Dept of Veterans Affairs statement

(WPRI) - The Department of Veterans Affairs released the following statement regarding the case of Gulf War veteran Jose Belliard, who is battling cancer he said was caused by his time in the service.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is committed to providing the benefits that Veterans have earned in service to our country. The Providence VA Regional Office received a claim for service connection for cancer due to exposure to chemicals while in the military from Mr. Belliard in May 2008.

By law, in order to grant service connection for a disability, the evidence must support the condition either had its onset while the Veteran was on active duty, the condition must be linked to an event or injury that occurred during active service, or a pre-existing condition must have been permanently aggravated during active military service. The original VA decision denied service connection for Mr. Belliard’s cancer, as there was no supporting documentation to link the cancer to Mr. Belliard’s military service.

Mr. Belliard filed a timely appeal of this decision. He subsequently provided evidence from a private physician that showed a possible link to his exposure to chemicals during his service in the military. On December 3, 2009, a Decision Review Officer (DRO) reviewed additional evidence submitted with the appeal. Due to the medical complexity of the case (i.e. cellular-type damage issues and the rarity of this type of cancer) the DRO referred the case to Compensation and Pension (C&P) Service for an Advisory Opinion on how to proceed with the case. At the direction of C &P Service, Mr. Belliard was afforded a comprehensive VA examination in order to ascertain whether the cancer could be linked to his chemical exposure.

Based on the new evidence, including both Mr. Belliard’s private physician statement and the VA examination, service connection for cancer due to chemical exposure was granted on February 4, 2010. This was a full grant of the requested benefits and a retroactive payment of $53,000.00 was awarded.