If elected to represent the Veterans of Arizona and the United States, I pledge to submit legislation that will:
1. Eliminate the Feres Doctrine;
2. Establish computerized claims processing so that if one claim is recognized in one review, an identical claim in another review is processed the same; thereby eliminating a lengthy review process where the outcome might be different;
3. For Vietnam Veterans: Treat Peripheral Neuropathy as a stand-alone disease and eliminate the 1-year time limit diagnosis from the DEROS in-country service period;
4. For Vietnam Veterans: Vets whose deaths occurred before a claim was processed or settled and the death was due to an Agent Orange-causative, beneficiaries receive the compensation and benefits to which the member was entitled backdated to the initial date of the claim's submittal;
5. For Vietnam Veterans: All herbicide associated claims must be approved within 30 days to "Service-connected healthcare" and Compensation & Pension Exams for those disorders requiring such must be scheduled within 60 days of approval;
6. Use the Board of Veterans Appeals decisions as legal precedence to immediately approve all such Herbicide association claims for the exact same cases or claims that are generically similar cases for both Veterans and Widows alike;
7. Require all medical professionals in the VA System be licensed in the state where each practices and further be required to carry full medical malpractice insurance of whatever minimum amount is required by state statue, if applicable;
8. Require all active duty personnel health records be placed on CD at time of active duty discharge; and all other paper records be automated to CD at the time of acceptance into the V.A. Healthcare system.
