VA denies disabled veteran's claim due to stunning mix-up
ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (WTVD) -- You expect to be judged for a disability claim based on your own medical history, but a Rocky Mount man says he was denied based off of someone else's records.
Seventy-year-old Ken Sutton was furious after waiting 15 months for The Department of Veteran Affairs to make a decision on his appeal for his disability claim.
Sutton uses an electric wheelchair to get around.
"The VA issued it, so it is in my VA records that I've had a wheelchair issued by the VA for seven years and I've got two prosthetic knees and I've had major back surgery in June and a heart attack this past year alone," Sutton said.
So Sutton was surprised when he received his denial letter from the Department of Veteran Affairs in Winston-Salem.
"Turned down because I was driving a truck," he said.
In the letter, Sutton was not only denied because his records reflected he had just graduated from trucking school, but also because he works on cell phone towers, enjoys aspects of his job, and missed an appointment because he was very busy and has been working in Georgia and Florida.
"I haven't been out of North Carolina in 23 years," Sutton said.
Sutton was granted 60 percent when it came to his disability compensation for injuries related to his military time, but he believed his PTSD and major depression should be granted 70 percent, which he said would qualify him for unemployment, which would equal much higher disability payments.
Sutton says the Department of Veteran Affairs denied his appeal based off of another veteran's records.
"I went from 'They've lost their mind' to being extremely angry with them," Sutton said.
Sutton wrote the Department of Veteran Affairs about the wrong information.
"Now it's been 4 months later, and I sent this to them by certified mail and have yet to even get a form letter from them acknowledging that they judged me on falsified information, turned my claim down," he said.
Sutton reached out to ABC11 for help and we got in touch with the Winston-Salem Department of Veteran Affairs. The representative said they have updated Sutton's medical records and removed any inaccurate statements.
Even with the updated information, the representative says his appeal was still denied. She said they're expediting Sutton's appeal to the Board of Veteran appeals in D.C. for a hearing in July.
While Sutton is happy he gets a hearing and the VA corrected his records, he still wants to know how it happened.
"It should be a terrible embarrassment to the VA," he said.
Sutton will have his hearing in July. As for how the wrong records got in his files, the representative with the Winston-Salem office said while they did an extensive review, they were unable to identify how specifically that happened. She adds there are several Ken Suttons who receive treatment in the VA system so it's possible the confusion happened due to the popularity of the name.
