| Hi, I have been battling with the VA since 2004 on getting my ratings where they should be and getting a rating for my HepC, but it has been a long road. first things first. I guess I am total dumbass because this has been wrong from the start. In 1973 when I was wrongfully discharged as a drug addict and unfit, no one told me to go to the VA and file a claim for my ulcer rupturing in service. No one told me I could file a negligence claim against the Army for allowing my ulcer to get to the point that it did rupture. I asked for a medical discharge but recieved a General under Honorable and let out 6 mos early. When I was at home a guy from the ODVA(Oklahoma) came to my house with an award letter granting me 30% for my ulcer and 10% for my hand that was broken when I got shoved down a flight of stairs in AIT. He also had a appointment letter for a C&P exam at the Oklahoma City VAMC. He also had a back pay check for four months of back pay.Now can anyone tell me how I can get a rating, and award letter, and a check before there is even a C&P exam? Does’nt the C&P come first to assess the level of disability? Clearly the VARO in Muskogee decided that for me. I was totaly ignorant about the way things work. Especially the VA. I had no idea of how they operate, but I still don’t know how they can issue a rating without first giving me a C&P exam.No one wants to comment on it, no one wants to hear about it. I have tried several times to get someone to listen to me but I get nothing. The DAV files these claims for me and then they seem to disappear. In 2004 I filed claims for HepC, ulcer disease, my broken hand, and negligence for neglecting to inform me that I am positive for HepC. They knew in 1999 I was positive yet I was not told or offered treatment until 2004. I have been unable to get a NEXUS from any doctor. So my Hepc claim is sitting there with its ass hanging out without a nexus. So that means I will proably get denied right. The doctor I had right before I moved back to Arkansas refused to even talk to me about service connection let alone get a Nexus. The private doctor I had refused to give me one because he did not have enough time to sit and go thru all that paperwork.
So if this isn’t bad enough to deal with just exactly who can give me a Nexus. My last denial for HepC was because they said I was a first responder at my last job and was exposed to blood. Which is a total lie because I never even put a band aid on anyone other than myself. I never gave mouth to mouth. Who or where can I write to and tell my story that will get some action? It has been a long time since I got my award, but the way I got my award is wrong. How can the VARO make a decision without a C&P? I would like to see the initial claim so I can know who signed my name to it. Doesnt everyone who files a claim have to do so in person and sign the form? Just wondering what a person to do? __________________ ————————————————————————————
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| KC54-
Where to start? This will be a long one. I read this this morning and started digging for info during the day. I have several answers and lack some info on other parts with no access to your records and your rather abbreviated descriptions. Here goes…
Let’s start with the ODVA showing up at your house. I assume they found you because that was your address of record on your 214 when you separated? If not, I’m stuck. If that is true, it proves that you were entitled to this at discharge and they converted it to a VA rating. They just didn’t get it accomplished before giving you the boot. You would not need a C&P for it if you came out of the service with it in 73. That is called presumptive- i.e. you manifested it within one year of discharge. In your specific case, you manifested it before discharge-same difference in their eyes.
As for the Disappearing American Veterans VSO you signed up with, do not feel pregnant and alone. It seems that is the trademark of all those outfits. Once they set the hook with the POA signature, they evaporate. You do understand that the VSO gets a small retainer from VA for “representing” you? The POA sets that in motion. It’s a jealously guarded secret as to what amount trades hands, but the amount isn’t tivial. Perhaps now you can understand why they are always out beating the bushes enlisting new “victims” to refill their bank accounts. It’s like a Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme.
Back in those days they could pretty much run over you with a tank and get away with it. Nobody told me I could file a claim with VA when I got out in 73 either. Like you, I was also given a General with 7 months off. Mine was for antisocial personality w/ passive aggressive tendencies after coming back to the World from 2 years in-country. The biggest “tendency” I had was to dive under something when a car backfired. I understand now it was PTSD. They gave me a choice- take the personality disorder or admit I was a queer. As I’m not, I opted for the former.
