Thousands of sick veterans — including many from New York — who
believe they've fallen ill because of contaminated water at one of
the nation's legendary Marine bases say the Department of Veterans
Affairs is turning a deaf ear to their plight. Our Michael
Herzenberg has the results of his exclusive NY1 investigation.
Mark and Rene Cifelli just got married, but they are truly living
each day together as if it will be their last.
Mark is dying.
"The doctor said there's nothing we can do for you,"
Cifelli explains. "He was really just giving me comfort drugs."
Cifelli, who lives in North Tonawanda, N.Y., outside of Buffalo, has
stage four colon, lung and liver cancer. He says his doctors blame
exposure to chemicals when he was a Marine at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in
the 1980s.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is providing him with
medical care, but it has rejected his application for disability
benefits three times.
"I am angry," Cifelli told NY1. "Semper Fi, always
faithful. That wasn't being faithful to the Marines that served."
Cifelli is among thousands of Camp Lejeune veterans who have filed
disability claims alleging they got sick because of exposure to the
toxic chemicals, including trichloroethylene (TCE),
tetrachloroethylene (PCE), vinyl chloride, and other contaminants.
The VA acknowledges that in 7,300 of the claims, there is
"limited or suggestive evidence of an association with the
contaminants in the water." But NY1 has learned that VA medical
experts denied nearly 6,500 of those claims, an 89% rejection rate.
"I've been outraged," said New York City attorney Craig
Unterberg, who was diagnosed with kidney cancer last year.
He lived at Camp Lejeune in the early 1970s when he was a toddler,
drinking and playing in the water. Now he’s working with veterans
and other civilians from the base, fighting for the VA to better
help those who have fallen ill.
"We need the VA to act quicker, we need them to lower the
burden that is on people to try to get their claims approved."
No comments:
Post a Comment