thedrifter
07-17-09, 06:04 AM
Stricken Marine spurs senator’s amendment
Gannett Washington Bureau - Gannett Washington Bureau
Posted : Thursday Jul 16, 2009 20:48:40 EDT
WASHINGTON — Marine Lance Cpl. Josef Lopez of Springfield has spent the last three years recovering from a smallpox vaccination that left him paralyzed and nearly took his life.
Lopez, now 23, was given the vaccination before his 2006 deployment to Iraq. But a law that awards wounded Iraq veterans up to $100,000 to defray costs associated with major injuries, left him out.
An amendment introduced Thursday by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., to a defense bill currently being debated on the floor of the U.S. Senate could change that.
McCaskill’s legislation would require that the Department of Veterans Affairs extend this benefit to Lopez and a handful of other veterans who have sustained disabilities due to vaccines administered by the military.
“He would not have received this vaccination if it wasn’t for his deployment, and his reaction to the vaccination should fall under the same umbrella as other injuries suffered during duty in Iraq,” McCaskill said, calling the problem a “loophole” that needs to be addressed.
“I am worried that there are a lot of other Josef Lopezes out there who are struggling with this same sort of situation,” she added.
It’s unclear how many service members have been denied this benefit for conditions related to adverse vaccine reactions. However, the DoD has filed more than 4,400 vaccine adverse-reaction reports with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration from 2000 to 2008.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the bill would cost $7 million a year to operate, McCaskill said.
Lopez still has trouble walking long distances, standing for long periods of time and controlling his bladder. He takes about 15 pills a day to keep his legs from trembling and deal with other problems.
Still, he’s come a long way.
“At one point I could only move my eyelids,” he said, describing how in the course of one day in Iraq, he went from playing football to lying on the floor unable to move his legs.
Lopez retired from the military on June 30 and has started taking classes at Missouri State, using the GI Bill. He also has become a marathoner. Using a hand cycle, Lopez plans to participate in his third Marine Corps Marathon this fall.
As for McCaskill’s bill, Lopez said it feels good to have someone looking out for him.
“I never would have thought that I’d have a problem that a senator would care about or try to change or have a bill going up in front of Congress for,” he said.
His mother, Barbara Lopez, a secretary at Central High, brought the issue to McCaskill’s attention in a letter.
After her son’s accident, she lost her second job and didn’t have the money to have a wheelchair ramp installed before her son came home. This injury benefit would have helped with those and other costs, she said.
“We would like to know that no one else is going to have to go through what we went through,” she said. “That is why we have kept going with this.”
The Defense Authorization Bill pending before the Senate is expected to pass next week. It was unclear when McCaskill’s amendment would be voted on, but the measure is not considered controversial and is likely be included in the final bill.
Ellie
Gannett Washington Bureau - Gannett Washington Bureau
Posted : Thursday Jul 16, 2009 20:48:40 EDT
WASHINGTON — Marine Lance Cpl. Josef Lopez of Springfield has spent the last three years recovering from a smallpox vaccination that left him paralyzed and nearly took his life.
Lopez, now 23, was given the vaccination before his 2006 deployment to Iraq. But a law that awards wounded Iraq veterans up to $100,000 to defray costs associated with major injuries, left him out.
An amendment introduced Thursday by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., to a defense bill currently being debated on the floor of the U.S. Senate could change that.
McCaskill’s legislation would require that the Department of Veterans Affairs extend this benefit to Lopez and a handful of other veterans who have sustained disabilities due to vaccines administered by the military.
“He would not have received this vaccination if it wasn’t for his deployment, and his reaction to the vaccination should fall under the same umbrella as other injuries suffered during duty in Iraq,” McCaskill said, calling the problem a “loophole” that needs to be addressed.
“I am worried that there are a lot of other Josef Lopezes out there who are struggling with this same sort of situation,” she added.
It’s unclear how many service members have been denied this benefit for conditions related to adverse vaccine reactions. However, the DoD has filed more than 4,400 vaccine adverse-reaction reports with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration from 2000 to 2008.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the bill would cost $7 million a year to operate, McCaskill said.
Lopez still has trouble walking long distances, standing for long periods of time and controlling his bladder. He takes about 15 pills a day to keep his legs from trembling and deal with other problems.
Still, he’s come a long way.
“At one point I could only move my eyelids,” he said, describing how in the course of one day in Iraq, he went from playing football to lying on the floor unable to move his legs.
Lopez retired from the military on June 30 and has started taking classes at Missouri State, using the GI Bill. He also has become a marathoner. Using a hand cycle, Lopez plans to participate in his third Marine Corps Marathon this fall.
As for McCaskill’s bill, Lopez said it feels good to have someone looking out for him.
“I never would have thought that I’d have a problem that a senator would care about or try to change or have a bill going up in front of Congress for,” he said.
His mother, Barbara Lopez, a secretary at Central High, brought the issue to McCaskill’s attention in a letter.
After her son’s accident, she lost her second job and didn’t have the money to have a wheelchair ramp installed before her son came home. This injury benefit would have helped with those and other costs, she said.
“We would like to know that no one else is going to have to go through what we went through,” she said. “That is why we have kept going with this.”
The Defense Authorization Bill pending before the Senate is expected to pass next week. It was unclear when McCaskill’s amendment would be voted on, but the measure is not considered controversial and is likely be included in the final bill.
Ellie