Veterans can file a claim if they believe their health problems are related to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.
Several veterans groups have filed a Freedom of Information request seeking records about a Veterans Affairs (VA) program that decides disability compensation claims related to toxic water exposure.
From the mid 1950s through the 1980s, the US Environmental Protection Agency estimated up to one million veterans, their families and civilians at Camp Lejeune, a Marine training base in North Carolina, could have been exposed to toxic water. Groundwater at the base was contaminated with chemicals, primarily industrial solvents that can cause cancer and other health problems.
In 2012, Congress passed a law to provide health benefits to veterans and family members who spent time at Camp Lejeune and who had a certain type of health condition. This law applied only to health care coverage, not disability compensation.
Rory Minnis is a former Marine and law student intern at Yale Law School's Veterans Legal Services Clinic. The clinic is representing The Few, the Proud, The Forgotten, Vietnam Veterans of America, and the Connecticut State Council of Vietnam Veterans of America in the FOIA request.
Minnis said that same year, the federal VA tasked an anonymous group of subject matter experts to issue medical opinions that were used to decide disability compensation claims by veterans affected by the toxic water. The experts were known as SMEs.
"There are multiple examples of SMEs directly overruling the judgment of a veteran's treating oncologist with no rationale given, in some cases they've similarly overruled other VA doctors' findings," Minnis said.
He said since that time, the approval rate for these claims has dropped from 25 percent to eight percent.
On the VA website, it states veterans can file a separate claim if they believe their health problems are related to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. The VA goes on to say these claims are decided on a case-by-case basis.
Jerry Ensminger, a retired Marine who was stationed at the base, said that makes no sense.
"How do you justify providing veterans health care under the Lejeune law admitting their health effect was caused by exposure at Camp Lejeune, and then denying them their service connected benefits?" Ensminger asked. "How's that square?"
He founded an advocacy group on Camp Lejeune water contamination issues. He said his daughter was conceived while he and his wife lived at the base. She died from leukemia when she was 9.
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, who is a ranking member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, said the VA should release the information.
The VA did not respond to a request for comment.
