Word was received yesterday from the Institute of Medicine that the anticipated C-123 Agent Orange study, under way since February and promised out of the IOM by the end of September, has been delayed until mid-January.
It isn't the IOM! The VA has informed the IOM that the department doesn't have the time to review the IOM report, and therefore it can't be released for another six weeks or even longer.
This is reprehensible! Especially so, because VA ordered its regional claims offices to "postpone" all C-123 claims decisions until the IOM report comes out. This flies against VA's own rules spelled out in VA 21-1MR, which hold that claims must be processed promptly once records are complete and a JSRRC response is on file.
VA's stall has meant nine months (so far) of VA refusing to admit C-123 veterans to their hospitals. Nine months of suffering and deaths.
[T]he government’s interest in veterans cases is not that it shall win, but rather that justice shall be done, that all veterans so entitled receive the benefits due to them.” Barrett v. Nicholson, 466 F.3d 1038, 1044 (Fed.Cir.2006)
I am currently trying to request an extension of time for a veteran's whose case before the BVA is about to reach the deadline. I'm trying to find a press release or announcement issued from the Institute of Medicine regarding the delay of the report. Could you please point in the direction for any announcement or statement regarding this report and its delay? You can e-mail me at k.e.kemp@mail.missouri.edu.
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