Much has been said of VA’s hierarchy of raters known as Decision Review Officers, abbreviated as DROs. Their job is so thankless, their retention rate so low and the perks these days being bonusless, that many move on to greener pastures and leave us with a severe dearth of them. This is the primary reason we have such constipation at the VA when it comes to the dreaded DRO review. Most know that is a 600-day black hole. These are the high GS-12s and 13s-the ones with a 10 to twelve year tenure that see a dark dead end to this as a future. Much better while they are young and salable to move over to Allstate or USAA. With that said, let’s look more closely at these storied individuals…
The DRO as he sees himself:
The DRO as seen by his supervisor:
The DRO as seen by VACO hierarchy:
The DRO as seen by Veterans:
The DRO as seen by his ‘little people’:
The DRO as seen by his coworkers
The DRO, and, by extension, the whole VA ‘problem’, as seen by the current administration:
Day 58 of 168 on Sovaldi. Kidneys stabilized. Anemia is my constant companion. Welcome to Camp HCVets.
asknod
brewerkelli
cspencer02
jamesaurora
kcraveiro
Laura
Veterans Claims Help 
I wish I would not have choosen the DRO review, another 18 months added to the already long wait time. The so called “expert” didnt even apply the correct 38CFR, seems like the DRO review is a complete waste of time.
Me, too. Zero for three. It’s just another convenient “in-box” o stall for time. There’s sure no more room up at the BVA right now. They plumb out to two and a half years from transmittal of c-file to DC.
Hang in there Nod. Wishing for your SVR soon, and for life.
I was very lucky with my De Novo DRO review request.
I got 100% P&T with about a year wait time; based on CUE.
Have to agree with Mr King, had a DRO tell me in hearing that VA had totally screwed up handling my claim, however when the paper came it was an even worse mess. How can you state on one page that 100% has been awarded and on page 3 say 60% is proper. Still waiting for a hearing 3 years later on my new appeal and going on 6 years for the old one. Hang in there NOD. Wish you all the best.
I remember a DRO agreeing with my lawyer and me about the merit of my CUE. However, what came out in official decision was entirely different. Someone must have had a talk with him.
Hi !
It is known that AIH and PBC are diseases connected with gluten intolerance causing sometimes cirrhosis.
Dr Jeffrey Dachstein suggests that viral hepatotropic infections could overlap with gluten sensivity. In that case isn’t it reasonable to include gluten free diet with high vit. C , D3, sylimarin, cocos oil and next if there is no health improvement adding interferon therapy?
http://jeffreydachmd.com/2013/04/hepatitis-c-autoimmunity-and-gluten-by-jeffrey-dach-md/
Roger the Interferon. Maybe it works better without gluten.
Waiting, waiting, waiting …
I have to admit I don’t have a very high opinion of the DRO’s in NASHVILLE. Our last two denials were blatant CUE’s that only someone who did not read just the documents filed in support of our case and their own decisions could have come up with their reasons for denials. It is almost as if they draw a reason for denial out of a hat just to get it off their desk.