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“With thousands of wounded service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, we must ensure that our veterans will receive timely decisions on their claims,” Craig said at a committee hearing on the issue.
For Irving M. Levin, 83, a World War II veteran appealing a disability claim decision by the Veterans Affairs Department to the court for the third time, time is running out.
Levin, a former U.S. Army Air Forces flight engineer who lives in Stuart, Fla., was hit by a flying chunk of metal when his B-29 bomber crash-landed on Iwo Jima in April 1945. Levin, who originally filed his disability claim in 1988, said his injury led to a spinal problem requiring three back surgeries.
“I’ve had nothing but grief from this thing (VA disability claim process),” said Levin, who uses a walker and a wheelchair to get around. “It’s got to the point that it is running my life.”
Each time Levin’s case has come to the appeals court, it has been sent back to the VA for more development, medical opinions and clarifications. Each step has required months or years.
Irving said it seems like the VA is waiting for him to give up or die. But, he said, “I’m not a quitter.”
iRobt; "It's not always up to us. Mortal folks dealing with an untouchable entity that survives us all seldom gets the last word."
