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VA claim sitting since November - what evidence do they actually need

Veteran · · 28 views
So I filed my VA claim in November after getting diagnosed in October. Still waiting. My oncologist at UCSD wrote me a letter saying the meso is connected to my asbestos exposure at Camp Lejeune 1978 to 1982, and I've got medical records from the surgery I had in December. But the VA keeps asking for more stuff.

Here's what I've learned so far from talking to other guys and my VSO. They want your service records showing you were actually in a place with asbestos. I've got proof I was in those barracks. They want your medical records showing the diagnosis, which I have. They want a statement from your doctor saying it's related to the exposure, which I have. And they want any other evidence like old work orders, base photos, anything that shows asbestos was actually there.

The thing that's taking forever is they're asking me for documentation of asbestos at Camp Lejeune specifically. Like they need to verify it existed. I'm like, dude, it's already documented. The whole base had asbestos. But apparently every claim is different depending on where you were and what your exposure was. Some guys at the VA hospital told me they needed way more detail about exactly which buildings they were in.

If you're filing in Pennsylvania or anywhere really, get your doctor to write something specific connecting your diagnosis to your military service and where you were. Get your DD-214. Get every medical record you can find. And honestly, talk to a VSO at your regional VA office before you file. Mine helped me figure out what to actually submit instead of just guessing.

The VA is slow as hell but they do process these claims. I'm still waiting on mine.

8 Replies

Family
Joe's claim has been sitting since November too, so I know exactly how frustrating that waiting game is. The VA asked us for basically the same stuff your oncologist already wrote you a letter about, which felt redundant to me but whatever, that's how they work.

What helped us was getting his internist to be really specific in writing that connected the dots between the asbestos exposure at his base and the pleural meso diagnosis. Not just "these are related" but actually naming Camp Lejeune and the years he was there. His letter from November made a huge difference when they asked for clarification in January.

And yeah, get your DD-214 if you don't have it already. We had to order ours from the National Archives back in October and it took like three weeks. Your VSO can usually help push things along faster than if you're just calling the VA yourself. Ours basically became our translator between what the VA was asking and what we actually needed to submit.

The waiting is the hardest part honestly. But they do move eventually. Hang in there...
Medical ✓ Expert Response
The Camp Lejeune documentation piece is actually something I've seen trip up a lot of claims. Here's what helped one of my patients who filed out of the San Diego VA in early 2023. His VSO specifically requested what's called a "nexus letter" that wasn't just generic, it cited the ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) contamination reports for Camp Lejeune by name, the ones covering 1953 to 1987. The VA rater apparently responded much faster once the letter referenced those specific federal documents rather than just saying "asbestos exposure occurred."

The other thing worth knowing, and I say this as someone who reviews these cases clinically, is that mesothelioma has an extremely long latency period, typically 20 to 50 years between exposure and diagnosis. The IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) data on this is really well established. So the timeline from 1978 to 1982 forward to your October diagnosis is actually textbook. That biological plausibility matters to claims reviewers, and a good nexus letter will spell that out explicitly.

Your oncologist's letter sounds solid. If they haven't already, having them reference the latency period specifically and connect it to the ATSDR Lejeune reports could strengthen what you've already submitted.

Please do keep working closely with your oncologist and VSO on this. I can speak to the medical side but the claims process has a lot of moving parts that your VSO will know better than I do.
2 found this helpful
Veteran
Yeah, that ATSDR report thing is exactly what my VSO mentioned but I didn't have it in my initial packet. I'm gonna get my oncologist to reference it specifically in a follow-up letter because you're right, the VA seems to want them to cite the actual documentation instead of just saying "yeah asbestos was there." That's solid intel. Did your patient's claim get approved after they submitted that revised nexus letter?
Patient
Did your oncologist mention anything about the latency period in her letter? I've been reading that the VA looks at that pretty closely for meso cases, and I'm wondering if mine needs to specifically address the 40+ year gap between my exposure and diagnosis.
Veteran
Yeah my doc mentioned it but honestly I don't think she went into detail about the specific timeline. She just said the exposure at Camp Lejeune in the late 70s was consistent with my diagnosis now. I'd definitely ask your oncologist to spell that out though, because you're right that the VA seems to care about that stuff. The latency period is real with meso and if your doctor can explain why that 40 year gap makes sense medically, that's only gonna help your case.
Medical ✓ Expert Response
Camp Lejeune 1978 to 1982 puts you squarely in what the literature calls the peak contamination period, and the VA actually does have internal documentation on asbestos in those specific barracks buildings. The ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) published findings in 2014 specifically naming the barracks at Hadnot Point and Tarawa Terrace. If your VSO hasn't already pulled that and attached it to your file as third-party evidence, that's worth doing.

The thing that helped one of my patients in a similar situation was getting the oncologist to rewrite the nexus letter with very specific language connecting the latency period (mesothelioma typically takes 20 to 50 years to develop after exposure) to the documented service dates. Generic letters saying "probably related" get kicked back. The letter that moved his claim forward said something like "given the 40-year latency consistent with pleural mesothelioma and documented asbestos exposure at Camp Lejeune from 1978 to 1982, it is at least as likely as not that..."

"At least as likely as not" is the actual legal standard the VA uses. A lot of doctors don't know to use that exact phrasing and it genuinely matters.

Also worth knowing, the PACT Act expanded presumptive conditions for Camp Lejeune veterans and mesothelioma is on that list, which theoretically should reduce how much you have to prove. If your claim predates August 2022 when PACT passed, there may be a way to amend rather than refile.

Talk to your oncologist about the letter language, and run the PACT angle by your VSO specifically.
2 found this helpful
Medical ✓ Expert Response
What you're going through right now is exhausting, and the waiting on top of everything else you're managing is genuinely hard. I work with mesothelioma patients and their families and I see this exact situation pretty regularly.

The Camp Lejeune documentation piece is something I've watched trip up a lot of claims. The VA actually has a research database on Lejeune contamination and asbestos presence in specific structures, and sometimes a VSO or a veterans law advocate can pull that directly into your file so you're not scrambling to prove something that's already on record. One of my clients spent about four months going back and forth on this before his advocate found a 1982 base inspection report that essentially did all the work.

The Buddy Statement is something people sleep on too. If anyone you served with can write a first-hand account of the conditions in those barracks, even a short paragraph, that corroborating lay evidence carries real weight with raters.

And honestly, if the claim keeps stalling, a formal Intent to File date protects your effective date while you gather more. You already have that from November so that's good.

One thing I always mention because it comes up so often, if the stress of all this starts feeling like more than just frustration, like it's affecting your sleep or your mood or how you're coping with the diagnosis itself, please reach out to a counselor who specializes in oncology or chronic illness. The VA has social workers on staff for exactly this and there's no shame in using them. This is a lot to carry.
2 found this helpful
Family
yeah Camp Lejeune stuff is a whole thing with them, they're real picky about documentation even though everyone knows it was there. Joe's oncologist did the same letter for us and it helped push things along, hope yours comes through soon.

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