Fla. Veteran Wages War Against VA For Benefits

Florida vet fights VA for compensation

By JOHN W. ALLMAN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 10, 2008

Updated: 12:12 am

TAMPA - Edgar Freyre knows about being at war.

Despite never seeing military combat, the U.S. Army veteran has spent nearly a decade fighting an unlikely foe: his own government.

Freyre, 78, of Tampa, says he is entitled to medical benefits through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He contends that he got sick while training to fight in the Korean War and that the illness continues to affect his health today.

The federal government has repeatedly denied his claims and appeals, citing, in part, a lack of medical evidence.

"They claim it hasn't been proved yet, but that has nothing to do with me. I am here. I know it happened to me," he said. "I'm not lying. I don't have to lie."

Freyre first applied for benefits in 1967. He was denied at the time and didn't challenge the decision for more than 30 years. Since 1999, however he has aggressively pursued compensation after being diagnosed with nutritional hepatitis with cirrhosis, which his doctors link to his previous illness.

In December 2007, the VA's decision was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims in Washington.

Now Freyre is awaiting a new ruling from the VA after submitting new evidence in January.

He is hopeful that this time will be different. He fears that time is running out. His health, he said, is deteriorating. He wants his benefits approved before he dies so his wife might be eligible to receive widow's compensation.

And he's angry.

He said he was unable to work for most of his adult life because of his illness. He has spent as much as $190 a month for years on medication he believes should have been covered. And he doesn't understand why VA officials won't take responsibility.

"That evidence is under consideration, so he will be getting another decision," said Collette Burgess, assistant service center manager at the VA's regional office in St. Petersburg.

The average wait time on claims at the St. Petersburg office is about 106 days, less than the 180-day national average.

If his claim is denied, however, and he has to file another appeal, the average wait time for an appeals ruling is nearly a year.

Freyre said he has researched and found a number of cases in which veterans died before their cases were resolved. He vowed not to let that happen to him.

"I'm going to continue pursuing it. They're never going to stop me. Who are they to deny me something that is right?" he asked. "I have a claim. I know it's true. They can't tell me it never happened like they did before."

The Facts

It shouldn't be this hard to prove.

Freyre has medical records showing various treatments he has received. He has blood work. He has medical opinions from three Tampa specialists, all supporting his claim.

And he has the facts.

In 1948, Freyre joined the Army and was sent to Puerto Rico, his birthplace, to train for two years. He spent time digging ditches and working in streams, immersing himself in the water and drinking it.

He was discharged two years later, in 1950, and moved home to New York. That's when the problems began.

Freyre suffered severe abdominal pain and frequent bouts of diarrhea, he said, starting in 1951. By 1957, he was diagnosed with schistosomiasis, a disease caused by parasitic worms.

Schistosomiasis is not common in the United States, but can be contracted in places such as Puerto Rico, particularly when people are exposed to contaminated water. Freyre said he was not sick with the condition as a child.

His doctor at the time injected him with Fuadin, a drug used to treat schistosomiasis.

The injections worked, but his symptoms continued. Freyre says he believes the parasites had already damaged him internally, which is why he kept having problems.

When Freyre filed his first claim for benefits in 1967, the VA said he showed no signs of illness when he was discharged, nor had he complained of being ill.

Freyre presented medical opinions that said such illnesses could go undetected for years.

The claim was denied, in part, because no medical records existed from his treatment in 1957.

That's because all record of Freyre's treatment in the late 1950s was destroyed except for a doctor's certificate, which says he was treated for schistosomiasis.

Steve Westerfeld, a VA spokesman in Washington, said it's a common problem the VA faces when dealing with older veterans. Many records simply no longer exist.

Freyre said he decided not to fight the denial at the time because he had a wife and a growing family to support.

However, his condition continued - and worsened - for nearly 30 years.

Claims Increasing

Freyre is like thousands of veterans who seek compensation every year.

During fiscal year 2007, which ended in September, the department received more than 838,000 claims, a sharp increase over past years, Westerfeld said.

