VA Still Arbitrarily Cutting Caregivers From Program, Even As It Aims To Expand

Ret. Sgt. Christopher Kurtz and his wife Heather Kurtz pose for a portrait on the couch in their living room on Dec. 10, 2018.

Erica Brechtelsbauer for NPR

Chris Kurtz is trying to keep his sense of humor. Even after the VA told him last summer that he no longer needs a caregiver.

“Apparently my legs grew back, I dunno,” he says with a laugh, and sinks into his couch in Clarksville, Tenn. And then he mentions that he probably can’t get out of the couch without help from his wife.

In December 2010, a bomb blast ended his Army deployment to Afghanistan. He lost both legs above the knee and half of his left hand. Heather, then his fiancée, joined him at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the VA suggested she apply for their new caregiver program.