Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 7, 1994 TAG: 9409070134
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said the Department of Veterans Affairs too narrowly interpreted a 1984 law intended to simplify such compensation claims.
The court agreed with the Disabled American Veterans that the Radiation Compensation Act was meant to supplement existing procedures for proving disability claims, not replace them.
Clyde Combee, a military policeman during the war, arrived in Japan about two weeks after the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki in 1945.
He filed two claims for compensation in 1989 with the VA regional office, but both were denied. The Board of Veterans Appeals and the Court of Veterans Appeals affirmed the denials, saying his skin ailments were not among the 38 diseases named in the Radiation Compensation Act.
Arthur Wilson, national adjutant for the Disabled American Veterans, said the ruling is a ``major victory for veterans whose disabilities may be caused by radiation exposure but are not on the list of illnesses officially assumed to be associated with radiation exposure.''
VA spokesmen were unavailable for comment Tuesday.
by CNB