The Department of Veterans Affairs sent letters to 1,200 veterans across the country mistakenly telling them they have ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, a fatal neurological disease.
James Bunker, a leader of the National Gulf War Resource Center said the organization counted at least as many worried veterans from Alabama, Florida, Kansas, North Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming had contacted the group about the error.
Denise Nichols, the vice president of the National Gulf War Resource Center, said the V.A. was blaming a coding error for the mistake.
Letters dated Aug. 12 were intended to notify veterans who have Lou Gehrig’s disease of disability benefits available to them.
In a statement acknowledging the error, the VA said it had been contacted by a "small number" of veterans, which the NGWRC disputed. Bunker said the VA was telling reporters it had only received 10 responses from veterans regarding the letter.
According to the VA:
"In our efforts to keep Veterans informed of their expanding eligibility for benefits, VA sent notifications to Veterans with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) for disability compensation benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), outreach letters were sent to 1,864 veterans and survivors last week.
"VA has since been contacted by a small number of these Veterans who do not have ALS, but were mistakenly sent the ALS outreach letter."
The VA said it is "immediately reviewing" the individual claims files for all recipients of the letter to identify those who were erroneously notified, and VA employees will be following up to personally reach out to ensure the letter is undersood to be a mistake, and not a diagnosis of ALS.
VA employees also will "express VA’s sincere apologies for the distress caused by this unfortunate and regrettable error," the VA said.
Recipients of the letter are encouraged to call VA at 1-800-827-1000 with any questions.
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