ASK PRESIDENT TRUMP TO STOP DEADLY CORRUPTION IN VA SPINA BIFIDA PROGRAM

TO: PRESIDENT TRUMP et al  11 OCT 2018 

Helpless clients of the VA AGENT ORANGE SPINA BIFIDA PROGRAM (the birth defect offspring of A/O exposed Vietnam vets) are being killed and maimed by rampant and overt corruption in that VA program. This is part of the executive branch of government, you can clean it up, we demand that you do. 

ry of VA SB Program clients Amie Frost and Armand Sabo, both now deceased, through VA failures.

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We the undersigned are concerned with problems at the VA Spina Bifida Program. We are here in the front lines of this issue. We are SB Program clients, applicants to be clients, parents and family of clients, volunteer workers who try to help clients and applicants and some of us are attorneys or VA employees, who have tried to assist VA SB Program clients.

The VA Spina Bifida Program has no effective outreach, consequently most eligible children of war vets are not even aware of the program's existence. We run into this problem daily.

Trying to communicate with the SB Program is painfully difficult, because the low-level VA employees, who we can contact are NOT knowledgeable of either Spina Bifida or the VA Spina Bifida Program rules. We don't think these low-level employees are bad people, we just see, that they are poorly trained.

Almost always, the employees at Denver VAHAC refuse to respond to us in writing, when we seek services or information. Instead, they insist on giving all denials for services or information by phone. This leaves unsuccessful applicants with no paper trail and nothing to appeal to VA Court of Appeals. And, it is clearly illegal, as a written response is legally mandated for any request for VA services.

Clients already in the SB Program are frequently incorrectly told that certain benefits clearly named in 38 USC 1803 do not exist. An example of this is VA social workers for SB Program clients. Clients are entitled to this service, but the SB Program denies, that is the case. We can provide examples of this. And, of denials by VA SB program, that certain other services exist.

Very frequently claims raters at the Denver VARO do not even know the medical definition of Spina Bifida. Several applicants have been told, that unless the spinal cord protrudes outside the body, that they are not eligible for SB Program benefits. That is not true, does not meet the medical definition of Spina Bifida nor the VA's own rules regarding Spina Bifida benefits.

These are just a few of the problems caused by the SB Programs refusal to communicate with clients and family and guardians of clients. On the day of his swearing in, this group wrote a letter to the new VA Secretary Robert Wilkey. That was months ago, and we have not yet seen a response from Secretary Wilkey. A copy of that letter along with USPS certification, that it was delivered to VA Cental office is available.
Children of Vietnam war vets and other vets are suffering because of this failure to communicate and lack of training.

We are NOT asking to see anyone at punished or embarrassed. We are asking for a channel of communication to Secretary Wilkey, so that our accumulated knowledge of the VA SPINA BIFIDA PROGRAM can be used for solving problems, that are causing suffering to clients of that VA program.

Respectfully yours in service to American military veterans and their families.