A Vietnam veteran suffering from cancer says he is also in a battle with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
“The VA is supposed to help us, they are supposed to be on our side,” said William LaFranca, a Vietnam veteran.
LaFranca says he is suffering from life-threatening cancer, something doctors say is most probably caused by his exposure to Agent Orange.
“He’s considering me terminal,” LaFranca said.
LaFranca says the VA told him they can manage his cancer with chemo, but there isn’t much else they can do. He wants a second opinion from outside doctors, including from the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, but he says the VA denied him a referral.
“I thought they are just leaving me out there to die,” LaFranca told Channel 2’s Rachel Stockman.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Atlanta VA Medical Center said:
“The Atlanta VA Medical Center (VAMC) is committed to providing timely, high quality care to all eligible Veterans. The facility has a certified cancer program that is staffed by board certified medical oncologists and hematologists. This program has access to the latest standard of care treatments in cancer treatment, including research clinical trials.
When the recommended standard of care is not available within the VA system or if the VA is unable to provide the recommended standard of care within 30 days, the patient is eligible for the Choice program and may receive non-VA care at VA expense. “
As a result of concerns over wait times at VA medical centers across the county, Congress passed the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014.
The law is supposed to give veterans who live more than 40 miles or have wait times exceeding 30 days to seek alternative treatment from an outside physician.
Lafranca, lives in Hiram, Georgia, which is more than 40 miles away from where he gets treatment at the VA hospital in Decatur. However, Lafranca says officials with the program told him he was not eligible for the ‘Choice’ program because there is a VA clinic in Austell, which is closer even though that clinic does not treat his condition.
“That’s insane... that’s the biggest joke in the whole world,” said LaFranca.
Darin Selnick, with the conservative advocacy group, “Concerned Veterans for America” says the problems with the program are growing.
“It is a very common thing that the VA doesn’t want you to go outside,” Selnick said.
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