I have received even more mail on the subject of what constitutes an informal claim in the last several days. One thing I note is the importance of having expressed or evinced somehow in writing that you desired to file. Once announced the ball would be in VA’s court to act on it. Failure to do so would not abrogate their responsibility to contact you with the appropriate forms or assistance in filing. A case in point.

I had seen all the news on TV in the early nineties (approx. 1991) about Agent Orange. They encouraged Vietnam Vets to get tested. Nothing was said about filing but that goes hand in glove with lab results indicating a problem. I had been diagnosed with PCT and the doctor wasn’t sure about its cause. It was 50-50 as to the Hepatitis (I thought I had B) or Agent Orange. This was also before Caluza v. Brown (1994) and the need for a nexus letter.

I called up and got an appointment for Sept. 21, 1993 and arrived on time. I got the deer in the headlights look from Nurse L. Casey. What appointment? Nevertheless, they ran me through all the lab work, EEG, etc. and promised as the VA always does to make me an appointment soon. Very soon…

Since I never heard back, I opted to file in March 1994, approximately six months later. I will be petitioning for this as my earliest effective date. The following documents show two things. I showed up and evinced a desire to file for any and all claims associated with my disease and my blood labs clearly show something amiss in my Liver Function Tests.

Just for the record, if I had not filed within a year, my claim for an informal interpretation of this would not be valid. The VA built an escape hatch into it with the one-year provision.

Obviously this page wasn’t filled out because they never called me back for an exam. I found this stuff when I went in to the ROI office the first time in 2008. Surprised would be a masterpiece of understatement. I had no idea they still had this.

And the LFT evidence:

It’s not important that the AST/ALT weren’t off the map here. I have a 1987 test showing 187 on ALT and another in 1992 with 230.

This is the kind of evidence they will demand of you. The best way to attack it in my mind is to win your claim first and then go back and say Yeah. But what about this? They may go back and do a Fenderson staged rating on it if there is enough medical evidence, too. I have never been able to predict what will happen on these EED claims. The informal attack is always difficult and VA will raise the specter of failure to show up within a year. You can actually turn that argument upside down if you point out that you did due diligence and they dropped the ball afterwards. Based on that, some have won up at the CAVC. Never accept the hokey excuse proffered by VASEC and the gang. They don’t have any desire to pay you a dime. Going back to 1993 is right out in their play book. Expect a fight. I am.