Now for the nexus. You have come to the right place for that one. You can ask the VA for more time to obtain one if the claim is on appeal. Have you filed an NOD? We don’t seem to have enough info to paint a picture of your judicial posture with what you have provided. For a nexus, we will ask you to contact Dr. Ben Cecil. He has provided nexus letters for many of the HCVets with a high rate of success. Below is his web link:
We’re glad you finally made it here. Perhaps you would have had more luck sooner if you had found us earlier. Maybe not, knowing how the VA operates. The important thing is you have a filing date of 2004. Protect it and do not let any deadlines pass. Dr. Cecil will help you. You will need your service medrecs and any other more current ones especially any VA VISTA records. If you have your military records, that may be helpful if you need to refute this drug business. Dr. Cecil will want to see that. We strongly suggest you read the posts above this to acquaint yourself with the VA process if you are not sure where you’re going. Read the Introduction and all the others through the Percentage of Wins. There is much there that can help you learn this game. Your VSO was probably not familiar with this side of the claims process.
We personally do not know how the VA deals with negligence lawsuits. You would have to file that under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) and have 2 years from the day it occurred to file- not one day more. That claim has to be filed on a Form 95 (see attached below). I don’t know all the rules as I haven’t done that one yet. VA noted on one of my C&Ps for my back in 89 that I had what appeared to be gastro problems that might turn into IBD. I came down with Crohns in 95. I didn’t find this out until 2009 when I got my C-file. Too late. We have heard this story of VA testing Vets for HCV and then not telling them that the results are positive. You are not the first. Something stinks about this and we are sure it isn’t just HCVets. We’re willing to bet it encompasses a lot more Vets with heart problems and much worse.
Who to call? Good question. This looks like a job for our illustrious defender of Vets- Senator Patty “tennis shoes” Murray of the State of Washington who is the head of the Veterans Affairs Committee in the Senate. That would be my guess. Her VA gopher is Kim Brown and he is a part of the GOB network in Seattle. We know he plays golf and racquetball with some of the senior fellows at the VARO. He talks the talk to you but I have seen some of his private email messages from my C-file and he does not walk the walk for us. He actually joked with the Congressional interest dude at the RO and said: “Yeah. That NOD guy thinks he’s gonna die and he’s hitting on me to get his AO claim settled sooner. Jez. What does he want? You guys just gave him $38 K in back comp. pay. So what can I tell him?” That, KC54, is reality. We are lower than whaleshit in their eyes. They give us lip service and little more. My guess in Arkansas is Claire McCatskill. She’s your senate gopher so you’re gonna want to make waves on her beach. This isn’t my forte. We like to fix Hep. claims and leave the politics out of it unless its personal.
You can always private email me and give me the skinny on the claim if there is something you don’t want out here. Otherwise, let ‘er rip. We hope this gives you more to work with than when you posted. I hope you weren’t over at some other Veterans site getting bogus info on hep claims all these years. I hate that when that happens. What we can guarantee is you won’t get 400 different answers on the subject with inane answers like “That’s what happened to my Cousin Leroy. He told ’em it was from AO and he won”.
Lots of luck on this and let us know what you need. We belong to the Pay it Forward for other Vets school.
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Awesome info there. I had no idea of the presumptive thing coming out of service. That would explain a lot. I moved back to OK when I got sick due to financial reasons. My wife has been fighting with thyroid disease for years and so a lot of my time is given to her. We live on what I draw from SSDI and the VA. So getting the VARO to give me the right rating is important to me and our future. She cannot get SSDI because I make too much with the combined incomes, so she does’nt qualify for SSI either making her ineligible for medicaid and or state help.This morning I spoke to the VARO and all of my issues are on the table except for the negligence claim because some dork at the DAV did’nt file the form 95 I filled out and signed in his office. It disappeared some how so that is out the window I suppose. As far as my drug use goes this is how it went down. We were lined up and given a piss test. Two weeks later I was told I failed but I never saw anything that said I failed. I was never court martiled for drugs nor was I ever arrested for drugs. And besides all I did was smoke hash. But if I wanted to stay in I had to go to rehab which I did, but was discharged anyway as unfit/drug abuse which is what it says on my DD214. That was changed to Honorable in 1983, so does that mean my 214 should be upgraded as well?So my claims were remanded back to the VARO in Muskogee OK in 2010 from the BVA. Then they were sent to the VARO in Little Rock AR for so called fast track adjucation. My case was given to a DRO on March 22, 2011. I had a C&P in January 2011, so this is I am at the moment. HepC, ulcer disease with dumping syndrome and anal leakage, and my broken finger is what is at hand. I currently get 40% for my stomach ulcer/dumping syndrome and 10% for tinnitis.
