HOW COME WE NEVER HEAR…

Posted on August 15, 2013 by asknod

download

I received this one from Joseph Average Veteran on the travails of Mr. Carl Lowe, former esteemed, exalted Loyal Moose of  VARO Whacko in Texas from 2000 to 2011. It seems his paltry $173 K a year didn’t even cover the cost of  quality sturgeon eggs and morel mushrooms on toastpoints chased by Perrier Jouet.

Fortunately for Mr. Lowe, the VA had already studied the problem and came up with a supplemental budget plan to reward him with “frequent denier” points. These in turn could be redeemed around Christmas every year for a valuable cash prize of about $13 K. The munificence and largesse permitted Carl and the Missus a valuable cushion to the wine cellar. Similarly, they could steer valuable VA “meet and greet” business to the caterer who just happened to have the only fresh sturgeon eggs and ice carver in Koreshville or thereabouts.

So how come we never hear…

download (1)

Washington, DC UPI

By staff reporter Bradley Manning

Department of Veterans Affairs spokesman Jed Clampett (no relation to the TV Clampetts) met with reporters at the Department of Veterans Affairs building, 810 Vermont Ave. NW this morning and confirmed it was Veterans Law Judge Steven Forrell whose body was found in his BMW Z4 with the engine running in the garage this morning. His wife of six years, twenty four year-old Winona, found him when she got up at 10 AM.

“I was like why am I hearing this car, you know, and I like left my favorite Yoga mat in the Corvette so I went out to get it. Whoa, you know. The smell was like over the top so I opened the garage doors. Stevie was out of it so I called 911 and got back to the Yoga thing on TV. It had something to do with carbon dioxide and it like toasted him you know? He’d been acting really weird since we took the second out on the mortgage last year. Jez, I hope he had a good term life policy with a mortgage rider or I’m screwed. Bummer, huh?

Coworkers said he had been extremely depressed over the length of time it was taking to get his promised VA bonuses. VA has been experiencing a backlog in distributing checks to Service Center managers, the aforementioned Veterans Law Judges and, well,  just about generally everyone who worked at the VA. The suicide rate has climbed dramatically among government workers since the bonus backlog began and peaked in 2012 according to the latest 2012 VA statistics. Judge Forrell’s demise marks the fifth VA Veterans Law Judge to take his own life in the last twelve months.

VA spokesman Clampett

VA spokesman Clampett

Mr. Clampett emphasized the fact that the bonus delay is currently down to a mere 474 days from date of eligibility- a significant drop of over 12 percent over this time last year. VA financial beancounters project this “perfect storm” will be resolved by 2015 and the average wait will henceforth be 125 days or less (with 98% accuracy). Mr. Clampett also pointed to the fact that VA has hired 1600 new medical personnel in the psychiatric field and over 200 new psychologists who will be available to help any of these government workers who are Veterans.

VA began instituting the Veterans Bonus Moolah System (VBMS) electronically in 1812 shortly after the invention of electricity. It’s been slow going said Clampett because it’s so difficult trying to hide the payments off the books. Only recently have VA personnel been through ASPIRE training to keep two sets of records-one just for the VAOIG. VA is also keeping a close watch on its workers for signs of mental instability, stress, depression, gambling addiction, ETOH abuse or sudden, new personality disorders.  Coworkers are encouraged to report anything strange about their fellow workers anonymously by email to IRIS@va.gov. using their VA email addresses.

DON’T BE SELFISH IF HE’S SUICIDAL

download (2)

TURN IN YOUR COWORKER

(800-827-1000)

The bonus you save may be your own

Posted in Humor, VA BACKLOG | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Guilty plea in HCV case

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Laura

images

This story has been reported extensively in the national media but in case you missed it, yesterday in NH, David Kwiatkowski, 33, pleaded guilty to drug diversion activity since 2002.   He admits to serially infecting at least 45 patients with HCV in multiple states.  At Exeter Hospital, he admitted to swapping out syringes about 50 times and this resulted in 32 known infections.

