William Monroe* served his country for over a decade during the Vietnam War. He was responsible for maintaining the aircraft that brought Agent Orange back and forth from the United States to Vietnam. Despite showing that he worked on the C-123 planes that brought Agent Orange to Vietnam and that Mr. Monroe traveled in the cargo hold next to barrels of the chemical, the Department of Veterans Affairs kept demanding more evidence to show that his Parkinson’s Disease was related to his service. His claim for benefits, which had been ongoing for nearly five years, was never adjudicated fully — because he passed away.
James Wexler* served his country during the Vietnam War. While he never deployed, Mr. Wexler served his country honorably and separated in the hopes of using the skills learned in the Navy for a better life. Unfortunately, Mr. Wexler soon came down with multiple illnesses resulting from his service – various debilitating physical injuries that left him unable to work. In addition to his physical ailments, Mr. Wexler struggled with bipolar disorder. Due to his illnesses, Mr. Wexler could not leave his home for the mandatory examination that the VA stated he needed in order to receive money that he needed to survive. Mr. Wexler passed away in April 2024, and his claim died with him.
Daniel Gonzalez* developed aggressive cancer due to drinking contaminated water at Camp LeJeune. His service was found Other Than Honorable – that being said, Mr. Gonzalez was eligible for healthcare to treat his cancer because it was connected to his service. Despite applying, the VA left his claim unadjudicated for years– which meant that he was precluded from receiving life-saving treatment from the VA – even though the U.S. Armed Forces were the ones who gave Mr. Gonzalez cancer. Mr. Gonzalez died without his service being found Honorable, his claim unadjudicated. Who knows what may have happened had Mr. Gonzalez received the benefits he was rightfully entitled to.
I have represented many veterans like Mr. Wexler, Mr. Gonzalez, and Mr. Monroe, some of whom (thankfully) are still alive. But the situation is dire. One has Stage IV breast cancer, who will not receive death benefits for her children unless the VA agrees that her cancer is connected to her service. Another who has end-stage Parkinson’s Disease, has waited five years for the VA to grant a claim that has thousands of pages of evidence to support it.
Still more do not have the benefit of having an attorney to fight on their behalf, and so they wait without word from the individuals who are promising to provide healthcare and benefits for the injuries they have sustained in service.
This Veteran’s Day, we must acknowledge the unspeakable truth that plagues our nation’s heroes – they are dying without receiving the benefits that they rightfully deserve. Through Freedom of Information Act requests, advocates have discovered that between 2019 and early 2023, over 11,000 veterans have passed away waiting for their claims to be determined at the Board of Veterans Appeals. Since the last available numbers, more veterans have died – and that problem is only going to continue as the veteran population in the United States continues to age.
When a veteran dies and there is no available family member who can step into their place, the claim dies with them. This is hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash benefits, healthcare, and other crucial support that could have led to the veteran having a happier (and healthier) life. Instead, they are wasted by the Department of Veterans Affairs’ own inefficiency.
Even worse, the board has been less than transparent about how many claims they are processing and how quickly they are moving. At the time of writing, the board’s website claims that the average wait time for their “direct review” lane was 314 days–less than a year.
The direct review lane is the board’s “fast” option for a decision – no frills, no hearing, no new evidence. In summary, the judge has to read what is before them and make a decision without considering anything that the VA Regional Office has not already considered. Just over 300 days seems relatively reasonable, considering the volume of paper that some of these claims files drag with them over years of appeals.
However, the VA testified to Congress that the actual wait time in that fast lane as of December 2023 was an average of 613 days – nearly two years. Then, the VA testified that as of December 2023, some “some veterans had been waiting over four years in the ‘direct review’ docket.” But the board’s landing page for explaining why they are taking so long is full of language telling veterans that they aren’t actually taking so long – see, it’s less than a year! So… which is it?
In my experience, I have found that my clients who select the “direct review” lane for the board are still waiting for decisions four years post-filing. These veterans are combat and sexual assault survivors, struggling with diabetes and loss of vision, or diagnosed with dangerous cancers from their exposure to burn pits and Agent Orange. At minimum, the board owes these veterans transparency – how long are they going to have to wait for the benefits they deserve?
Given the hot water that the VA has landed itself in this year, one would think that the least they could do was be honest with the people they purport to serve. To say that a decision from the board takes less than a year to come to fruition is akin to saying Independence Day is celebrated in October – we all know that’s just not true.
So on this Veteran’s Day, I implore you to honor all veterans who have served. To also remember those who have passed not in combat, nor active service, but who have died waiting for the benefits that they need to survive. People like Wexler, Gonzalez, Monroe, and countless others who may die before receiving the benefits they rightfully deserve are owed more than smoke and mirrors from the Department of Veterans Affairs. They deserve the truth.
*The names of the veterans have been changed to protect their privacy and that of their families.
Chelsea Donaldson is a member of the Connecticut Mirror’s Community Editorial Board.