The Defense Base Act Blog

Recent Posts from The Defense Base Act Blog

• KBR Contractor Still Waiting on Medical Treatment Two Years Later

  The Tuesday September 22, 2009 edition of The Boerne Star tells the sad story of Mark McLean who was injured in Iraq running from incoming fire from insurgents in April of 2007.  Not only has…

• After 1,300+ Contractor deaths, Military death toll in Iraq does not tell the whole story

  In a Memorial Day Washington Post column, columnist Steven Schooner raises a point familiar to this blog. In media coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the more than 1,000 civilian contractors killed, and nearly…

• Current Blackwater contractors may continue to work in Iraq for Triple Canopy

  In what does not entirely come as a shock, instead of hundreds of former Blackwater securtiy contractors flooding home the United States or to their home countries upon the completion of their former contracts, it…

• Who can I choose as my doctor under the Defense Base Act?

  This is a question I am not asked frequently enough. The answer is simple – under the Defense Base Act you can choose any qualified physician under the sun to treat your injuries. That is…

• What rights does the Defense Base Act provide for those with severe bodily injuries?

  The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have introduced a new range of injuries to standard workers’ compensation – IED attacks, Al Queada rocket attacks, and other war related dangers have resulted in unthinkable internal and…

• The Department of Defense may be pondering changes in Defense Base Act coverage

  According to a recent Department of Defense posting, it is seeking comments concerning the future of the Defense Base Act insurance system, which in case you are new to this blog, is a workers’ compensation…

• 1,264 civilian contractors have died in Iraq/Afghanistan according to most recent figures

  That total is according to Pentagon figures released in September 2008. Sadly, that number rises weekly and the AP has reported another death, a Dyncorp employee shot by a sniper. We reported last spring that the…

• Iraq veteran disabled by “Iraq’s Agent Orange” due to exposure to hexavalent chromium

  The March 7, 2009 issue of the “Oregonian” tells the tale of Oregon Army National Guardsman Larry Roberta, who sadly suffers from a host of respitory disorders due to his 2003 exposure to hexavalent chromium…

• Is the Anaconda burn pit linked to illnesses in KBR contractors?

  I have been receiving an increasing number of calls recently from former KBR contractors, especially from Camp Anaconda/Balad concerning unusual medical problems possibly associated with exposure to the “burn pits,” disturbingly common to the camps.…

• Plaintiff’s attempts to circumvent the Defense Base Act in negligence cases continue

  Reports of new attempts to pierce the protections afforded to employers under the Defense Base Act have been popping up throughout the news world. The daughter of a Michigan man apparently killed by friendly fire…