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Veteran who has hepatitis C feels abandoned by Army
star ledger ^ | 10.01.08 | Wayne Woolley

Posted on 01/13/2009 1:55:48 PM PST by Coleus

Stephen Balsamo felt like his body was on an assembly line. He and his fellow recruits lined up back-to-belly at the Fort Dix clinic that day in 1973 and, as they filed by, the men were given a half-dozen shots in each arm with a device called a jet gun injector. The 54-year-old Boonton man thought little of it at the time. The gantlet was just another thing to endure at the start of a three-year hitch in the Army.

But Balsamo is now convinced that was the day the Army exposed him to tainted blood and infected him with the hepatitis C virus that now destroys his liver bit by bit each day. His medical records show a transplant may be his only hope. Yet Balsamo is learning that help from the government is far from guaranteed. And the more he thinks about it, the angrier he gets.

"When I put my right hand up, they said they'd take care of me if something happened," he said. "Now I'm sick from something they did, and they're saying they might not be able to help. It's disgusting." The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently told Balsamo he must prove his condition is "service-related" to qualify for treatment in its health care system or to receive disability benefits.

Although privacy regulations prohibit VA officials from commenting on specific cases, it's clear Balsamo faces an uphill battle. The VA's policy guidance is blunt: "Getting service-connection for (hepatitis C) is difficult. Most people cannot prove that they got HCV during their military service."

Those words drive Harry Hook crazy. The 61-year-old Vietnam veteran from Salem County is the manager of HCVets.com, a national clearinghouse for information about hepatitis C for veterans. "The claims process is quite horrendous," Hook said.

(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; US: New Jersey
KEYWORDS: fortdix; hcv; health; hepatitisc; veteran

1 posted on 01/13/2009 1:55:49 PM PST by Coleus
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To: Coleus
Certainly is an explanation that will sit better with family and friends than the usual route of Hepatitis C infection.

If he was infected, so were others standing in line and that is something which can be determined.

2 posted on 01/13/2009 1:59:29 PM PST by fso301
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To: Coleus

I had the same stew of shots injected the same way in 1983. I did not end up with hepatitis C. Just saying.


3 posted on 01/13/2009 2:04:44 PM PST by USAFJeeper
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To: Coleus

Prayers for Stephen Balsamo


4 posted on 01/13/2009 2:05:47 PM PST by pandoraou812 (Don't play leapfrog with a unicorn! ...........^............)
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To: USAFJeeper
back then they used the same "jet gun injector" which made it possible to have the blood of one person get injected into another. I remember as a kid in the 60’s we had the rubella shot that way.
5 posted on 01/13/2009 2:08:19 PM PST by Coleus (Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!)
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To: fso301
Certainly is an explanation that will sit better with family and friends than the usual route of Hepatitis C infection.

The usual route? I got my Hep C in my teens before blood was screened. From a blood transfusion! I didn't even know I had it until I tried to give blood in 1982 & was told I had non A non B Hep. There wasn't even a C back then. You can get Hep C many ways & not just from drug use or sex.

Certain specialized risks have also been identified - such as manicures, shared toothbrushes, or straight razors in barber shops.

http://www.epidemic.org/theFacts/hepatitisC/transmission/

6 posted on 01/13/2009 2:13:02 PM PST by pandoraou812 (Don't play leapfrog with a unicorn! ...........^............)
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To: fso301
Certainly is an explanation that will sit better with family and friends than the usual route of Hepatitis C infection.

That's what used to be thought of Hep. B. I'd never engaged in the behaviors associated with Hep. B yet I got it. Likely in a hospital.

7 posted on 01/13/2009 2:33:50 PM PST by decimon
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To: Coleus
In January of 1974 I was vaccinated along with 1000 other recruits with an experimental adenovirus subtype vaccine. I was in advanced Medical Virology at the University of Tennessee six years later when the Professor outlined how a vaccine could activate the onc gene and used that specific vaccine trial as an example. I kept a copy of my vaccination record from the USAF and the Professor confirmed that I was one of the 1000. Since then I have been holding my breath. Since I haven't died yet I surmise that my onc gene wasn't stimulated. And yes, it was delivered by the air gun....
8 posted on 01/13/2009 2:42:44 PM PST by vetvetdoug
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To: fso301

Uh huh. I don’t know HOW I got it. Risk factors included blood transfusion and a stint in the healthcare industry with direct patient contact [before everyone started wearing latex]....

