A local veteran reaches out to Houston's Morning News after learning the regional VA office lost her benefits application.
Like her father and husband, Laura Wurzburger served in the Navy, but was forced out when diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Still able to work, Wurzburger says she never sought government assistance until her medical bills began piling up.
"We don't have a car, we're living on my husband's Social Security disability, it's pretty bad," she says. "I have a roof over my head and food on my table right now, but come October and November, that's the concern right there."
After a year of filing paperwork however, she learned the regional VA office had lost her file.
"I was just flabergasted," she says. "I understand it's a large organization and have lots of files, but don't they take any responsibility for the work they do?"
The regional VA office says because of the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, they've seen a backlog of 32,000 cases which take about 230 days to process.
Congressman Ron Paul's office is now involved, but would not talk about the case due to privacy concerns.