He also infected one veteran at the VA Medical Center in Baltimore with his strain of HCV–a veteran who had no risk factors for HCV.  This is a tragic case of lax hospital procedures and drug addiction at its worst. “It was all me,” he told authorities. “I’m killing a lot of people.”

The plea agreement court papers are here but are a bit blurry.  Zooming helps.

It’s so easy to transmit HCV in health care settings even when the needle is replaced but a vial is not–as the illustration below shows.   In Kwiatkowski’s case, the needles and syringe vials were tainted with HCV.  And his victims were older and sicker; their immune systems were less able to clear the virus.  Misery multiplied.

Syringe -Unsafe Injection for blog

HCV transmission in health care settings

Posted in Guest authors, HCV Risks (documented) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

CHEMTRAIL BEEN BERRY BERRY GOOD TO ME

Posted on August 13, 2013 by asknod
Leigh's Silver Queen

Leigh’s Silver Queen

9 foot August Corn 004What a marvelous year so far. I’m still alive in spite of the fact that I’ve been staying away from VAMCs. I had no idea there were chemtrails- or is it Chemtrails? How can the Government afford to spray my garden and fertilize my corn for me? How long have I been missing out on this? Do you have to apply somewhere to get on the Spray List? Is this part of the Affordable Care Act? Do they put Fluoride in it? All these queshuns. Who cares? Sprinkle some of it on and what do you get? Well, 9 foot corn unless I miss my guess. Either that or the Silver Queen that Leigh and Paul sent me is from the legendary Jack and the Bean Stalk stash. 

Check out the Fe Fi Fo Fum butternut. The thing is like a plant possessed. It escaped the reservation back in May. I got it from a penniless Japanese farmer who was evacuated out of the Fukushima district after the scientists spilled some of the atoms they were bending. I cheated a little bit by starting her in the greenhouse in February and it was the only seed that clicked under the Geiger counter. Whoa, there Mr. C. Theorist. Just kidding. No trails, no radiation. Joke. Toy gun. Not the same plant.

Magic seed from Northern Japan

Magic seed from Northern Japan

9 foot August Corn 007As for the pumpkins, my little Cupcake chose the seeds this year.  Yes, apparently, you can accessorize with pumpkins, too. Really. That VW celery color is soooo last year, dear. I had no idea. How on earth did I ever do without all these colors for all these years? The reason there aren’t more colors is because I gave away about 20 plants. I didn’t catch the “mixed seeds blend” in small print on the package until the weird things started growing. As if I didn’t have enough to do, the vines now need to be “crossed over” so the colors are intermixed while they grow. To “integrate” them. In the verb form. Seriously. Cupcake always has such interesting ideas on growing. Just think how excited she’ll be next year with even more colors! A man’s got to know his limitations and exploit his weaknesses.

pumpkins currently segregated.

Pumpkins (currently segregated).

Check out the “chematoes”. There are six in that cluster and they’re huge. 9 foot August Corn 0099 foot August Corn 008   In retrospect,, I should have seen this color thing coming last year with the tomatoes. We now do six colors so the salads are “more balanced and  accessorized”. Surely you can see that.  You can have good taste in colors but not the reverse. I never knew I needed that.

I expect I’m one up on her. Six flavors of corn. And I’m learning from the unfortunate situations of others. I’ve integrated it all together this year (mislabeled). Cupcake calls me the “Accidental Gardener” since the romaine came up with the sugar snap peas in the same bed last spring. Seed happens.