To this day, it is appalling at how many people think only needle addicts get Hep C.


9 posted on 01/13/2009 2:55:51 PM PST by kozanne
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To: Coleus
I had the same assembly line jet injector shots in Fort Dix in 1958.

Everyone after him in line would have gotten it as well.

Whats the chance he had R&R in Thailand ?


10 posted on 01/13/2009 3:01:12 PM PST by Uri’el-2012 (Psalm 78:35 And they remembered that God was their ROCK, And the Most High God their Redeemer.)
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To: kozanne
it is appalling at how many people think only needle addicts get Hep C.

And truely appaling the number of firefighters (20% of the Philedelphia Fire Department), Police Officers and Health Care workers that are infected (and get treated like junkies).

11 posted on 01/13/2009 3:07:24 PM PST by Species8472 (Its not the fall that kills you, Its the sudden stop at the end!)
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To: kozanne
To this day, it is appalling at how many people think only needle addicts get Hep C.

Yes it is. And according to my gastro dr not everyone exposed to Hep C will get it. So much is still not known or understood about the virus.

12 posted on 01/13/2009 3:10:24 PM PST by pandoraou812 (Don't play leapfrog with a unicorn! ...........^............)
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To: USAFJeeper

I had them all in 1971. No hep C. But was scared as hell!


13 posted on 01/13/2009 3:16:44 PM PST by carjic (I would crawl over a mile of "Broken Glass" to vote for Palin!!!)
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To: Coleus

I understand (??) that the pneumatic shot giver was developed in part at Ft. Totten, NY in the 50’s and early 60’s. One of its faults is that it spread fluid among recipients.


14 posted on 01/13/2009 3:18:07 PM PST by OldEagle
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To: Coleus
Semi related story from when I was in boot camp our concern at vaccination time about the jet gun wasn't disease but that it was relatively new and those med techs who didn't have much experience with it caused problems for all. If not done right the injection would block under the skin and not go into the blood stream. Caused infections many times that happened and it wasn't a rare occasion.

Lucky for us the gun was broke that day so they had to use needles. I made up my mind not to faint if it was the last thing I ever did. Many were betting on me to be the one. Did feel dizzy for a few seconds but that passed. The biggest guy in our flight, everyone's "hero", was the one who fainted.

15 posted on 01/13/2009 3:22:10 PM PST by Hillarys Gate Cult (The man who said "there's no such thing as a stupid question" has never talked to Helen Thomas.)
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To: Coleus
I got the same treatment at MCRD San Diego in 1973. No problems and have had many blood tests since then. As a flier I would get lab work done every few years. The only Hep C guy in my unit was a notorious drinker and womanizer. That's how the docs figured he got it.
16 posted on 01/13/2009 3:23:46 PM PST by AlaskaErik (I served and protected my country for 31 years. Democrats spent that time trying to destroy it.)
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To: Species8472
And truely appaling the number of firefighters (20% of the Philedelphia Fire Department), Police Officers and Health Care workers that are infected (and get treated like junkies).

My sister, an R.N., died of HepC five years ago. She had been in nursing since the 1970's and likely got infected on the job. She didn't know she had it - maybe that's why it's called 'The Silent Killer'.

And, yes, she was treated like a junkie by the staff at Ocala Regional Medical Center as she laid dying.

17 posted on 01/13/2009 3:46:45 PM PST by Alice in Wonderland
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To: kozanne

“To this day, it is appalling at how many people think only needle addicts get Hep C.”

Yep, I had it and that’s when I learned how many ways you can get it. I’m so sorry for him. The treatment isn’t any fun AT ALL.


18 posted on 01/13/2009 3:47:27 PM PST by dljordan
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To: dljordan
The treatment isn’t any fun AT ALL

Interferion is rat poison, Ribovirin isn't much better.

Much better to have a liver transplant.

6 weeks after the transplant, you feel relatively normal.

With combo therapy you feel like DEATH for a year or more!

19 posted on 01/13/2009 5:18:08 PM PST by Species8472 (Its not the fall that kills you, Its the sudden stop at the end!)
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