Missouri Veterans Battle for Medical Benefits

May 17, 2011
Veterans in Southeast Missouri are struggling to get the medical benefits that they need from the VA Hospital system. The Southeast Missourian reported on several soldiers returning from Iraq suffering from multiple battle-related conditions.

One vet of the Iraq conflict served twelve years in the Army Reserve and Missouri National Guard. He was discharged in 2007, and spent two years fighting the Department of Veterans Affairs for disability compensation. He suffers from a condition caused from toxic gas exposure. The unnamed condition causes boils and blisters to rise all over his body, stiffened hands and fingers, and pain to the point of passing out. The vet says the pain feels like his whole body is on fire.

When recalling the first time the pain occurred, “ I remember throwing my wife out of bed – I thought the bed was on fire.” He claims.

What was the treatment plan the doctors gave him? “ They told me to take Claritin.” he says.
This vet still suffers from the debilitating condition several times a year. It has also caused him at times to live below poverty line and depend on the food bank for meals.

“You come home and that’s when your battle begins,” he said of his benefits.
Contact the Missouri Veterans Disability Benefits Lawyers at Cofman Townsley if you need help with the benefits you are receiving from the Department of Veteran Affairs.