agent orange and PCa

How does the VA determine if your prostate cancer was from agent orange?  Just wondering since my husband was a Vietnam vet but also has a strong family history of prostate cancer.

Echo the above comments. I just got word of my approval yesterday. If your husband served "In Country" in Vietnam during the period 1962 through 1975 his PCa is presumed to be caused by exposure to Agent Orange.

It is a fairly simple procedure to file the claim for disability. Visit your local office for VA benefits and file a claim now. You can file an "Intent to File Claim" first which will lock in the filing date. Then file the complete claim as soon as you have all of the required documentation gathered together. By filing the Intent to File you establish the date that pay will be retro-active to when the claim is approved. PCa is an automatic 100% disability at first. Then you may be required for future follow up exams and if the PCa is gone further disability claims and levels of compensation are available for side effects such as incontinence and ED. These can range from 30% to 60% or more based on severity.

Important note, DO NOT FILE ONLINE. It is well know that the online claims are taking much longer to go through the process. Get together with your local VA office and fill out the forms, attach copies of all the required documentation and have them send it directly to the regional office. These claims seem to be going through the process faster. Mine took only four months from filing to approval.

Good luck, your husband served his country and now they are there to serve him. BTW, once approved, he now has access to all of the VA medical facilities and benefits should be need them. I understand that the prescription benefits alone are worth filing for disability. I plan to check that out soon.

Sonny

I am in the middle of a VA claim for this, started it the end of last October. Sonny is right, do not attempt to file it yourself on line, even though you can. My local county VET office said that is the best way for it to get lost in the system. They handled my entire application for me at the local level. Good luck on that.

David in SC

I did it myself and it took about 9 months and a lot of follow up. go to a local Vet service and have them do it for you. You should get $1300/mo retroactive from date of application and until it is deemed cured.
JohnT

sorry, I meant $3100/mo. (Typo)
JT