Featured Cases

A Veteran with a service-related health condition needed life-saving treatments that were not available in Canada, so his specialist recommended treatment in the USA. The Veteran followed all of the required procedures for pre-approved Health Related Travel but he was still being shuffled between various VAC offices.  With only one business day before his departure date and several costly trips ahead, the Veteran still did not have a decision, so he contacted my office for help.

An issue of invoices, receipts, and up-front payment

A Veteran, a single parent of four who is working towards a university degree, contacted the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman (OVO) after being denied reimbursement under the Canadian Veterans Vocational Rehabilitation Services (CVVRS).

A Veteran living part-time between a men's shelter and an apartment that also housed drug dealers had an urgent requirement for housing. The location had animal feces throughout the building, police were often called, and his belongings were not secure.

VAC was advised that a Veteran, who is pensioned for PTSD, was incarcerated. He was on the Rehabilitation Program at the time. VAC immediately cancelled his rehabilitation plan thinking he would be unable to participate given that he needed to undergo mental health treatment.

The Veteran repeatedly requested assistance from VAC while incarcerated but was denied. After we intervened, he was put back into the program – while incarcerated – as he was able to find a psychologist willing to provide treatment in a prison.

Different definitions of “full-time student” were at the heart of a recent Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) decision to deny a Veteran an additional disability pension for his child who is attending university. The student has special needs, and in September 2015 reduced his course load to two courses totalling six hours a week.

In August, a Veteran experienced a four-day delay in receiving a drug prescribed by an Emergency Room (ER) physician for an acute condition. The ER doctor prescribed a drug that the Veteran learned, after two pharmacy visits, required special authorization from Medavie Blue Cross (MBC). Unable to afford the up-front medication cost, the Veteran contacted the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman for help.

The son of a 101-year-old frail Veteran called the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman (OVO) seeking assistance in appealing VAC’s denial of a prescribed therapeutic nutrient for the Veteran. This Veteran was suffering from a decreased appetite and weakness for two weeks, and after hospitalization, was prescribed Glucerna meal replacement to supplement the Veteran’s daily food consumption. The Veteran was also suffering from a broken wrist, diabetes and other serious health conditions.

A Veteran contacted the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman because he was unsatisfied with the initial (interim) assessment of 28 percent that he had received for several major injuries sustained as a result of an IED explosion. The Office contacted Veterans Affairs Canada’s Head Office Senior Medical Advisor and through discussion was able to have the injuries evaluated holistically (as opposed to each in isolation). This resulted in an increase in the assessment from 28 percent to 72 percent.

A Veteran contacted the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman because he was feeling unsure about the career path Veterans Affairs Canada had selected for him and was worried that the Department was on the verge of closing out his Vocational Rehabilitation Plan. This Veteran had served as an air traffic controller and a trucker in the Canadian Forces. The Department’s vocational service provider had sent the Veteran to a custom broker training program, but the Veteran did not feel that this was a suitable gainful employment career path for him.

A Veteran pensioned at 100 percent had been waiting for a year for approval of home gym equipment to help alleviate the pain to his condition caused by excessive car travel. This Veteran is required to do a six hour return trip three times a week to the nearest town to get physiotherapy treatment. The Veteran had submitted to Veterans Affairs Canada a prescription from his doctor and a written recommendation from his physiotherapist for the home gym equipment, but it had not been approved by his Case Manager.