VA adds reproductive-organ injuries to insurance
Published: December 2, 2011
WASHINGTON — The signature injury of the current wars is traumatic brain injury, but that’s not what a wounded servicemember asks about when he comes to at the hospital.
The first thing he often wants to know? Whether his penis is still there and still works.
Injuries to the reproductive and urinary organs increased as roadside bombs became the favored tactic by insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Now those type of injuries, in both men and women, will be eligible for traumatic injury benefits under the Department of Veterans Affairs group life insurance plan, the VA announced today.
The benefits provide a one-time payment between $25,000 and $100,000 for severe injuries such as loss of limbs or eyesight and burns.
Given that genitourinary-organ injuries, as the medical world calls them, have been around for awhile, eligibility for the payment will be retroactive to all those type of injuries sustained after Oct. 11, 2001, the start of the Afghanistan War. The maximum payment for genital injuries is $50,000.
“We recognize that these types of injuries are devastating and can have a long-lasting impact on the servicemember’s quality of life,” Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki said in a news statement about the addition to the insurance.