Actaully I did submit my own Nexus, but they keep denying for some lame reasons. The first of course being no record of it during service, even tho I was given eight units of blood during surgery to fix my ulcer. I also spiked an un-explained fever of 105* in ICU recovery that no one is looking at. The second denial was that I was a first responder at my last job and was exposed to blood. But I never even put a band aid on anyone.
This will be my third attempt to get SCC for HCV. If I get denied again I do not know what my options if any are. But for the most part I have submited what is required and have not let any deadlines pass without response. Hopefully I will know something in the next few days or weeks. In a few days it will be sixty days since it was handed to DRO. But in the meantime I enjoy what I have learned here and I appreciate your response to my querys. Will definitly be posting the reults as soon as I hear from the VARO. And I will be contacting that Dr for help with a Nexus if it isn’t too late.__________________
whitewidoww@yahoo.com
Actaully I did submit my own Nexus, but they keep denying for some lame reasons. The first of course being no record of it during service, even tho I was given eight units of blood during surgery to fix my ulcer. I also spiked an un-explained fever of 105* in ICU recovery that no one is looking at. The second denial was that I was a first responder at my last job and was exposed to blood. But I never even put a band aid on anyone.
This will be my third attempt to get SCC for HCV. If I get denied again I do not know what my options if any are. But for the most part I have submited what is required and have not let any deadlines pass without response. Hopefully I will know something in the next few days or weeks. In a few days it will be sixty days since it was handed to DRO. But in the meantime I enjoy what I have learned here and I appreciate your response to my querys. Will definitly be posting the reults as soon as I hear from the VARO. And I will be contacting that Dr for help with a Nexus if it isn’t too late.__________________
whitewidoww@yahoo.com
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You state:
<<She cannot get SSDI because I make too much with the combined incomes, so she does’nt qualify for SSI either making her ineligible for medicaid and or state help>>
I want you to know that your VA compensation payment of $845 (40%+10% =46>50%) is not counted as income by any federal or state people. If they are, it is wrong and you should blow an ass gasket and get it fixed. I sure don’t pay taxes on my VA comp. and SSD and my old accountant said I’m doing it right.
Damn right your 214 should be redone. Some of us hang it on the wall and proudly point to it when visitors come over. I never fought for a upgrade from General to Honorable. What I did in SEA would never be called honorable, but I did what I was told. That is one of those subjective things you need to weigh. Is it important to have a physical piece of paper that says “Honorable” on it or is it sufficient to know they fixed it in 83 but never gave you any documentation?
Fast track adjudication is like friendly fire. It simply isn’t. You indicate that you have a DRO review in progress from 3/22/11. Rots of Ruck, bubba. The DRO is probably not going to give you anything. If you had a C&P in 1/11 they will use the results of that to write their version of your nexus letter. I don’t need to tell you how that will turn out. You need your own nexus from your own doctor. The legal landscape is littered with the casualties of VA nexus help. As for submitting your own nexus, the only way you can do that is to have an M.D. or ARNP after your name. Lacking those all-important initials, VA will laugh you right out of the VARO, but they will say they are laughing with you rather than at you- an unimportant distinction. No sir, Espiritu v. Derwinski (1992) said you cannot play dress up Doctor for a day. Layno v. Brown (1995) said you can describe anything that comes to you via your five senses. Keep that in mind.
You state:
<< The first of course being no record of it during service, even tho I was given eight units of blood during surgery to fix my ulcer.>>
Does this mean you were given 8 units of blood while you were in the service or in surgery after service? This is an important difference. If the surgery was after service, then the risk was not related to service unless it was done in a VA hospital. If it was in a VA hospital then you have to file a 38 USC § 1151 claim with the VA for negligence in inflicting this disease on you. If it occurred after service but before 1992, you’ll win. There is no statute of limitations on it and you do not need to prove negligence-just that it happened in the time frame I mentioned above.
You can rebut the denial of blood exposure in the first responder job two ways. Do you have any fellow workers who can confirm that you never had exposure? Or, was this job after 1992 and in the “new” era of more awareness of HIV/HCV and other communicable diseases? Either/or will work. Lay testimony under oath is a powerful tool for Vets now. You are capable of observing whether you were exposed or not during this job. VA has to accept that as positive evidence in your favor.
