TESTIMONY OF MICHAEL SHALLOW, VETERAN COMMITTEE ON VETERAN’S AFFAIRS SUBCOMMITTE ON BENFITS VETERANS AND HEPATITIS C APRIL 13, 2000
My name is Michael Shallow. I served in the waters of Southeast Asia on the USS Midway during 1977– 1978. In 1978 I returned stateside. Later that year I had surgery on my shoulder at Camp Lejeune Naval Hospital and was 10% service connected for the resulting disability. I believe this surgery to be the source of my infection with hepatitis C. I wish I could tell my story and it would have a happy ending. But, I can only tell you that my fatigue, joint pain, and ability to concentrate and remember things has gotten worse, and despite efforts by the Speaker of the House and others I have not yet gotten a determination on my HCV-related disability claim from the VA, nor have I received treatment for my Hepatitis C. My story began exactly one year ago today. My family was living the American Dream. Our household income was over $100,000, our four daughters were healthy, intelligent and doing well in school, we lived in a new home, and my wife and I had plans to retire early. I was experiencing HCV symptoms, but I attributed them to the aging process, previous surgeries and job stress. The only thing we lacked, I thought, was insurance to cover the possibility that my wife or I would die before reaching retirement. In late April of 1999, we applied for term life insurance. In May, I received a letter from the insurance company declining coverage due to hepatitis C infection. In July 1999 blood tests and a liver biopsy confirmed that I have active chronic Hepatitis C with Stage 2 (moderate) fibrosis. My doctors felt that I had contracted the virus at least twenty years ago, and based on my military service, it most likely came from blood products received during the surgery at Camp Lejeune. They agreed I should begin treatment as soon as possible. I spent the summer in denial, which led to depression, for which I am still receiving treatment. I began to read everything available on Hepatitis C, paying particular attention to the statistics of the virus in veterans. I read about HR 1020 and S71, the two bills that would provide a presumption of service connection. The bills seemed to be stalled in committee. I contacted my Congressman who happens to be Speaker Hastert and also Senator Durbin asking for their support for this legislation. One of Speaker Hastert’s aides suggested I contact Dr. Lennox Jeffers at the HCV Center for Excellence at the VA Medical Center in Miami. I was able to see Dr. Jeffers with only two weeks notice. (I beg you to ask me follow up questions about my difficulty in getting treatment in VISN 12.) He reviewed my test results and history, and wrote a letter to the VA, which stated, in part, (and I quote) "It is my medical opinion that it is as likely as not, that Mr. Shallow was infected with HCV during his military service." (end quote) We discussed treatment; the threatened side effects scared the hell out of me. I decided to delay treatment as long as possible. However, two days later my boss pointed out that I had used 47 sick days during 1999 and that the company could no longer afford to employ me. I had just lost my job of 8 years where I had worked selling medical management software to hospital systems. Termination on the last day of the year put a dent in my treatment and financial plans. I immediately applied for 100% VA disability compensation due to unemployability. I was told the VA was taking, on average, 24 weeks—THAT’S SIX MONTHS--to determine claims, and a look at our family budget showed we would fail to meet financial obligations long before this determination was made. It is that six month backlog and the impact that the waiting time has on my family, my financial situation and my health that has led me here today. Given a 6.6% infection rate among veterans, the figure currently being used by the VA, there are at least quarter million enrolled veterans with hepatitis C. I am just the tip of the iceberg and yet the wait for a determination is six months. Without a presumptive service connection for HCV I do not believe that VA adjudicators can reach a correct determination in HCV claims in anything resembling a reasonable timeframe. Let me explain. I have a definitive diagnosis of HCV by five different doctors. Confirmatory tests had been done by Hines and during my C&P exam at Westside. Most well grounded claims will have a definitive diagnosis. I have a letter by one of the VA’s top hepatologists to establish a nexus between my military service and my HCV, specifically stating "It is as likely as not, that Mr. Shallow was infected with HCV during his military service." Most Vets will not have this critical piece of evidence in their claim. I have brought along two visual images. One shows a radio operator—not a high risk MOS—but note the deep scratches on his right hand. If this brother were called away from the radio to assist in loading bodies onto a chopper or to pull a wounded man to safety he would have risked contracting HCV. It might be difficult to get a doctor to write a letter in support of his claim that he contracted HCV while working as a radio operator. The next image is of two grunts. One is shaving the other. The razor being used was part of a platoon’s special rations packet--intended for the entire unit. I think it would be very difficult to get a physician’s opinion linking HCV to military service if sharing razors was your only risk while in service. I realize that this picture makes it pretty clear that these guys were in the thick of things—on the ground in Vietnam. However, without a Purple Heart, good medical service records, the corroboration of a buddy and mountains of other paperwork, this grunt—if infected with HCV--may progress to end stage liver disease before he can become service connected through the VA. Furthermore, veterans needs to hear it from you—Congress—that it is your intent that we be presumptively service connected for this silent epidemic. A former member of Congress from the Great State of Illinois once faced the same dilemma this committee faces today—how to provide for the everlasting wounds of battle. In his second inaugural address Abraham Lincoln called on Congress to support a high standard (I quote) " to strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan." Thank you. Back to Witness List |