Other Speaker: Truman Talks Law on Great Day Live is sponsored by the Karl Truman Law Office.
Other Speaker: Some scientist have called it the worst public drinking water contamination in America's history. Hundreds of thousands of military families drinking, bathing and cooking using toxic water.
Speaker 1: Apparently this went on for 30 years at the Marine Corps Camp Lejeune from the 1950s to the 1980s which Attorney Karl Truman says VA care now includes those victims. Hi Karl, good to see you again.
Karl Truman: Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is an unbelievable story that this went on for so long.
Karl Truman: Ah yes and, and I know there's a lot of groups that really pushed it for a long time but it finally gets the recognition and this is of interest to me since I do a lot of Veterans work and, you know, work with different Veterans groups, it's really pretty significant.
Other Speaker: And so you've had a lot of phone calls people actually asking you about this and VA care does now include people that drunk this water and used this water all those years. You say that a new bill has passed that, um, tells you that it does. But what exactly was in this water? What made it so tainted?
Karl Truman: Well apparently there was, uh, some cleaning companies and cleaning solvents that, you know, like, uh, uh, clothing, you know, companies that do clothing cleaning that was, uh, contaminating and getting into the water. And it really caused a lot of health problems. I mean there have been people that have died from cancer of this. And what made this particular law significant is that, uh, the VA rarely helps, uh, dependents. I mean the VA of course treats and the VA hospitals treat Veterans but this also includes dependents and other people who were on the base during that time not just people who were in the service.
Speaker 1: So VA care is covering family members who, who may have been living on those premises?
Karl Truman: If you had lived there during this time period and during this, this thirty year period, if you'd lived there for 30 days or more then you're eligible for care under this provision.
Other Speaker: That had to have been a lot of kids too.
Karl Truman: A lot of people. Yeah, their, the estimates have been up to 1 million people have been exposed to this drinking water.
Other Speaker: So again it had carcinogens and people have gone on to develop different types of cancers and other diseases, too, because of drinking the water. So how would someone be covered for VA care in this case? What kind of medical proof do you have to have that that water caused your health problem?
Karl Truman: Well the, the evidence is still out as far as what all of the, uh, conditions are but, you know, typically what, they'll be a list of certain types of presumptive conditions and we don't have a complete list of that yet but if, uh, someone's being treated and, and their doctor thinks that well this may have been from that contamination then definitely they should go to the VA and check it out.
Speaker 1: And that would take some serious investigative work though too though to, to be able to determine something that goes back as far as the 1950s or '60s.
Karl Truman: Well we do that with the Vietnam claims, Agent Orange claims, you know, what the VA has done is, you know, they've come up with a list of criteria of different types of illnesses that are presumptive conditions and so typically what would happen in those types of cases that the VA would come up with a list of presumptive conditions. Say if you have these, you automatically are covered. If you have something else, then you would have to develop some other medical proof.
Speaker 1: And they think some of this could have lie dormant for a long, long time before showing any activity in the body.
Karl Truman: Oh sure. Oh yeah, just, just as in Agent Orange and it's all these chemical type claims, uh, can be delayed response.
Other Speaker: That’s so sad that it went on for so long. We were talking about that before the interview that 30 years of this before someone realized we have a problem here.
Karl Truman: Well it is surprising. If you talk to the Marine Corps they say well these chemicals weren't on an official list like an FDA list saying they were carcinogens even though they were on Marine Corps lists themselves, some of their own lists of, uh, health hazard contaminants. So it, it's very confusing but I'm glad it's finally coming around.
Speaker 1: All right Karl. Thanks so much. If you need to reach Karl Truman you can do so at 502 222 2222.