Now, let’s talk about your chances of success. You will probably not win at the DRO dance party. You have no nexus of your own yet. VARO DROs use the M-21 A1 manual which is simply a bunch of formulas for win/lose. Their flow chart goes downhill to the deny file regardless of what any bright eyed, bushy tailed squirrel at the VSO told you. Benefit of the Doubt does not enter in until you get to the appeals process. The DRO review is a diversionary attempt to delay your claim further. As soon as they finish screwing you over, you will file the Form 9 if you haven’t already. This is the “formal” appeal route via the BVA in D.C. The BVA does not use the M-21. They use that appendage attached to their shoulders with the ears and eyes poking out of it. Most importantly, they obey the law as outlined by the CAVC and they observe it religiously. The RO doesn’t care if they get it right or wrong. They still get their paycheck at the end of the week. The BVA are college-educated judges with real morals for the most part. They are far more inclined to employ a genuine reading of the law and grant a benefit of the doubt argument.
The silver lining I see for you is the DRO review will slow things down enough to give you time to get your nexus. If you get it before time is up at the RO, you can submit it there and they are obligated by law to give you another decision there. You may win. I would hate to see you have to go up to the BVA as the time delay is abominable. By the same token, I would rather you went to the BVA with it as your chances of winning there are far better. One word of caution. Having the Disappearing VSO as your representative will cause long delays there. They can and are allowed to take off with your record and let it sit on their desk for weeks and weeks until they get around to trying to figure out your legal strategy to win. I don’t recommend this. An attorney who accepts VA claims would be far better. They are getting rather hard to find these days as the financial return is paltry (20%) and the wait is interminable.
I might suggest that you also ask, as soon as the DRO 86s you, for a Board hearing on this if public speaking isn’t a problem for you. A video teleconference hearing is also available. It, too, may delay your claim as you have to wait to be scheduled for the hearing. If you are good at organizing your thoughts and presenting them in a public forum then you would make a good impression on the Judge. When you represent yourself, you have a strategic advantage over others with representation. The Judge will go out of his way to make sure you get a fair shake. If you have a VSO, the Judge assumes they will look out for your best interests. That can be a recipe for disaster in this business as you may have already discovered. VSO, in my book stands for Very Simply Outmoded or Veterans Screwed Over. With all the tools available on the internet a wise, intelligent Vet with a normal I.Q. can do this himself. Anything that confuses you can be cleared up with advice before you move forward. Being in control in a battlefield environment is infinitely superior to reacting to conditions as they arise. Consider this exercise in obtaining justice the same as a battle with defense in depth, a fall back position, and a well thought out offensive plan. Murphy’s laws of combat in Vietnam dictated that we never retreated. We simply advanced in a different direction. Make it so, Number 1.
| Whoa Nelly and feed the horses! You mean to say that DHS can’t use my SCC from the VA as income? I know that I don’t have to pay taxes but the DHS has always counted my VA income. If this correct I need to find out about this because we have been denied food stamps and medicare in both OK and AR. I must find where it states that my income from the VA does’nt count at the DHS.And yes I recieved the blood during surgery to fix my ulcer while in service. It ruptured while I was in the motor pool doing my assigned job. I was so sick I could hardly stand but only two days prior I was told at the infirmary to quit drinking and return to duty.Man I have some work to do here. I have to find out who to talk to about getting my DD214 upgraded to honorable.I have already been to a video conference with the BVA in Muskogee OK in 2008 and it has been remanded. This is what I am waiting on. But I am writing to this Dr Cecil right now for a Nexus. Or am I too late since this is on remand? do I still have any appeals left after this ruling. I feel I will be denied, this has all been a shock to my system.
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| Shoot, bubba. This one should have been in the bag years ago. If you had a transfusion for even one pint before 1992 in service, this should have been paying since the filing date of 04. This is why you have to have a nexus. If you have a scanner or a fax, get me on the PM and send the original denial to me. Something odd is afoot here. VA must be trying to paint you as a druggie and use that for the denial (yep. you were shooting up hashish.) |
As for the VA comp., that is cast in stone. Comp. is a Grateful nation’s gesture of repaying your sacrifice- free and clear.
