VA seems condemned to never looking up to make eye contact with you. They are fixated on the records in front of them and struggle to come to the lowest rating that can pass muster. Facts are inconvenient nuisances and interfere with the  business at hand. They are so backlogged, they are dealing with what was happening in 2005 to this Vet at the expense of what is going on in 2009. This permits them to only offer a small pittance of what he is due.

Here we have the umpteen thousandth hep claim out of St. Petersburg. I’m convinced the whole lot of them have  it. Either that or VA has an unwritten rule that says everybody in the south has to go to Tampa to file. This is a good one.

This decision reflects a win, an attempt to screw the Vet, an attempt to lowball via a Fenderson staged rating, a vain attempt to buy the Vet off after it’s evident he’s not going to accept 20%, and lastly the appeal to D.C. to get a sympathetic ear. The judge can clearly see the correlation between the hep and the cirrhosis and the obvious conclusion. It’s really too bad that there can be no punishment for the perennial stupidity that passes for RO adjudication. The evidence is overwhelmingly in the Vet’s favor yet the DRO is digging his heels in and refusing to grant the proper rating that applies to the level of disability.

In the Introduction at the top of the decision, the reader can see the history of this Vet’s travails. He won in June 2006 and fights for a rating equal to his illness. SPRO refuses to deal with him and finally sends out the SOC. The moment they get the F-9 back they suddenlyoffer 40%-and no more. They have the 21-4192 in hand showing he’s toast for employment and they still won’t budge. This is criminal behavior in any other venue but here it is non adversarial and an attempt to make sure the Vet gets everything coming to him-literally.

Since most of us will get DM2- especially if we go on any long term Interferon fishing expeditions, for VA to turn him down on it is facetious. He’s Stage 4 in cirrhosis. Where do they think he got the DM from? Cleaning infected traffic signal lights? Fortunately this guy could see futility writ large on the wall and filed a waiver to get this to D.C. and out of the grasp of St. Pete’s Puzzle Palace.

Additional evidence in support of the Veteran’s claim for increase was received in March 2010, along with a waiver of review by the RO. As a result of this waiver, the case was certified to the Board and the newly submitted evidence was sent directly to the Board without a preliminary review by the RO.

This is what I advocate for Vets. When the RO has reached emptiness, it’s time to move the flag to D.C. There’s nothing to be gained from a DRO review at this point.  Fortunately for the Vet, he realized it. That shaved several years off the process.

VA tries so hard to present themselves as being compassionate about the process yet they regularly expose themselves like a streaker with their behavior. What was to be gained other than a two year delay in awarding what was a slam dunk rating? Ex parte justice is very informal but should have some form of safeguard that prevents this from even needing an appeal. For all the paeans sung about the VA ‘s much vaunted jurisprudence, the VSOs and VA examiners who sing them must wear rose-tinted glasses. How else to explain this five year miscarriage of justice? It rises much higher than a simple misunderstanding on the RO’s part.

Sadly, there will be no changes until they relinquish the power to subcontractors. Once in the hands of the private sector, even a small percentage of early decisions would show the disparity in how the claims are decided. VA would have a new excuse to explain this as they always do. It would encompass the words “lenient, liberal interpretation and not supported by the facts”.  Our attorney friend up north has repeatedly pointed out the disparity in a system such as VA’s( lacking impartiality) and the administrative law judge model employed at the Social Security system. Were they merged into a communal system, the vagaries and whims of the RO and BVA would all but evaporate. VA will fight this to the end with empty promises to reform themselves, but like a tired junkie, they will insist on one more fix before leaving for rehab.

I do so hope I live to see the mess cleaned up.