White "cracker" corn

White “cracker” corn

Bi-corn with Transgendered corn in background

Bi-corn with transgendered corn in background

Okay. Just so we’re straight. No aliens. No chemicals. No radiation. Right? All the corn is straight. It’s just incredibly tall. Trust me. You can never be too careful with chemtrail jokes.  No plants were harmed in the shooting of these pictures. All rights reserved. Standard copyrights apply. Attitudes of author do not necessarily represent WordPress.com. Not responsible for content. Objects are closer than they appear. Click on them. Then click again. The graphics on this camera are incredible. You can focus in on any area of the picture depending on where you place your cursor.   All my posts with this camera do this. It’s on  the six gazillion pixels per square pinhead setting. I can’t figure out how to change it.

Posted in Food for the soul | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Some will live to 118 years and beyond, says SSA

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Laura
hamlet

“To be or not to be..”

The following is a bold and stunning prediction from The Social Security Administration (SSA)–see last sentence: 

That mortality rates are found to continue to decline, at every age for which adequate data are available, demonstrates that no absolute limit to the biological life span for humans has yet been reached, and that such a limit is unlikely to exist.

The skeptical reader may assume that SSA is in cahoots with Congress to justify raising the age at which people can collect their Social Security benefits indefinitely and this prediction serves that purpose.  However this is the conclusion SSA actuarial scientists have decided based on US years of mortality data.  Here’s the sentence above in context:

Great strides were made in the twentieth century toward eliminating the hazards to survival which existed at the young ages in the early 1900’s. Very little additional improvement to survival rates is possible at these young ages. Survival rates at the older ages are projected to continue to improve steadily. Projected gains in the probability of surviving to age 90 during the next 50 years are about the same as experienced during the past 50 years. For age 100, projected gains are much greater than for the past. Figure 5 (last chart via link) shows population survival curves based on period life tables for, from left to right, 1900, 1950, 2000 and projected years 2050 and 2100.

Although the shape of the survivorship curve has become somewhat more rectangular (less diagonal) through time, it appears that very little additional rectangularization will occur because survival rates are already so high at the young ages and are expected to continue increasing at older ages. The so-called “curve squaring” concept, though appealing to many, simply cannot be supported by the mathematics of mortality. The age at which the survivorship curve comes close to zero, through the compounding of single-year probabilities of survival, has increased greatly during the twentieth century and will continue to increase, as further strides are made against degenerative diseases. That mortality rates are found to continue to decline, at every age for which adequate data are available, demonstrates that no absolute limit to the biological life span for humans has yet been reached, and that such a limit is unlikely to exist.

This prediction may have an effect on veterans’ benefits too, now and in the future.

Not everyone is going to be happy with the prospect of living decades past the age they thought they’d leave this mortal coil.  Others will welcome the news with joy.  After all, if a tortoise can live to 150 years, and Giant Sequoias for thousands of years, why can’t we hang out with them on this beautiful blue marble?

One thing is certain though, many people will be eager to help you leave this vale of tears if you reach an extreme age, infirm or not.  Better fill out those advance directives while you can!

The 2009 period life table is here: http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/STATS/table4c6.html

Posted in Guest authors, research, vA news | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

OBAMA DOES ORLANDO

Posted on August 11, 2013 by asknod
What say we blow this popsicle stand and head up to the Vineyard for some pasture pool? I gotta new Big Bertha I'm dieing to try out.

What say we blow this popsicle stand and head up to the Vineyard
for some pasture pool? I gotta new Big Bertha I’m dieing to try out.

This just in from Frank. In an amazing redux of Debby does Dallas, President and Mrs. Obama blew into Orlando with much fanfare to address the DAV hierarchy and dole out the political favors to America’s finest that keep them elected. Then it was off to cooler climes in Martha’s Vineyard for a much-needed respite from the harsh, thankless, grueling job of being the Commander-in-Chief.

The DAV Pony Show was only missing Gen. Eric Shinseki and Brig. Gen. Allison “Accenture” Hickey to make the circle complete. We can easily understand why Gen. Shinseki stayed away. He tends to shun the cameras.  Not so Ms. Hickey. Considering Hickey is angling for his job, it would be a natural fit for her to come back after the 2011-2012 VA Human Resources imbroglios and try to make nice with them. She just got a new ‘do for summer, too.

