VA'S NEW PATERNALISM: THE FATHER-FIGURE WE DIDN'T WANT
VA attorneys don't want veterans to have attorneys. But, Veterans' Advocate Jim Strickland punches holes in their claim of a "New Paternalism" at the VA.
Veterans' Advocate Jim Strickland provides regular columns for VA Watchdog dot Org. If you would like to contact Jim about his columns, you can email him here... The archive of Jim's articles is here... To find an answer to a specific VA benefits question, use the VA Watchdog search engine... click here... And, be sure to use Jim's: "A to Z GUIDE OF VETERANS DISABILITY COMPENSATION BENEFITS" click here... JIm's series for new vets, "Welcome Home," is also featured on Military.com. And, you can follow Jim on TWITTER here ...
In their treatise "Effects of Representation by Attorneys in Cases before VA: The 'New Paternalism'" Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) lawyers Reiss and Tenner presume that the DVA consistently practices at every level to be non-adversarial and to always give every veteran the benefit of the doubt.
(The paper by Reiss and Tenner is available here for viewing or download.)
"Paternalism" isn't a particularly positive noun. No matter the spin Reiss and Tenner would apply to it, the definition is generally along the lines of, "a system under which an authority undertakes to supply needs or regulate conduct of those under its control in matters affecting them as individuals as well as in their relations to authority and to each other".(1)
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Please follow the link at the top of the and visit VA Watchdog.org and read the entire article Jim wrote, it is eye-opening about the "non-adversarial" compensation claims process. It is relelvant when you are attempting to get benefits that are do you, in relation to your military service, and the government using a building full of lawyers to deny claims, that veterans should have their own lawyer, that speaks and comprehends legalese, which almost none of us veterans are proficient it, we believed them when we enlisted or were drafter to keep the "PROMISE" they lied about providing life long medical care for military retirees and their dependents, and in the 80s we got Tricare which retirees have to pay for and can only be seen at a military hospital is usually on a case by case basis and the availability of medical personnel.Sphere: Related Content
