VA Reverses — Vietnam Vet Finally Gets His Due

http://militaryadvantage.military.com/2011/06/va-reverses-vietnam-veteran-case/?ESRC=navy.nl
June 18, 2011 • Ben Krause
Charles Coo­ley, a Viet­nam Vet­eran, is smil­ing today. For the past 2 years, he had his ben­e­fits cut despite suf­fer­ing from dia­betes, heart dis­ease, arte­r­ial dis­ease, neu­ropa­thy and asbesto­sis. The VA rat­ing board ignored fed­eral pol­icy and was caught by reporters.

His story was picked up by The Post-Star, which in turn pub­lished numer­ous sto­ries about Cooley’s claim. The fam­ily was pay­ments away from los­ing their home when VA offi­cials reversed their deci­sion because of the out­cry. Not only did they reverse their deci­sion, but they increased his dis­abil­ity level to 100 per­cent and awarded 5 years of back pay, back to 2005.

For years, Coo­ley received a 40 per­cent rat­ing from the VA for his con­di­tions. Around two years ago, he filed for an increase based on his wors­en­ing health. When the board met to review his claim, he requested a resched­ule of the hear­ing due to ill­ness. They refused and revoked his entire dis­abil­ity rat­ing with no hear­ing at all.

READ MORE: http://militaryadvantage.military.com/2011/06/va-reverses-vietnam-veteran-case/?ESRC=navy.nl