The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has expanded eligibility for disability compensation due to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) for veterans who served in Vietnam’s offshore waters.  This is welcome news for Blue Water veterans whose claims for compensation benefits had been denied under VA’s earlier more restrictive definition of the disease.

Background:  The term NHL includes a number of different conditions that may be categorized differently under various medical classification systems.  Recently, VA expanded its definition of NHL to include chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small-cell lymphocytic lymphoma, two conditions that VA previously contended were unrelated.

CLICK HERE for a copy of VA’s decision