DUNNELLON, Fla. – A Camp Lejeune veteran who is fighting for disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs said he believes the doctor's opinion against him in his claim doesn't take into account necessary and pertinent information.
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Donald Burpee, 59, is a former Marine battling kidney cancer, which has now spread throughout his body to his brain and liver. He said he has been diagnosed as terminal, with potentially just weeks to live.
He is one of thousands of Marines and civilians who were exposed to toxic drinking water at Camp Lejeune between 1953 and 1987. The water was contaminated with several chemicals including trichlorethelyne (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and benzene.
"You're not just drinking it, you're using it to cook, you take a shower, you fill your baby bottles with it, when you shower, it aerates in the air and you breathe it," said Mike Partain, a Camp Lejeune veteran advocate and male breast cancer survivor. "It's a plume, goes underneath your house and the vapors will vaporize up into the structure."
Burpee's case went before a judge in May, just days after Local 6's initial story on his case. The judge ruled the case was to go back to the doctor who originally found against him, Dr. Deborah Heaney. The judge said she was to reexamine his information and put together an addendum using studies and information submitted to the judge on Burpee's behalf.
The information Heaney was tasked with addressing four studies done by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, the ATSDR's water modeling of Camp Lejeune, which indicate TCE, which has now been classified as a known human carcinogen, can cause kidney cancer. These studies were done specifically on civilians and Marine and Navy personnel that were stationed, worked, or lived on base.
The judge also wrote Heaney should consider an article, entitled "Tobacco smoking and cancer: A meta-analysis”, which states smoking is no stronger a risk factor for kidney cancer than exposure to TCE. The ATSDR also corroborates this information. Burpee's testimony at the hearing, including his statements that there were errors in his medical file, was also to be considered.
Last week, the Burpees got a call from a VA representative, saying Heaney said her opinion against him stood.
Now, the Burpees have received that addendum and said the information they received did not specifically address the ATSDR studies or "Tobacco smoking and cancer: A meta-analysis” in the addendum at all.
In her opinions on Burpee's case, Heaney wrote that his cancer is likely attributed to other risk factors, like hypertension, obesity and smoking. Burpee testified he wasn't diagnosed with hypertension until after his kidney was removed, that he wasn't obese when he was diagnosed, and that he did not smoke as much as what has been written in his medical records. Heaney cited several studies, including a chemical exposure study done in Europe, as well as others examining the links between obesity, smoking and hypertension with kidney cancer.
The Burpees said in an email to Local 6:
"Upon reviewing those studies she cited, all were industrial related job specific contamination while working with chemicals. Nowhere in the studies did we find any comments about what the cancer related exposure would be if the chemicals were digested through either drinking, eating, cooking with, bathing, or washing of clothes that were worn next to the skin over a period of time."
Partain gave the following statement to Local 6:
"After reading the latest rendition of Don's VA's denial for kidney cancer due to his exposure to toxic drinking water while at Camp Lejeune, it is quite apparent that the VA will exert every effort to force their square peg into a round hole, so long as the end result is the same.....no benefits for veterans exposed to environmental toxins post Agent Orange."
Partain went on to say:
"It is time for a presumptive service connection for Camp Lejeune and our veterans negligently exposed to the toxins in their drinking water aboard the base."
Heaney told Local 6 one of the ATSDR studies was not published at the time of her initial opinion, and the other was published only two weeks before she wrote it, which is why they were not included in her first analysis.
"It also isn’t reasonable to expect us to be doing lit (literature) reviews every week," said Heaney in a statement.
The VA said Heaney is a subject matter expert, or SME, a physician that completes a review of claims and provides medical opinions.
"The Camp Lejeune Contaminated Water (CLCW) SME process was developed in January 2013 to ensure medical opinions were completed by highly trained doctors with expertise in occupational medicine, environmental medicine and toxicology," said a VA representative in an email. "The SMEs receive specific training on Camp Lejeune water contamination and published scientific literature."
Heaney is on the payroll at the VA in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She also has a private consulting firm. Her website indicates she is board certified in preventative and occupational medicine but does not mention toxicology or oncology.
"I don’t list every qualification I have," said Heaney in statement. "I am not an oncologist. I am an Occupational medicine physician. I have epidemiological expertise. Occupational and environmental exposures may have potential to cause adverse hematological effects or may be carcinogenic. OEM physicians possess the knowledge and skills to evaluate patients, clinical data, and exposure data to render opinions regarding causation in cases of suspected occupational or environmental cancer."
Burpee's case now goes back to the judge. They can also submit a rebuttal of Heaney's opinion. If the judge finds against Burpee, he can appeal.
"Don is trying to stay positive about the appeal and feels that if Channel 6 News hadn't put forth his story along with information about Camp Lejeune contaminated water and what the Marines stationed there were exposed to and the trials of trying to get benefits at this time, the hearing would not have occurred at this point, the VA and the VBA would still be stalling his claims or simply denying it once again," said the Burpees in a statement.