter telling me to go to San Antonio for a hearing test. The lady did the hearing test and told me that hearing was sever and obviously service connected.

I went on my way and about six months after that I got a letter from the VA explaining my benefits as a 100% disabled - service connected veteran. I also got a check that went back to the day I signed the that first form and I have gotten a check every month since then. My wife is on CHAMP-VA health insurance as were my kids for a few years. Both of my kids got money to go to school. I get every service offered by the VA. Hearing aids, dental, eye glasses and regular medical care.

I seems that when I took my last physical – reenlist or discharge – they lied to me and told me that the hearing testing machine was broken. I left the USAF and within seven years I was wearing hearing aids.

Other benefits here in Texas are that I don’t pay property taxes. I get free hunting licenses. I can park my truck on the governor’s foot if I want. I pay $3.00 for my new truck license plats and I get a disabled plate for my old truck.

The only problem that I have had is when the VA sends me to a local hospital it takes months and months for the VA to pay and the hospital hounds me fore the money. When they send me to the ER when I had a kidney stone it took so long that I went to the VA accounting office in Temple to see what was going on. A blind man could see the problem. There were six black women walking around with coffee and their boss was following behind one or the other of them with a big smile. One girl was working but as I waited I sat at a deck that had a stack of paper afoot high and the one on the top of the stack was older than mine.

I finally gave up and called my Congerssalcritter and his office had the Director of the VA write a letter that got the hospital paid.

Iron River said:

I was working in 1992 with my dad when I ruptured a disc in my back. Because we were a farm we had no workers compensation or any other kind of insurance. As I fought that battle my dad – who did the WWII Memorial commercial for Wal-Mart – suggested that I go to the VA clinic. I did and they helped me until my wife got insurance with The US Post Office. After surgery that didn’t do much good I kept going to the VA for annual check-ups and minor ailments. One day while I was waiting I was the councilor’s office and went in. The guy I met was new to the job and had been up for three days moving to take the job. He asked what he could do for me so I told him that my back was wrecked and had been since I loaded bombs in Thailand. He said that the VA doesn’t give out disability for backs and especially after so long. Then she asked what else I had so I told him that I was almost deaf. He filled out a form about half way and said that if they need more information they would call me.

I had no idea that this half assed effort would go anywhere but in about six weeks I got a letter telling me to go to San Antonio for a hearing test. The lady did the hearing test and told me that hearing was sever and obviously service connected.

I went on my way and about six months after that I got a letter from the VA explaining my benefits as a 100% disabled - service connected veteran. I also got a check that went back to the day I signed the that first form and I have gotten a check every month since then. My wife is on CHAMP-VA health insurance as were my kids for a few years. Both of my kids got money to go to school. I get every service offered by the VA. Hearing aids, dental, eye glasses and regular medical care.

I seems that when I took my last physical – reenlist or discharge – they lied to me and told me that the hearing testing machine was broken. I left the USAF and within seven years I was wearing hearing aids.

Other benefits here in Texas are that I don’t pay property taxes. I get free hunting licenses. I can park my truck on the governor’s foot if I want. I pay $3.00 for my new truck license plats and I get a disabled plate for my old truck.

The only problem that I have had is when the VA sends me to a local hospital it takes months and months for the VA to pay and the hospital hounds me fore the money. When they send me to the ER when I had a kidney stone it took so long that I went to the VA accounting office in Temple to see what was going on. A blind man could see the problem. There were six black women walking around with coffee and their boss was following behind one or the other of them with a big smile. One girl was working but as I waited I sat at a deck that had a stack of paper afoot high and the one on the top of the stack was older than mine.

I finally gave up and called my Congerssalcritter and his office had the Director of the VA write a letter that got the hospital paid.

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Do you feel that the problem was because the women were black, or that they worked for the VA? Since you did bring up skin color in your post, I have to ask this question.

NOTE: All the people who screwed up the treatment of Butch, Lindell, and Dave (my brother in law), were white.

With a life experience working with black people it is no surprise to me that the only person I saw working was a young Hispanic woman. The receptionist couldn’t page the manager because her nails were wet and she couldn’t use the phone in that condition so I had to sit down and wait for her nails to dry. With the work ethic that I have observed over the past forty years of paying attention and the fact that the VA is a government agency I was not surprised that there was little concern to solve my problem.

On one occasion I call the VA office and spoke to Kay; she told me that the hospital had failed to send the proper paper work so I called the hospital and told them that they needed to send the correct paper work. The lady at the hospital asked who I talked to and then said that she was holding a return receipt with Kay’s signature on it from where she signed for the paper work two weeks before. I called Kay back and told her of my conversation with the hospital so she shuffled some paper and said that she found the paper work and would get a check out in a couple of days. That was before I went to Temple to put a fire under them. The manager told me that a check had been mailed but returned. The hospital said that they never got a check.

At our local VA clinic it is clear that the staff is not as competent as people in private practice. That includes the clerks and receptionists and the health care givers. They are pretty good at testing and proscribing medication but I don’t want them cutting on me.

The answer to your question is that blacks gravitate to government employment and fail to get the job done, in my opinion. Go to any government agency and see if they appear to be competent and diligent.

What does this thread have to do with black people and work ethic? I've never worked with a lazy black person. My favorite store manager was a black girl who did her job very well and would actually take time to visit us in the pharmacy to see if everything is going well. We have a black technician who was promoted to be a pharmaceutical inventory specialist (or something like that). she still helps us as a technician when we need it and she has a great work ethic. On the flip side, we have a very redneck girl who takes like 3-5 smoke breaks during a 4 hour shift. She tries to boss people around and always gravitates to stations that seem to not require as much work. She reads magazines while she works, and she's white.

Now back on topic with the VA... The VA is a joke, they should be disgusted with how veterans are treated. To be honest I wish more people would file law suits around them because their negligence is killing people. They always find an excuse to not treat someone, and they are a joke of a healthcare facility/organization.

Depends on where you go and who you deal with. I have a friend who is alive today because of heroic efforts by the VA. He has had major surgeries, heart attacks and bypasses, cancer with chemo and radiation, and most recently Pancreatic cancer, which usually kills in about 6 months. But they got it early and prognosis is better than average. The man is a survivor.....
To his credit, he doesn't go in there with an attitude which only serves to piss off the good VA people.
I have military retirement, meaning Tricare, and since getting a VA disability rating for Parkinson's can also use the VA medical system, have my first appt this friday.
And I turn 65 in April, so medicare part A takes over some of my care.

The VA has made more progress under Obama and General Shenseki in 2 years than Bush did in 8....
Still, there is a lot to fix, and the first thing they need to do is fire the worst 10% of all VA employees, then hire replacements that WANT jobs.

Just think, there are people that want a government controlled, single payer healthcare system in this country.