Marine General denies any responsibility for Camp Lejeune male breast cancer victims.
(Camp Lejeune, NC) –
The Marine Corps threw the male breast cancer survivors under the bus on Friday night.
On Friday’s Campbell Brown show, Major General Carl B. Jensen, Marine Corps Installation East Commander and the spokesman for the Corps, danced around the issue of causality for the Lejeune Marines with male breast cancer.
It’s obvious to me that the Corps could care less about these men. All of these Marines served honorably and expected support from their Corps when help was needed. Instead, the Corps avoids the issue by citing inappropriate legal standards of “proof.”
The VA requires a veteran to provide medical support that their illness was “at least as likely as not” service related. The VA standard equals to a 50% probability, not total proof of causality or 100% probability as suggested by the Major General Jensen.
The CNN reporter didn’t pick up on this discrepancy. The veteran wins a VA disability claim even if it’s a tie.
MG Jensen’s said that the Corps couldn’t help any of these men unless they had proof that their disease was caused by the contaminated water at Lejeune.
MG Jensen stated that the studies funded by the Corps were done to obtain proof that the contaminated water caused various diseases to veterans and dependents.
If this is the reason for the Marine Corps funded water studies at Lejeune, it makes little sense to me. While the Corps is waiting for proof that organic solvents in Lejeune’s water systems caused diseases to veterans and others, those who drank the water are seriously ill, dying or already dead.
To support a VA disability claim, veterans need medical documentation and a nexus opinion from a medical provider that there current disability is service connected. They do not need “proof” from water studies funded by the Corps.
Here’s how it works: If a medical doctor provides an opinion (nexus) that a veteran’s current disability of breast cancer was “at least as likely as not” connected to service at Lejeune, the veteran has a solid basis for a compensation and disability claim.
Why is the Corps using a higher standard than the VA? Could it be the toxic tort claims (over $35 billion per CNN) filed by dependents at Lejeune? Is this really a money issue for the Corps and DOD?
With over 1,400 military sites contaminated with TCE, the DOD stands to lose a lot of money in tort suits from dependents and civilian workers.
None of the Marine veterans can file a successful toxic tort claim. Based on the Supreme Court’s Feres doctrine, any injured Marine veteran can only file VA compensation and disability claim.
Since the male breast cancers did not occur until years after their discharge dates, these men may have to pay for an Independent Medical Evaluation (IME) to support a VA claim. That’s the rub. IMEs can run into thousands of dollars.
Only a medical doctor’s opinion (nexus) is required, but doctors not familiar with the VA’s nexus opinion requirements would naturally hesitate to write an opinion. Currently, the only alternative is for a veteran to obtain an IME to support his/her VA disability claim.
There’s enough evidence of well contamination at Lejeune. The Corps could request the VA approve presumptive disability for Lejeune Marines with solvent linked diseases like male breast cancer. This would avoid the need for a nexus opinion or IME.
Don’t look for the Marine Corps to go the extra mile for these veterans. And, unless these men have several thousand dollars to fork over for an IME, they will not obtain any VA compensation.
So much for Semper Fi from the Corps’ leadership.
Robert O’Dowd served in the 1st, 3rd and 4th Marine Aircraft Wings during 52 months of active duty in the 1960s. While at MCAS El Toro for two years, O’Dowd worked and slept in a Radium 226 contaminated work space in Hangar 296 in MWSG-37, the most industrialized and contaminated acreage on the base.
Robert is a two time cancer survivor and disabled veteran. Robert graduated from Temple University in 1973 with a bachelor’s of business administration, majoring in accounting, and worked with a number of federal agencies, including the EPA Office of Inspector General and the Defense Logistics Agency.
After retiring from the Department of Defense, he teamed up with Tim King of Salem-News.com to write about the environmental contamination at two Marine Corps bases (MCAS El Toro and MCB Camp Lejeune), the use of El Toro to ship weapons to the Contras and cocaine into the US on CIA proprietary aircraft, and the murder of Marine Colonel James E. Sabow and others who were a threat to blow the whistle on the illegal narcotrafficking activity. O’Dowd and King co-authored BETRAYAL: Toxic Exposure of U.S. Marines, Murder and Government Cover-Up. The book is available as a soft cover copy and eBook from Amazon.com. See: http://www.amazon.com/Betrayal-Exposure-Marines-Government-Cover-Up/dp/1502340003.
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