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Welcome to The Veterans Disability Nexus, where we provide unique insights and expertise on medical evidence related to VA-rated disabilities. Leah Bucholz, a US Army Veteran, Physician Assistant, & former Compensation & Pension Examiner shares her knowledge related to Independent Medical Opinions often referred to as “Nexus Letters” in support of your pursuit of VA Disability every Tuesday & Wednesday at 7AM Central.
Take control of your medical evidence related to your benefits and visit https://podcast.prestigeveteranmctx.info/veteran/ for more information and to connect directly with us!
Hey, guys. It's Leah b from Prestige Veteran Medical Consulting. I am a US army veteran, physician assistant, and former compensation and pension examiner. So today, I wanna come on to discuss ionizing radiation exposure and veterans that may be exposed to radiation and have, conditions that meet presumptive criteria for disability purposes. Okay?
Leah Bucholz:So what is ionizing radiation? K? What is what does that mean? So CDC or the Center For Disease and Control describes ionizing radiation as pow a powerful form of energy with medical applications such as, diagnostic testing. At high doses, it can alter the body's cells and DNA.
Leah Bucholz:Unlike some non ionizing radiation, it can cause serious harm or cancer with enough exposure. So it exists all around the world and in two forms, ionizing radiation exposes in ionizing and non ionizing forms. So non ionizing radiation is a form of radiation with less energy than ionizing, and non ionizing radiation does not remove electrons from atoms or molecules of materials that include air, water, and living tissue. K? So moving on a little bit more, one form of ionizing radiation is electromagnetic waves.
Leah Bucholz:Some electromagnetic waves have enough energy and can remove electrons from atoms and molecules of materials. These materials include air, water, and living tissue. K? So that's what we're gonna talk about today is that ionizing radiation that can disrupt DNA and cause changes and how veterans can be exposed to them. K?
Leah Bucholz:So I'm gonna jump over to va.gov, which I always love to go to on some of these videos so that you guys can find the help docs that, show all of the materials related to this. And I'm gonna share my screen with you guys. So one second. Alright. So for ionizing radiation, over here, there's this whole list of presumptive issues.
Leah Bucholz:Right? So asbestos exposure, Agent Orange exposure, Camp Lejeune, Gulf War Illness, but we're gonna talk about that ionizing radiation exposure today. So it says that if you have a health condition caused by contact with radiation during your service, you might be eligible for VA disability compensation. So what do you have to have to be eligible? Right?
Leah Bucholz:So a few things. One, you have to have some sort of disorder that is caused by ionizing radiation, so some type of cancer, and we're gonna go over some of those here in a second, what VA considers some of those conditions to be. But it says there are as far as PACT Act goes, there's some new PACT Act related presumptive exposure locations. K? These these locations and dates are now, areas that they consider presumptive for specific disorders.
Leah Bucholz:To be eligible that you have to you have to have a illness that's on that list to be, believed to be caused by radiation. Your illness started within a certain period of time, and, you know, you have to be an eligible veteran. Right? So, no dishonorable discharges and think if your character discharge is a concern, you would wanna talk to a veteran service officer or another legal professional to go over that with you. So, again, you have to have that illness on the list that's, believed to be caused by radiation.
Leah Bucholz:So you must have had contact with ionizing radiation. One of these ways while serving in the military, you were either part of atmospheric nuclear weapons testing, Hiroshima or Nagasaki. You are a POW in Japan, Department of Energy employee, that, you know, that make them a member of special exposure cohorts. You may also qualify for disability benefits if you served in at least one of these locations and capacities. So if you were a part of an underground nuclear weapons testing, at this island in Alaska or you were assigned to a gas gas gaseous diffusion plant in Paducah, Kentucky, in Portsmouth, Ohio, and area k 25 at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Leah Bucholz:Now this doesn't mean this list is all inclusive. You might have other ionizing radiation exposure that, meets criteria for VA disability. These are just some of the ones that are presumptive. Okay? So let's go over to the review the radiation related illnesses.
Leah Bucholz:K. So it tells you you can find a list of radiation related illnesses on, on the National Archives Code of Federal Regulations website. So we're gonna jump over there really quick. So it's really important, claims based on exposure to ionizing radiation. They need to determine the dose assessment.
Leah Bucholz:So so sometimes you guys will have had dosimetry done where there's been a recording of your dose exposure while you're on active duty. Sometimes that has to be constructed post service, by a specialist in that field. Again, here are some of those locations. They may need somebody from the National Institute of Health to help reconstruct it. Let's see here.
Leah Bucholz:Alright. So here are some of those disorders, radiogenic diseases. K? So all forms of leukemia except for it looks like CLL, chronic lymphatic leukemia, thyroid, thyroid cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, bone cancer, liver, skin cancer, esophageal cancer, stomach, colon, pancreatic, tons of cancers. Right?
Leah Bucholz:Kidney cancer, urinary bladder cancer, salivary gland cancer, multiple myeloma, posterior subscapular cataracts, nonmalignant thyroid nodular disease, ovarian cancer, parathyroid adenomas, tumors of the brain and central nervous system, cancers of the rectum, lymphomas and other Hodgkin's diseases, prostate cancer, and any other cancers. So again and there's some other rules in here that you could look at, but, again, this is something that a legal professional can go over with you and that this is what the VA is gonna look like look at when they're going through your case. Right? So, for example, here, it says bone cancer must become manifest within 30 years after exposure. Leukemia may become manifest at any time after exposure.
Leah Bucholz:These cataracts have to be 6 months after exposure. So there's some, like, ins and outs of each one of these types of, conditions. There's some specifications. Right? So let me jump off this screen share with you guys.
Leah Bucholz:So I guess the point here is to understand that ionizing radiation is something that, veterans can be presumptively rated for if they meet criteria based on, you know, being in a location or time frame that's been recognized, they have a disorder that is, radiogenic in nature, related to the ionizing radiation. Right? So for you guys to understand that there is a database, there are materials and resources available for you to look at that, and then if you're overwhelmed or confused with it that, you can reach out to people like veteran service officers who can help review this with you or submit stuff or fact find to help you with, determining if you have a disability that meets this criteria. So I hope this was helpful. If you have, input on this, if you've applied for this, if you if you have a presumptive disability related to this, we'd love to hear your comments about it and your experience.
Leah Bucholz:So as always, thank you for watching. Please like and subscribe, and I'll talk to you guys soon. Thank you.