ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALLEN C. HASSAN, MD, JD, DVM
The author of The Ghosts of War: The Medical Doctor's Guide to Service-Related Disability Letters that Work is a veterans’ advocate who has helped thousands of military veterans win benefits for service-related medical and psychological injuries. Dr. Allen Hassan has performed medical and psychological evaluations of more than 3,000 military veterans since 1970, and his evaluations have helped all his male and female clients win veterans benefits.
A former U.S. Marine Sergeant and Coast Guard Commander, Dr. Hassan is the only person in the United States to hold degrees in medicine, law, and veterinary medicine. He was a clinical instructor in family practice at the University of California-Davis medical school in Davis, California, from 1976-1986.
A native of Red Oak, Iowa, Dr. Hassan served as president of the local Academy of Family Physicians in 1977, and president of the Academy of Law in Medicine in 1983. He is board-certified with the American Board of Family Practice, the American College of Legal Medicine, the American Board of Forensic Examiners, and the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. Dr. Hassan is also board-qualified in sports medicine.
As his latest book reveals, Dr. Hassan is an expert evaluator of post traumatic stress disorder and other war-related injuries that afflict American veterans. He has been certified by the Veterans Administration since 1970 to evaluate veterans suffering from a mental condition now known as Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome or PTSD.
In addition to complications from battlefield and service injuries which can generate subsequent health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer, Dr. Hassan’s veteran clients have won benefits for radiation and chemical exposure, botched VA hospital operations, sexual harassment, racial discrimination, and more.
Dr. Hassan’s evaluations are presented as they were submitted, in the form of letters evaluating particular veterans for consideration by the Veterans Administration. In describing service-connected medical and psychiatric problems of particular veterans, Dr. Hassan's evaluations become useful guides for veterans, legal specialists and medical doctors who wish to perfect their skills in preparing evauations and winning benefits. Dr. Hassan's evaluations are widely acknowledged to be classics of their kind.
As the VA requires, Dr. Hassan's evaluations link the first signs or symptoms of illness or disease uncovered in service medical records or reported by the veteran with current medical conditions which qualify the veteran for veterans’ disability benefits. Dr. Hassan is the only doctor/lawyer in the United States to have a sub-specialty in this important and specialized area.
In 2006, Dr. Hassan authored Failure to Atone: The True Story of a Jungle Surgeon in Vietnam – a memoir of his two tours of duty in Vietnam as a doctor/surgeon under an American Medical Association program, Volunteer Physicians for Viet-Nam. Failure to Atone received excellent reviews in the United States and abroad. A briskly-selling translation entitled Khong The Chuoc Loi also appeared in Vietnam, published by First News of Ho Chi Minh City. Dr. Hassan traveled to Vietnam to promote the Vietnamese edition of Failure to Atone with print, TV and radio interviews, book signings, and even a short television documentary about his life on Vietnamese television. In 2007, after the publication of Failure to Atone, Dr. Hassan was one of eleven individuals honored for his admirable contributions to Vietnamese society by Vietnamese-American lecturer and writer Nguyen Kinh Doanh.
A popular and lively radio guest, Dr. Hassan has been interviewed from New York City to Hawaii. One radio network called him back five times for additional interviews and commentary.
In addition, Dr. Hassan is the author of the medical text Evaluation, Treatment and Prevention of Head and/or Spinal Injury Problems, published in 1996. In addition to his books, Dr. Hassan’s writing has been published in The New England Journal of Medicine and The San Francisco Chronicle.
Dr. Hassan received a DVM from Iowa State University in 1962, an MD from the University of Iowa in 1966, and a JD from Lincoln University in 1978. He served in the US Marine Corps from 1954-1957, receiving an appointment to Annapolis. He became a full Commander in the US Coast Guard in 1986.
Dr. Hassan is well-known around Sacramento, California, where he practices medicine and law. He is known as a strong friend and outspoken advocate by American’s military veterans who suffer from service-related disabilities.
1969 - BELOW LEFT - DR. HASSAN IN VIETNAM, QUANG TRI PROVINCIAL HOSPITAL'S ONLY MEDICAL DOCTOR
2006 - BELOW RIGHT - DR. HASSAN IN VIETNAM, HO CHI MINH CITY PRESS CONFERENCE FOR FAILURE TO ATONE
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With David Drum
Co-writer David Drum is a medical journalist and author based in Los Angeles. A graduate of the Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa, Drum is the author or co-author of eight books in the health area including The Chronic Pain Management Sourcebook, Making the Chemotherapy Decision, Alternative Therapies for Managing Diabetes, What Your Doctor MIGHT Not Tell You About Uterine Fibroids, The Type 2 Diabetes Sourcebook (with Terry Zierenberg, RN, CDE), and two books with Dr. Hassan.
