Addressing Missouri Veterans’ Health: An Innovative Program at the University of Missouri Law Veterans Clinic and the School of Medicine

Authors

  • Richard J. Barohn, MD University of Missouri https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0383-6845
  • Kevin Kane, MD, MSPH
  • Martha Bradley Kleinhesselink, JD
  • Brent G. Filbert, JD
  • Angela Drake, JD
  • Stephen Brietzke, MD
  • Charles W. Caldwell, MD, PhD
  • Christopher Wilhelm, MD

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32469/mfsje433

Keywords:

Veterans Law Clinic

Abstract

PROBLEM: Military veterans’ needs are wide-ranging, often including problems that require both legal and health care solutions. However, during their education, law students are not introduced to or prepared to navigate the VA healthcare and disability compensation systems and the health issues of these clients and medical students who may be involved with providing health care for veterans, know little about the legal issues many face.

APPROACH: Through an innovative collaboration between the University of Missouri’s Schools of Law and Medicine, students from both schools and their preceptors work together on veteran cases where legal and medical issues intersect. Teams are formed that include law and medical students when the veteran’s specific case involves their health or medical care. Supervising faculty assigned to the teams provide professional guidance and technical assistance.

OUTCOMES: Law students engage and collaborate with medical students who conduct research, evaluate medical records, and provide medical information relevant to an individual veteran’s legal case. A key component of the program is the bidirectional learning that occurs between the law and medical student participants which is aimed at teaching them the power of collaboration across their disciplines in service to veterans. Both groups of students are enriched by the experience, and the veteran receives integrated, relevant support to improve their access to needed services and resources.

NEXT STEPS: Universities that have schools of law, medicine, and a relationship ideally with a VA hospital system can replicate the program and expand timely legal services with relevant healthcare information to serve the veteran community.

References

1. Kligler, B., Hyde, J., Gantt, C., Bokhour, B. The Whole Health Transformation at the Veterans Health Administration: Moving From “What’s the Matter With You?” to “What Matters to You?”. Medical Care. 2022;60(5): 387-391. https://doi.org/10.1097/MLR.0000000000001706.

2. Betancourt, J. A., Granados, P. S., Pacheco, G. J., Reagan, J., Shanmugam, R., Topinka, J. B., Beauvais, B. M., Ramamonjiarivelo, Z. H., & Fulton, L. V. Exploring Health Outcomes for U.S. Veterans Compared to Non-Veterans from 2003 to 2019. Healthcare. 2021;9(5):604. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9050604

3. Kleinhesselink, M., Willhelm, C. Autoimmune Bullous Pemphigoid in a Vietnam Veteran with Suspected Agent Orange Exposure. Missouri Health. 2025 (in press).

4. Ball, J., Filbert, B., Caldwell, C. W. Low-level Blast Exposure and CNS Disease in Gulf War Veterans. Missouri Health. 2025 (in press).

5. Boyce, C., Pecora, M., Ludwig, T., Drake, A., Caldwell, C. W. Veterans Radiogenic Diseases of Bone Marrow: Operation Castle Bravo. Missouri Health. 2025 (in press).

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Published

2026-09-10

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2026): Missouri Health Journal Volume 3 Issue 2

Section

Original Research Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Richard J. Barohn, MD, Kevin Kane, MD, MSPH, Martha Bradley Kleinhesselink, JD, Brent G. Filbert, JD, Angela Drake, JD, Stephen Brietzke, MD, Charles W. Caldwell, MD, PhD, Christopher Wilhelm, MD

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.