The department also is seeing more reopened claims, he said, from veterans such as Freyre who make another attempt to receive benefits.

If Freyre's claim were approved, officials would calculate his monthly compensation based on factors such as the severity of illness or disability. They also would look to see whether he was eligible for any retroactive payment.

"It's a very open-ended system," Westerfeld said. "A veteran has the right to appeal any decision we made, whether it's a decision to grant or a decision to deny."

Appeals take longer to reach a decision, however. As of September, the department had 140,000 pending appeals, each of which can take an average of 300 days to resolve.

The St. Petersburg office, on average, can process an appeal in 244 days.

Westerfeld said the department is trying to improve its ability to deal with a growing population. It is hiring 3,000 new employees and rehiring retired employees to help train them.

The entire process can be overwhelming for a veteran.

"They want to say, this is all connected to my service and the government should help me out," he said. "We certainly get that."

The VA agreed to discuss Freyre's case with The Tampa Tribune after he signed a privacy waiver.

There was much officials can't say, however, including whether other veterans received benefits for the same medical condition.

The VA also can't say how much has been spent to deny Freyre's claim. Those costs aren't tracked either, Westerfeld said.

Freyre also couldn't provide an estimate, but said he has spent thousands of dollars on medical care, tests and medications since he was diagnosed in 1957.

Officials also declined to say whether the length of time Freyre has spent trying to receive benefits is normal.

"I'm not going to speculate on that," Burgess said.

Appeal Denied

Freyre left New York in the 1970s and moved to Tampa. He continued seeking construction jobs, but said his health made work difficult.

By 1998, he was still sick, but he had new hope. He had been diagnosed with nutritional hepatitis with cirrhosis, which his doctor said could be linked to the schistosomiasis.

Freyre filed a new claim for benefits in November 1999, but that, too, was denied.

He requested a hearing. He provided testimony. He hired a lawyer. He collected multiple medical opinions.

"I feel unable to disregard the thought that this patient has both illnesses as a mere coincidence," Margarita Cancio of the Infectious Disease Associates of Tampa Bay wrote in 2004. Cancio is a former chief of staff at Tampa General Hospital.

The veterans department sought its own experts in 2000, 2004 and 2005 to counter Freyre's claims. One was Rathel Nolan, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Nolan was paid $500 in 2005 to address two questions: Was it possible Freyre contracted schistosomiasis, as he said, while in the Army? And could his nutritional hepatitis with cirrhosis have occurred as a result? The answers: Maybe, and no.

"If he indeed had schistosomiasis, it is a reasonable conclusion that he contracted it during his service," Nolan said, saying no record of Freyre's initial diagnosis was available. "Since that time, there have been no definitive tests to show that the patient had schistosomiasis."

Nolan argued that nowhere in Freyre's medical exams was there any evidence of the disease. Freyre has contended in his appeals that the Fuadin injections in 1957 cured the schistosomiasis, but that the damage to his liver and intestines had already been done because it went undiagnosed for years.

A year later, in February 2006, the Board of Veterans Appeals denied his appeal.

His Goal

Most people likely would give up, but Freyre's attorney, Michael Steinberg, said he disagreed with the decision.

"It's just my opinion that they could have said circumstantially, more likely than not, his current condition could be related," Steinberg said. "They gave more weight to the opinion of their doctor."

Steinberg told Freyre he still had options. He could appeal to federal court, or he could submit new evidence.

In 2006, while his appeal was being considered, Freyre submitted to a new blood test to detect schistosoma antibodies. The test was positive.

For the first time, doctors had found evidence in Freyre's system of the disease that the VA's expert essentially questioned whether he ever had.

Three months ago, Freyre reopened his claim.

It's no longer about money, he said. He just wants to prove finally that he hasn't been wrong all this time.

And, he said, "That's what I'm going to do before I die."

Reporter John W. Allman can be reached at (813) 259-7915 or jallman@tampatrib.com.

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