We’re asking for the attention of all our extended Marine Corps family members; there’s an important story you need to hear.
It’s Lance Corporal Josef Lopez’s story of severe injuries suffered while on active duty and his subsequent fight for fair compensation from the Veterans Administration.
If won, this fight could affect hundreds of our treasured veterans who are currently treated unfairly. Take the time to educate yourself on the facts and take action today.
See below for the latest media coverage and to hear the story straight from Joe.
Subject: Veterans Administration can't afford to help this veteran
My name is Lance Corporal Josef Lopez and I served in the Marine Corps for 5 years. This is what I looked like in 2006, when I was left completely paralyzed and on life support for weeks. I still have trouble walking and I take up to 15 pills a day to control the shaking in my legs. For the last several years I have been recovering from my injuries and battling the Veterans Administration for fair compensation. The VA feels they can treat veterans like me unfairly because there are so few of us and we receive little media attention, but I'm trying to change that.
I was serving in Fallujah Iraq when I suddenly began having trouble walking, and within 36 hours I was in a coma on life support. This was all a result of a smallpox vaccination the government made me take because I was in the military. I am not against vaccinations, I just want to be treated as fairly as the other wounded warriors I spent time in the hospital with. The government feels they can treat me differently because I was shot by a needle rather than a bullet, even though my injuries were just as life threatening and debilitating.
In a recent interview with KOMU, the Veterans Administration said the government can't afford to cover injuries like mine. Click here for the story.
"Any additional claims under TSGLI are paid by the government, and the government would now be paying that many more claims during a period of conflict."
While the Veterans Administration takes care of my medical needs, they outright refuse to take full responsibility for the hundreds and potentially thousands of qualified veterans like me who they have denied TSGLI benefits to. When I appealed their decision, they actually changed the rules of who may collect benefits and added my case as an example of what is specifically not allowed - even though this goes against the mandate Congress set forth to pay veterans with traumatic injuries. They are intentionally turning their backs on veterans who paid for traumatic injury insurance and who were promised help if they became seriously hurt.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the government already has another program specifically designed to compensate for vaccine injures. It’s called the “National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.” Vaccine manufacturers pay into the program because they know there will be side effects and this will compensate the victims. However, for some reason, members of the military are not eligible for this program. This means that since 2001, the military has purchased millions of doses of an otherwise worthless vaccine for a disease that hasn’t infected a human in over 30 years and isn't even available to the public. Then, when someone has a bad reaction- nobody is held accountable.
Last year my senator wrote legislation that would require the VA to pay these wounded veterans their benefits, and the VA stands in direct opposition to this senate bill. The government says they can't afford the extra 7 million dollars a year to help these veterans, even after we spent trillions of dollars last year bailing out banks and private companies in this country... Now Senate bill S.1467 is sitting in committee and will likely die a quiet death unless real attention is drawn to the struggles of veterans like me. Several veterans groups have come out in favor of this bill including, Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America, Vietnam Veterans of America, and The American Legion. Of course the media hasn't given any real attention to this story - so read it here and please forward it so that everyone can see how we are being treated.
Full story posted on: http://joelopezTSGLI.blogspot.com
Two Ways to Join the Fight for Fair Compensation
- Write your Senators about bill S.1467.
- Copy and Paste Joe’s email (shown above) and forward it to everyone you know.
Barbara Lopez – Josef’s mother – writes us:
This week, Joe will appeal his denial for TSGLI compensation for the third and final time. His attorney and our Senator are still hopeful, but it is not looking good. We are asking that you forward this e-mail to everyone in your address book and ask them to forward it too. We are trusting that it will fall into the hands of someone who can help -- not only Joe, but the hundreds like him who have suffered because of our military vaccination policies.
Please forward this to everyone you know, we must make people aware of this problem.
Thank you,
Barbara
