VETERAN'S APPEAL FALLS ON VA'S DEAF EARS

VETERAN'S APPEAL FALLS ON VA'S DEAF EARS --

Vet says VA has lost his medical records, a story

we are hearing all too often.




Wilma and Luther Krider planned to build a cabin on their land at Creston Up High, but because of medical expenses related to Luther’s service and injuries in Vietnam have ended up living in a small space meant to be an art studio.(Post Photo / Linda Burchette)



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Veteran’s appeal

By Linda Burchette, Assistant Editor



They make a lot of promises, but actions speak louder than words.

When you hear the politicians speak about how much they respect veterans and the sacrifices they make for their country, you might wonder how much that concern translates to reality. Soldiers often lack the supplies they need in the combat zone, and when they come home with life-changing injuries, they have to continue the fight...this time for their health.

Recent revelatiobns about the Walter Reed Hospital were shocking to the public, and improvements long overdue, but the real change needs to be made in the Veterans Administration itself. Just ask Luther Krider of Creston Up High who is fighting for his rights 40 years after coming home from the Vietnam War.

Luther suffered nearly fatal injuries in a war so many have forgotten. He was shot several times, and the effects of those wounds, combined with exposure to the toxic Agent Orange, has led to lingering effects that some doctors have said caused a stroke and recent disability.

On Dec. 14, 1967, Luther suffered gunshot wounds to his right wrist and right side causing single exit wounds to his wrist and his back, a few inches from the spinal column. Surgery included a major resection of the liver with an approximate loss of 80 percent of his liver. The wounds caused damage to the right kidney and temporary failure of that kidney, the loss of several feet of lower bowel with intestinal damage, puncture and collapse of the right lung, and shattering of the lower two ribs. He spent nearly a year in various hospitals in Vietnam, Japan and the U.S.

From all this damage, you would think such a courageous veteran would receive 100 percent disability. But he did not. He was awarded 50 percent disability in October 1968 from the wounds received the previous December. What the VA does is assign point value to various injuries, and while Luther’s added up to 60 percent, he was awarded only 50 percent for pay purposes, from the time he submitted his opening claim until submitting a later claim in October 2005 following a stroke.

What Luther contends is that the practice by the VA of assigning points value of injuries is not only convoluted but unfair to veterans.

“I am trying to get them to look at the whole picture,” said Luther, who has been battling the VA for years to receive acknowledgement of what VA doctors have determined, that he is 100 percent disabled because of the wounds and exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. The VA acknowledges that exposure to Agent Orange can lead to diabetes, and medical research indicates that diabetics are four times more likely to suffer a stroke. Luther was diagnosed with diabetes at the time he had the stroke, and doctors have told him that the diabetes could have led to the stroke. The combination of these two issues combined with increasing weakness in his legs and back, as well as having no feeling in his upper right leg affected by the gunshot wounds, have left him disabled enough since 2005 not to be able to work.

The problem is, that the VA keeps going round and round on his medical records and treatments and diagnoses, assigning points to his various medical problems, but not adding it up to 100 percent disability and not taking the recommendations of its own doctors, even though he was recommended for 100 percent disability by the Social Security Administration in 2005 after the stroke left him unable to work. The VA contends, Luther said, that the stroke couldn’t be caused by the diabetes because the diabetes wasn’t diagnosed until he had the stroke.

“It’s subjective and based on what they think has affected you,” Luther said. “If you add up all the percentages of disability, it’s 110 percent, but I am only paid at 70 percent. And the difference between 70 percent and 100 percent is twice as much money, plus they would be taking care of your spouse as well.” Luther’s wife, Wilma, had to eventually give up her job to take care of him after the stroke.

Luther recovered from the gunshot wounds after the war and went to work. He was traveling around the country with a company that provided rapid response security for other companies when he suffered the stroke in Michigan. That is when diabetes was diagnosed. When the stroke hit, Luther was transported to the nearest hospital. But his military disability coverage wasn’t accepted at that hospital. They told him he should have gone to a VA hospital, but the nearest was 75 miles away and he would most likely have died or been permanently disabled had he been transported that far at the time. His coverage only paid about $1,000 of a $22,000 bill.

Luther had been having problems with his legs and back for years before the stroke, but doctors could not figure out what was causing the problems. A test he had about a three months before the stroke showed results that doctors have said reveal the presence of diabetes. The diabetes, say some doctors, most likely contributed to the stroke. And the diabetes itself most likely was caused by exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam.

That is simply the crux of his problem. If the VA would agree that the exposure to Agent Orange could have caused the diabetes and the diabetes caused his stroke, he could receive 100 percent disability and could pay his bills and make sure Wilma was taken care of with medical insurance. Perhaps they could even afford a larger home than the 16 by 16 foot space they currently live in. It is really a room they built that was supposed to be a studio for Luther’s artwork attached to the cabin they had planned to build. But the stroke and subsequent medical bills and living expenses that could barely be met by their limited income ended the dream of building a home.

The Krider’s have sought help with their situation from Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, whose office has been working on the issue and her representative Aaron Green has met with them. They have met with State Sen. Steve Goss and Rep. Cullie Tarleton. All have promised to investigate, but they seem to be getting nowhere.

“They (the VA) said the thing is that we never asked for everything from the VA and now that we’re asking, they shut the door in our faces,” Wilma said. And the charge is certainly unfair if not untrue as the Krider’s have boxes and boxes of paperwork they have accumulated since 2005 where they have asked for and completed and returned every form the VA has requested or required. Several times in fact.

Luther said that the VA in Florida where he sought treatment during his years living there has lost most of his records. There are records in other areas, and he said the VA in Winston-Salem has his case. He requested his military medical records from the National Personnel Records in St. Louis, Missouri, but received only records of military promotions and duty changes, no medical records. “They said I’d have to contact the VA,” he said with a smile.

All the years of frustrating communication with the VA and its procedures has left Luther discouraged but determined to continue the fight. He is, after all, a decorated military veteran, and entitled to all the rights that this country should grant, and the politicians say the veterans deserve.

“These issues shouldn’t be determined by a controlling party; funding should be made mandatory,” he said. “They need to sit down and hammer it out. It’s not all the VA’s fault; they can only do what they have funding for. The problem really lies with Congress.”

“I want to say to the VA, you inherited a perfectly healthy human being and this is what you turned loose after three years of service and the gunshot wounds,” he said. “And I need those medical records to prove it. I want to ask the VA, why can’t you decide this thing? Why can’t you make a decision? Why can’t something be done for this man? I want to ask them the tough questions. I know the American people do not know that their veterans go through all this. And it’s only going to get worse
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This is just blatantly wrong he was exposed to Agent Orange he has diabetes a SC condition due to AO then he has a stroke secondary to the diabetes this should be a no brainer for TDIU at a minimum and people wonder why vets get mad at the VA.

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