This is why you have a VSO representing you to prevent you from getting screwed or do I have that backwards?
I’d say the 214 issue is the absolute last on the to do list. The nexus should be pronto. If you’re on remand from the BVA, write or call them and say you will have a nexus post haste because your VSO neglected to read Hickson v. West.(1999).
Time to put on your scooter shoes, dude.
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Dear Nod, I appreciate the time you are taking with my questions and issues. I am very grateful for this. I am pulling myself up dusting off my brain. I have begun getting these papers together and getting things straight. Yes it was 1972 when they had to operate on my ulcer. I have two surgical reports, one says I had eight units of blood and the other revised report says seven units. None the less I nearly died as a result of getting no diagnostic exams or treatment for an ulcer that was the size of a silver dollar. I was chastized constantly as lazy with no ambitions all the while I was suffering with that ulcer. I even got an apolgy from my CO and First Sargent for not believing I was sick. I tried hard to be a good soldier but I was mentaly beat down by my superiors and totaly neglected by the medical staff at my kasernes infirmary.As far as a VSO representing me I don’t know who actualy is representing me. This So at the DAV seems to know what is happening but the VSO who had my case in Muskogee OK is still my rep but he does’nt answer his phone or return calls. His name is Gregory Dubin. So I really don’t know who has my case. I am contacting Dr Cecil immediatly. I will get this nexus done and get it to them ASAP. I don’t think I am in danger of getting a decision before i can get that nexus sent in.Thanks man I have a new goal now and I will get out of the ditch I been in for awhile. I have been pretty depressed but I am done with that okay,,thanks for the spark man,,,,,,,__________________
whitewidoww@yahoo.com
whitewidoww@yahoo.com
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We have already had the report where the non performing VSO got the copy of a HepCVet’s SC win and asked him to come in for a picture with all the SOs responsible for his good fortune. It was a team effort apparently ,although the Vet wasn’t kept up to speed on all of the hard work they had put in for him. He was too busy doing the claim himself. Find your service officer’s affiliation and mail him/them a rescission of your POA. I personally would apprise VA of it as well and make sure they know you are repping yourself if you choose that path. I discovered I still had a chipmunk in my pocket when the MOPH demanded to know why the VA was no longer keeping them in the loop. This was 6 months after the rescission. Removing them was worse than getting bubblegum off your shoe. They may give you some static about it as you started the appeal with them. Some SO told me once that you are condemned to keep them, but I don’t buy that. The trademark of this operation is ” a veteran-friendly environment in which to present our claims” according to the ringmaster. Since the same SO told me that tattoos are willful misconduct and I would never win, I rather doubt he knows what he’s talking about. You will win on the transfusions with a nexus. Trust me on this one. It’s the number one risk for hep.
Please do us all a favor and put the medrecs about the transfusions in a very safe, secure, fireproof location-like in a safe deposit box. They are worth a lot of tax-free money and are irreplaceable.
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Those medrecs are very safe. What little they sent me when I requested them. But at least I do have the surgery report, but I have no records from the infirmary I went to nor do I have my shot records. Should these have been sent to me per my request? It took my state senator to get what I have. I am calling Muskogee this morning and withdraw my POA and call my VARO and tell them what I am doing and that I am waiting for a nexus since my VSO did’nt tell about that. He did not tell me anything about a Nexus. Why would they file a claim for me and then not have me get the required documents. I learned about Nexus from Tricia but two VA doctors and a private doctor turned me down when I asked them for a Nexus.
Like I was saying I have been very depressed and just gave up on everything until I talked with you here. Now I have some new meds and am feeling much better and I feel a little less confused.
I don’t understand what part of this surgical report they don’t understand. It clearly states that I was given blood and that I spiked a post op fever of 105* that was unexplained. It has been hell ever since. Can I submit a statement on my own behalf? I would like for my wife to make a statement also as to my illness’s. Man I am awake now and I am not going to take this anymore. It’s time to get mad and let them know I am not going down any time soon.__________________
whitewidoww@yahoo.com
Like I was saying I have been very depressed and just gave up on everything until I talked with you here. Now I have some new meds and am feeling much better and I feel a little less confused.
