VA announces new cancer presumptive conditions

VA expanding care and benefits for veterans with cancer

Doctor placing a hand over a patient's hand.

The VA recently announced several critical new steps to expand preventive services, health care, and benefits for veterans with cancer. According to a release, in the next 90 days, the VA will make urethral cancers presumptive for service connection for eligible Gulf War and post-9/11 veterans. Gulf War and post-9/11 veterans who deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Uzbekistan, and the entire Southwest Asia theater of operations will not need to prove their service caused their urethral cancer to receive benefits. Instead, the VA will automatically assume service connection for the disease and provide benefits accordingly to veterans who have submitted claims.

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Hip replacements, other orthopedic devices not properly tracked by the VA

Man in a wheelchair holding a walking stick.

According to a warning from a government watchdog, if a veteran’s artificial hip or shoulder reconstruction is recalled due to manufacturing problems, Veterans Affairs officials may not be able to notify them. Investigators say the department lacks an effective tracking system for many of these devices, leading to health and safety concerns.

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Lawsuit alleging racial bias in VA benefits decisions allowed to move forward by federal judge

A lawsuit alleging decades of racial discrimination in the VA's disability benefits system is moving forward after a federal judge rejected the government's effort to have the case dismissed. The VA has acknowledged that its internal data indicates racial disparities in benefits decisions. Specifically, the department said earlier this year that a review of data from 2017 and 2023 showed that, while Black veterans had higher rates of claims approvals than white veterans in the first year after leaving the military, the approval rate was lower for Black veterans after the first year.

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VA presumptive conditions that develop within one year after service

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Before and after discharge, it’s important to pay attention to when you start experiencing symptoms of an illness. If you have symptoms or receive a diagnosis of one or more of these conditions within your first year after discharge, you could be eligible for a presumptive service connection.

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Bard PowerPort™ lawsuit

If you or someone you know has experienced infection, blood clotting, cardiac arrhythmia, or other serious health issues due to a PowerPort™ migrating, fracturing, or leaking in the body 90 days or more after it was implanted, you may be eligible to join the lawsuit against Bard.