USAF denies care for recruit with leukemia

LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- The U.S. Air Force is denying healthcare benefits to a recruit who was diagnosed with leukemia during his basic training, the recruit said.

Joseph Weston, 21, was weeks into boot camp at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, when he learned he had leukemia, but an Air Force evaluation board ruled that Weston was ill before he arrived at camp, the San Antonio Express-News reported Sunday. The board ordered Weston's dismissal with an administrative discharge that would render him ineligible for medical and retirement benefits, the newspaper said.

The board's ruling was in conflict with the medical opinion of an Air Force cancer specialist who determined there was "absolutely no way" to conclude that Weston was sick when he arrived at Lackland.

Weston, of Cadillac, Mich., is appealing the decision to deny him benefits. He told the newspaper he joined the Air Force with the United States at war, and will try to get a discharge that will enable him to receive medical care, and perhaps a pension as well.

"I feel I'm entitled to that," he said. "I definitely feel that the Air Force owes me a medical discharge, if not retirement."

An Air Force spokesman said the evaluation board could not comment on the case.