FROM THE HORSE-TRADING

RO CAPITOL OF THE WORLD

I don’t know which is more painful – the idea of the BVA VLJ having to sign this decision or the widow conned into chasing this chimera with no hope of winning.

 I take no pleasure in bashing the VA. I find it unavailing and I’d be out of a blog if they ever started performing up to their own ideals. I commiserate with this poor widow that she will never attain DIC, but it simply wasn’t possible given the medical evidence that Mr. Bourbon was the guilty party. When you live that close to a man, I think you’d be able to discern a pattern of ETOH abuse over 30 or 40 years. To ignore it and mount a legal assault on VA for benefits is either the height of hypocracy or… the product of some extremely poor legal advice.

Were you or I to have consulted with a VA-approved attorney, he would have  asked VA  for the same file (the C-file) that contained all this nefarious information about our Resurrected Brother’s alcoholic liver. He would then have ascertained the futility of the endeavour and communicated as much to the widow. She, with this valuable knowledge, would apply for a pension if it paid more that SSI.

What happened is best described as tragic. Somehow, or some way, this poor widow woman was induced into filing a rainbow chase claim. The American Legion SO, were he properly trained, could have avoided this too. Somewhere along the line someone had to convince her this was the correct and lucrative path and perfectly legitimate. Assuming her age to be 78-82, she didn’t hatch this on her own. Perhaps she had a greedy daughter or son in law. It still should have stopped at the VSO for a long discussion of how they were going to win it.

Springing all this evidence into court and embarrassing his spouse is unprofessional. Nevertheless, this is what we see day in and day out. Blame it on the Vet if you must but don’t compound it with interest by dragging the widow through the mud. Due diligence would have revealed the predicate for the denial and the futility of an appeal.

http://www.va.gov/vetapp11/Files4/1133916.txt

From the footlocker: