Women veterans who lost breasts in active duty could be compensated

The Department of Veterans Affairs already pays monthly stipends of $76 to veterans who lost other body parts during active duty. Hands, eyes, buttocks, feet and male sex organs qualify; breasts do not.

A hearing on the legislation took place Thursday before a House Committee on Veterans' Affairs' subcommittee.

"The loss of a breast is a very traumatic event. And this bill recognizes that the loss of a breast is comparable to other losses that people in the service suffer," said U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., a sponsor of the Veterans' Special Monthly Compensation Gender Equity Act.

The proposed change is part of an effort to recognize the unique medical needs of women veterans, who represent the fastest growing population of veterans eligible for benefits.

A VA-sponsored National Summit on Women Veterans Issues will be held in Washington June 23-25 to help identify problems or concerns that need to be addressed.

The breast legislation is based on recommendations by the Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee on Women Veterans, which was formed in the early 1980s. In a 1998 report, the committee noted that a mastectomy "frequently results in severe physical disfigurement and necessitates major reconstructive surgery or the use of prosthesis to replace the missing breast tissue."

"We have a lot more women who are in the military, and we just need to be a little more responsive in terms of the differences that exist," said U.S. Rep. Ciro D. Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, a co-sponsor. "We provide some of these benefits for men, but not for women."

The VA system, established in 1930, was essentially designed to care for male patients. Hospitals were built with large open wards; privacy often was not a priority.

Part of the explanation is in the numbers.

Relatively few women served in the military until the draft ended in the 1970s. More jobs were opened to them in part to maintain adequate personnel levels. The military and Congress also were pressured by advocacy groups pushing for equality.

Women now fly combat aircraft and serve on warships. Only a few military occupations, including service on submarines and with Special Forces units, are still closed to them.

"In 25 years, women went from about 2 percent of the active duty force to about 16 percent. That's a pretty dramatic increase," said Joan A. Furey, director of the VA's Center for Women Veterans, which was established in 1994.

About 5 percent of the nation's veterans are women, and that's projected to rise to 10 percent within a decade.

"We got more aggressive in designing our programs to respond to the concerns that women had," said Ms. Furey, a Vietnam veteran who began her career with the VA as a staff nurse at a medical center "We've made tremendous progress."

The VA has eight comprehensive health centers for women (none in Texas), and gynecological services are available at all VA health-care facilities.

VA programs inform women of their eligibility and benefits and assist those who were sexually traumatized or assaulted while on active duty. The agency began providing prenatal care to women veterans last year and is developing a program to help homeless women veterans.

Critics say that the VA has made progress but still needs to improve the care that it provides to women veterans.

"There's a learning curve," Ms. Berkley said. "We need to continue to educate the VA on the special needs of women."

Mildred Kirlin Cipolla, a Korean War-era veteran, said many older women don't know they're even eligible for veterans benefits. The VA, she said, traditionally was a "male-oriented institution" and not so many years ago "had nothing for women."

"If a woman was in the hospital, she had to wear men's pajamas," she said. "They had no private rooms or rooms for women. They used to have to put a nurse outside the men's bathrooms so women could take a shower."

She met other women veterans at a VA medical center where her late husband, a disabled World War II veteran, was being treated. Together, they founded Women Veterans of America, a group that has advocated for changes in the VA.

Ms. Cipolla said she still receives letters from women complaining about the care they receive in VA facilities.

"I think they're trying hard," she said. "Some of the hospitals are very good, but there are other ones that are still behind."