Report: VA may have mishandled thousands of sexual assault cases

https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/2018/08/21/report-va-may-have-mishandled-thousands-of-sexual-assault-cases/

Report: VA may have mishandled thousands of sexual assault cases

By: Leo Shane III    14 hours ago

WASHINGTON — Veterans Affairs officials may have improperly denied benefits to thousands of military sexual assault victims in recent years due to paperwork and procedural mistakes, according to a department inspector general report released Tuesday. Investigators estimate that during a six-month stretch in 2017, VA officials may have wrongly refused benefits in more than 1,300 cases, potentially traumatizing victims seeking help that previous administrators had promised.

“(The Veterans Benefits Administration) did not always fulfill its obligation to help veterans prove their military sexual trauma-related claims,” the report stated.

“Staff did not follow required procedures for processing these claims, which potentially resulted in undue stress to veterans as well as a denial of compensation benefits for victims of MST who could have been entitled to receive them.”

In response, VA officials have promised a review of all denied military sexual trauma claims dating back to October 2016, with a goal of updated decisions by fall 2019. They also promised updated training for hundreds of claims processors and managers, to avoid similar problems in the future.

According to the IG report, among the most common reasons for incorrect rejections was staff failing to request medical examinations even when existing evidence mandated one.
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