articles - gulf war 1991

GULF WAR COMPENSATION UPDATE

January 4, 2002

The method created by Congress in 1994 to compensate Gulf War illnesses has, in practice, resulted in several problems. Congress and the VA recently provided some solutions.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

The VA has found preliminary evidence that veterans who served in the Gulf are nearly twice as likely as their non-deployed counterparts to develop ALS. Because of this finding, the VA will now automatically grant claims from veterans who served in the Gulf August 1, 1990, to July 31, 1991, and have subsequently developed ALS. This rule affects eligible veterans, or their survivors, immediately, even though the study is just preliminary. The ratings will be permanent even if the studies’ results later change.

If a Gulf War veteran ever filed a VA claim for ALS and or an undiagnosed neurological condition, he or she or their survivor should refile their claim.

Participation in Disease Specific Studies

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is currently conducting medical research concerning the association, if any, between veterans who served in the Gulf and certain diseases. It is important that all veterans who may be affected participate in these studies. However, some veterans who are currently being compensated on the basis of an "undiagnosed illness" have declined to participate in the studies due to the fear of losing service-connected compensation and health benefits if they are "diagnosed" with a specific disease.

Public Law 107-103 gives the VA the authority to protect compensation for undiagnosed illnesses when VA determines that such protection is necessary to ensure adequate participation by veterans in VA-sponsored medical research. This is particularly important for research that requires a high level of participation to achieve its objective. The new law gives the VA authority to provide such protection whether the research was conducted before, or after the date of enactment of the new law and requires the VA to list the applicable research projects in the Federal Register.

Clearer Definition of Undiagnosed Diseases

The 1994 statutory scheme was intended to provide compensation to deployed Gulf War veterans who suffer from disabilities that cannot now be diagnosed or defined, and for which other causes cannot be identified. In interpreting this legislation, VA issued a General Counsel Opinion holding that only disabilities which cannot be attributed to "any known clinical diagnosis" could be compensated.

Many Gulf War veterans reported disabilities related to poorly understood multi-symptom disabilities which may be classified as "undiagnosed" by one physician or referred to as "chronic fatigue syndrome" or "chronic multi-symptom" illnesses by another physician. This resulted in disparate treatment of veterans with similar signs and symptoms. In order to address this problem and to insure that the law is interpreted to provide benefits for similarly disabled veterans, Public Law 107-103 expands the definition of undiagnosed illnesses to include, “medically unexplained chronic multisymptom illnesses,” such as, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and irritable bowel syndrome. Any other chronic multi-symptom illness or any other ill-defined illness or combinations of illnesses may be added if the VA deems it appropriate. The law lists 13 specific signs and symptoms of undiagnosed illness the VA is to consider in deciding whether to add other diseases.

The VA will issue a directive shortly directing payment to veterans with the three specific diseases listed above.

Expansion of Period of Time Symptoms to Manifest

The January 1, 2002 date regarding initial onset of undiagnosed illnesses was extended to December 31, 2006 by VA regulation and Public Law 107-103 gives the VA the authority to extend this “delimiting” date for another five years.

National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Reports

The NAS now has until September 30, 2011 to report on underdiagnosed illnesses.

Problem with Definition of Deployment to a War Zone

The compensation scheme still does not include veterans stationed in Turkey, Israel and the surrounding areas. These veterans took similar medications and were exposed to depleted uranium as were those veterans covered by the 1994 law.