I don’t understand what part of this surgical report they don’t understand. It clearly states that I was given blood and that I spiked a post op fever of 105* that was unexplained. It has been hell ever since. Can I submit a statement on my own behalf? I would like for my wife to make a statement also as to my illness’s. Man I am awake now and I am not going to take this anymore. It’s time to get mad and let them know I am not going down any time soon.__________________
whitewidoww@yahoo.com
| ————————————————————————————Sir, let me be the first to commiserate with your plight. You are not the first to discover your legal representation is not what you bargained for. I cannot even begin to tell you how much this hurts us here at Nodquarters to hear about the shortcomings of your VSO. This seems to be the modus operandi all too frequently these days. Whether there is a disconnect in the training of service officers or gross indifference to the needs of Veterans is immaterial. The end result is still an abomination.
When we entrust our claims to others, be they lawyers or VSOs, the clear expectation is that they will be prosecuted in a responsible manner. There is the unwritten assumption that the person or organization who offers this service is versed in the procedure. In fact, not just versed, but well versed. After all, this is all they do for a living. From 8 to 4 every day all these SOs do is type up the proper forms and contact the appropriate personnel. I know from my own experiences that it probably takes a year or more to absorb the very minimum to be a functional SO. Anything I can’t pull down out of my drop down brain screen can readily be looked up in the CFRs. Mostly, its like driving a car. Once you learn, you don’t have to remember which side of the street to drive on. You know what red, yellow and green signify.
The requirement for a nexus was first announced in Caluza v. Brown in 1995. For the mathematically challenged that was 16 years ago. Just in case that didn’t absorb into the VSO culture, another case enunciating the same exact legal concept was issued in 1999. This was Hickson v. West. Once again, for the truly impaired, Shedden v. Principi (2004) went all the way to the Federal Circuit. Short of publishing it in Playboy, it is virtually impossible for service officers or a Veterans Service Organization to claim ignorance of this seminal requirement for all claims short of ones where the evidence is so dispositive as to make a nexus letter superfluous (see Savage v. Gober 1999).
Nevertheless, we now discover your SO, in keeping with a long tradition, has withheld this little secret. I believe you are the second one this week we have encountered that has been similarly disenfranchised.
As for verbally rescinding Power of Attorney, let me assure you that it has no legal force. It must be in writing with your signature to pass muster. Similarly, contacting the VARO and announcing this verbally over the phone again has no legal validity. One cannot expect VA to make a tape recording of this statement and sandwich it into your C-file. In fact, one cannot expect very much of anything from the VA other than the promise of making a complete hash of your claim.
With that said, let us examine the actions of VSOs. Some are unarguably better than others. As a collective entity, their success rate is not stellar. Their popularity and win/loss ratio will never rise to the level of F. Lee Bailey. What perhaps concerns us more is the proclivity to “disremember” the very regulations that are necessary to win. We really hesitate to use the noun “collusion” as “in collusion with the VA to deprive Veterans of their rights”. Although the evidence seems to point to it, we just can’t believe there could be a conspiracy of this magnitude. Let’s weigh the evidence and then perform the “Benefit of the Doubt” dance.
1) VSos are afforded space right outside the doors of most VAROs rent free.
2) VSOs are provided funds by the VA upon issuance of a durable Power of Attorney to represent the Veteran before said VA.
3) VSOs seem to have a good working relationship with VAROs and have intimate access to raters and other personnel on a regular basis-what we call an open door policy.
4) VSOs present themselves as being indispensable in the presentation of your claim before the VA. Indeed, they tout themselves as the ONLY way a Veteran can get a fair shake.
5) VSOs have been known to dissuade Veterans from filing a claim based on the premise that the chances of winning are slim. They also have a propensity to advocate for judicial appeals with no chance of success. Absent a solid foundation for your claim, any later attempts to resurrect it based on the same flawed premise is judicial suicide, yet these paperhangers engage in this day in and day out with utter abandon.
6) VSOs tend to keep YOUR cards close to THEIR chest until the cause is lost. They then proclaim their mea culpas and don sack cloth and anoint their head with ashes. All this is a well-orchestrated show for the Veteran’s benefit. Granted there are genuine service officers who really care and are effective. I do not wish to demean them as a class. Actions often speak louder than words and the results most of us receive at the hands of these “experts” is appalling.
