Episode 14: Download the Independent Medical Opinion letter that started it all (hopefully). Make a VA Disability Claim Application Tracker (one-page) Book a C&P Exam I recently had the experience of doing an evaluation on a Vietnam veteran who had been exposed to Agent Orange. Since 1993, the VA Secretary has declared that there is no link between Agent Orange and the subsequent development of dementia. In the past two years, all that has changed. https://vimeo.com/1128135250?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci Download and Share the Ambassador Slides HANDOUT. So when you do VA Disability Evaluations, sometimes you get push-back on your reports. It's usually a previously written rebuttal paragraph, like this one: "Please have the previous examiner address the deficiencies with the examination he or she conducted on the Veteran. Neurobehavioral disorders (cognitive and neuropsychiatric) have been determined by the Secretary, based on cumulative scientific data reported by the National Academies of Science since 1993, to have no positive association with herbicide exposure. Dementia is classified as a neurobehavioral disorder, encompassing both cognitive and neuropsychiatric components. You indicated that "the rationale is the veteran was exposed to Herbicide Agent TCDD while the Veteran served in Vietnam. This has been associated with the subsequent development of dementia." However, this rationale is not sufficient in this case. The rationale must: 1. Cite any general medical principles used to support the opinion. 2. Identify pertinent medical evidence and case-specific information relied on to support the opinion. 3. Demonstrate how the opinion was formulated. 4. Include supportive arguments for any opinions rendered or conclusions reached, with an analysis that can be considered when weighing contradictory or conflicting opinions. 5. Provide clear conclusions based upon supporting data and analysis, including a reasoned medical explanation connecting the two. Please clarify how, as a specific and individual matter, the Veteran’s dementia is associated with herbicide exposure, given that the National Academies of Science since 1993 have found no positive association involving neurobehavioral disorders with herbicide exposure as a general matter. Provide a specific, individualized rationale consistent with the five points above, to substantiate and support the opinion rendered." I have to admit that when I first saw this reply, it was news to me. I had the feeling I made a mistake, but I had to fight this one. If you've read about my personal struggle with detoxing from the PFAS Forever Chemicals, you'd know I'm intimately familiar with how neurotoxins kill brain cells. I decided to dig my feet in and write an essay on how Agent Orange causes dementia. Besides, I had to because there was no way to resubmit the document I had already filled out. I didn't know the research when I made that decision. Make a VA Disability Claim Application Tracker (one-page) Book a C&P Exam 2026 Nominee for the Mindshift Care Every Day Hero Award I invited Dr. Suzanne de la Monte, MD MPH to appear on the Gluten-Free Psychiatry Podcast. She is the researcher that provided both missing links between Agent Orange and dementia. Contact me to submit questions you'd like me to ask prior to that podcast. My plan is to emphasize her as a role model for future researchers' footsteps to follow. And I didn't know that the missing links had been discovered in the past two years! Stay tuned to the Gluten-Free Psychiatry Podcast for a later update on if this response worked and made this a service-connection for the very first time. Download and share the full IMO letter with citation at the bottom of this page. Be sure to leave the PDF unchanged and cite properly. My Proof That Agent Orange Causes Dementia: My Response to the VA "Recent evidence suggests that Agent Orange exposures may predispos...