Northville, Michigan – The Yale Law School’s Veterans Legal Services Clinic is representing a Vietnam veteran and his daughter. The father-daughter team are suing the Department of Veterans Affairs, seeking equal treatment of birth defects in the children of veterans exposed to Agent Orange. 

The lawsuit focuses on a current VA rule: Children with birth defects whose mothers served in Vietnam receive compensation from the VA for their disabilities. Children whose fathers served, however, do not. Only children born with spina bifida are covered. 

The plaintiffs include a father who served in Vietnam, where he was exposed to Agent Orange. His daughter was later born with achondroplasia. Achondroplasia, also known as dwarfism, is a condition specifically linked to a parent’s Agent Orange exposure. 

The VA covers children with achondroplasia when their mothers served in Vietnam. When the plaintiffs filed for benefits, however, they were denied because, in their case, the father had served, not the mother. 

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Connecticut, questions whether this rule commits illegal sex discrimination. 

“When the VA rejected my claim, they didn’t say my condition wasn’t real or that it wasn’t caused by Agent Orange. They said my father’s service didn’t count the same as a mother’s would. How can that be legal?” asked the plaintiffs in a statement. 

The case seeks for the VA to provide disability benefits to all children who meet the criteria, no matter which parent served in Vietnam. Connecticut senator Richard Blumenthal has also sponsored legislation to expand research on birth defects in the children of veterans exposed to environmental toxins and pollutants. Such research would include “burn pit” exposure in Iraq and Afghanistan.  

The VA started providing benefits to the children of Vietnam veterans in 1996. At the time, the VA covered spina bifida in these children. The department expanded the list of covered conditions in 2000. The expanded list, however, only applied to children of women who had served in Vietnam. Spina bifida remains the only condition covered if either parent served. 

The VA’s disability benefits rules can be complex. Yet they serve as a lifeline for countless veterans and their families. The VA Disability team at Legal Help for Veterans is dedicated to helping our veterans get the benefits they need and deserve.