In sum, if you as a Veteran can find an educated, experienced SO with your best interests at heart and a small caseload, you may be pleasantly surprised at the outcome. Absent even one of these four prerequisites, you will be inevitably disappointed. What’s worse is that this individual has no control over your claim when it leaves to go to D.C. on appeal. That responsibility is delegated to a higher ranking member of the organization you will never meet who could be functionally illiterate but well-connected in the VSO. This is often where your claim runs aground. In a VSO, your claim is nothing more than a number. You, as a flesh-colored, breathing human being do not exist.
You are always free to submit a statement in your own behalf as is your wife. Limit it to the effects you can ascertain by your five senses and avoid playing doctor. Watch Judge Judy and mark her words regarding hearsay evidence. You wife cannot opine on your illness back to its inception unless she has been there from the beginning. Complete your statements with this phrase to ensure it is considered “under oath” or sworn testimony:
“I certify that the above statement is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.”
Now, I would have you weigh the six items above and tell us if you would give the benefit of the doubt to religiously prosecute your claim to anyone situated cheek and jowl with your sworn adversary. I’d sooner believe in the tooth fairy and the Sandman. Santa Claus is a given.
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| Well said and understood, I believe I did the right thing this morning. I now who is my rep there and I have a teleconference with him on tuesday morning. I want to talk to him before I do anything. I am just waiting for Dr Cecil to reply to me. I have the surgical reports ready and what little medical records I was given from the hospital in Germany. Hell most of it looks like someone just scribbled this stuff. Total chaos and even my Dr could’nt read the file. But my surgery reports are very clear and states I was given 7 units of blood during surgery and also noted the post op fever. Yes I have often wondered why I decided to let the DAV handle this for me. I was succesful up to this point in getting my claim upgraded from 20 to 40 on my stomach but I had to go thru some stiff manure to get it done. I was told by my PC at the VAMC that I was suffering from what is called dumping syndrome. But I could not find a written diagnosis of it in my files anywhere, nor where there any records of going to see nutritionists. I also complained to my PC about bowel leakage and having to go to the toliet 15 minutes after I ate. No written record of any diagnosis yet they would sit there and say yeah, that what it is all right, and then record nothing. Some of my consults begin with, today I saw Mr Robert Vaught a 56 year old well defined and nourished male. Now let me paint you a picture, I am 6’3” tall and wheigh 131 lbs, I have a 29 inch waist and you can count every bone in my chest and ribs, I sticks for legs and muscle wasting in my hands and feet. There atcually is no other way to go except to represent ones self in this theater. I will know more come tuesday or like you said I am gonna blow an ass gasket. LOL Thanks for waking me up.__________________ whitewidoww@yahoo.com————————————————————————– I didn’t have to wake you up. By coming here you must have been starting to wonder if there wasn’t more to this than met the eye.My old family doctor (and friend)of 15 years is valuable for decyphering medrecs. Sometimes I take Vet’s stuff in and ask him what the gaggle of abbreviations are. It’s like waving a set of new plans under a Builder’s nose. They have to look at them. VA has some that are more probative. WHNS= well healed no sequelae; NAD= no acute distress; WD= well-dressed; NCNS= no complications, no sequelae; ETOH = anything to do with booze; NPN= non-prescription narcotics; and there’s more. They all seem to have one thing in common. “You’re fine, son. Good to go. Perhaps you’d like to join our group therapy on Thursday evenings? Perhaps you’ve heard of them. Narcotics Anonymous? We also have alcohol abatement therapy groups, PTSD groups, Anger management groups, Kumbaya, My Lord groups. Yep. We got groups.” |
DO NOT sign up for these. That will go into your record even if you’re just signing up to meet some new chicks at the group hug or the Come to Jesus meetings on the Drugs. Baaaaa-d idea. God, do I even need to tell VET people not to do this? When you are talking VA?- yes. VA is worse than your parole officer on acid.
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| I have been reading a lot of decisions in the vets favor and a large part of those that got a new rating or won their claim had no VSO. It always says appealant. Why do these guys even exsist is my question. Obviously if a vet follows these guidelines and advice they can come out on top istead of bending over. If I don’t hear what I need to hear tuesday morning I will set another set of wheels in motion. __________________ whitewidoww@yahoo.com—————————————————————————- |
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asknod
Bethanie Spangenberg
kcraveiro
robinhoodesqvetsatty
Wesley McCauley
Veterans Claims Help 