Can my Adiposis Dolorosa (Dercum's Disease) diagnosis be covered by the PACT Act?
The PACT Act and your VA benefits | Veterans Affairs
The PACT Act is a new law that expands VA health care and benefits for Veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances. This law helps us provide generations of Veterans — and their survivors — with the care and benefits they’ve earned and deserve. This page will help answer your questions about what the PACT Act means for you or your loved ones. You can also call us at800-698-2411(TTY: 711). And you can file a claim for PACT...
https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/why-isn-t-pancreatic-cancer-a-presumptive-condition-related-to-agent-orange-exposure
and here:
https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/is-prostate-cancer-covered-by-the-pact-act-for-va-disability-claims
Bottom line: if it's not listed as a presumptive condition (it's not), then you have to show a service connection. As part of the service connection linkage, if you show that symptoms showed up during service or within one year of leaving the military you MAY have some weight to show a service connection.
However, since you submitted a claim and it was denied, you'll have to come up with additional information (have you tried going back to the clinic, assuming it still exists, and getting records? Was there anything that documented that you had a lipoma appear while in Iraq? Etc.)
Why isn’t Pancreatic cancer a presumptive condition related to agent orange exposure? |...
My husband is a pancreatic cancer survivor. He was exposed to agent orange in Vietnam. Since this was a “toxic exposure”, why doesn’t the va have pancreatic cancer on their presumptive list? The new PACT Act acknowledges pancreatic cancer as a presumptive condition for burn pits and “other toxic exposure”. Seems like pancreatic cancer should be considered in relation to agent orange exposure as that too is “toxic exposure”
Best regards,
Kevin
I assume you used insurance when you had it removed (Tricare?) and didn't pay for the procedure completely out of pocket. Contact the insurance company to obtain records of the procedure. It's not medical notes, but it should have procedure codes that might bolster an appeal.
You can also obtain sworn testimony from fellow servicemembers, relatives, medical personnel (if any are around), etc. But, keep in mind, every medical issue a Soldier has does not mean it is Service related. I can be, but isn't automatically (unless it is presumptive .. then you just need to show you have it and that you're eligible under the criteria)
I'll caveat anything I say with the standard disclaimer - I'm not a medical professional so take anything I say medically related with a grain of salt.
One of the things you have working against you is that, from what I could see on lipomas and Adiposis-Dolorosa, it has a genetic component and there isn't any good solid evidence of precursor symptoms. However, there are some strong correlations on the medical websites I looked at (NIH.gov, etc.). It is possible that if you have medical documentation of some of these precursors appearing during your Service that it could be grounds for an appeal with new information.
However .. there are a lot of qualifiers there .. possible .. could .. might. I'm sorry to say that you'll have a long hill to climb in proving a service connection if there isn't anything showing that it was there during service.
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