It must have have been horribly distressing for Allison to find out the CEO of DAV makes more than the VASEC-or her, for that matter. I, for one, wasn’t exactly nonplussed. Any nongovernmental organization is usually replete with hidden featherbedding and the Big Three (DAV, VFW and AmLeg) are no strangers to this phenomenon.  It simply came as a rude surprise to find out that politics and money have infested Veterans Service Organizations. The only grief currently is that the cat is out of the bag. Strangely, the drive-by media have allowed this to subside along with the 22 Vet suicides a day.

It used to be said that “If it bleeds, it leads” in newspaper parlance. That doesn’t apply to the military. It was common to see news from the Vietnam battlefront relegated to the middle pages of most big newspapers by the late 60s. Similarly, when it is discovered a childrens’ charity is raking off 88% of the take for salary and allowing the remaining 12 to matriculate down to the needy ones, it makes the back page for a day. Twenty two idiots a day who choose to suck on a lead lollipop is not a failing of Congress nor can it be laid at their front door. Maybe at the VASEC’s down at 810 Vermin Avenue NW-but surely not the Casa Blanca at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. In this administration’s eye, Vets, and the military in general, are a scourge  on the US Treasury. Suicide, in their eyes, is merely a Darwinian theory like survival of the fittest.

The President and his wife made a grand showing before taking off for Martha’s Vineyard for their first official “vacation” this summer. I wonder where all the severely disabled American Veterans will be taking theirs this year. Maui? Kennebunkport? Perhaps the gorgeous white sands down in Mississippi on the Gulf Coast that have recently been deoiled? So many choices it just boggles the imagination. The indecision, along with the denials of benefits, must be killing them.

Here’s a pertinent quote from the Explainer-in Chief:

“After years of military service, you shouldn’t have to wait years for the benefits you’ve earned,” Obama said.

For scholars of the English language, “should” is a conditional verb. Perhaps its time to enact legislation putting in something less conditional with more teeth such as “shall”. Then we wouldn’t have to buy so much Jet A gas for Air Force One and the First Family could just fly straight to Boston from Andrews AFB and avoid Orlando entirely.

Speaking strictly for myself, I am now going on twenty years (five times longer than my 4 years in service) awaiting my delayed “benefits I’ve earned”. The upside to all this is that my lawyer pointed out VA will have no time to start whittling away at the ratings because they will be protected by twenty years of entitlement as of April 1, 2014. I guess VA didn’t think 38 CFR § 3.951 through on that one. I expect they’ll have to change that regulation (retroactively, I might add) to thirty years in light of the intractable backlog. We simply can’t squander money on  ratings in this day and age anyway.  Tony Principi said as much recently. Medical science (and QTC) is forging ahead by leaps and bounds. A rumor at VA has it there’s a cure for most Agent Orange diseases just over the horizon as soon as we’re all dead.

I got a bang out of this definition:

“A claim is considered backlogged if it has been in the system for 125 days, or roughly four months”  said White House press secretary Jay Carney.

Gee, Jay. You could get a job over at VA after you’re cashiered for lying. What’s the definition of a claim 7300 days old? Unavoidably delayed? I sent an inquiry in to his (and our illustrious Boss)recently bemoaning the sorry state our Individual Living Program has fallen into. My tagline was “What would you think if your advisors showed up one Monday morning and said “Gee, Mr. President.  This is weird. We have a longstanding food stamp program with 25 million slots open and only 18 million showed up for all that free food.  All we can surmise is that there must not be very many food-deprived individuals out there, huh?” With only 2,700 slots open for the most  severely disabled Veterans of America on the IL program, the VA could only find 2,428 who wished to apply and were not malingering. I guess the rest were just faking those missing arms and legs. Vets are good at trolling for that sympathy thing.

20120718_055839_1a stinson c

For as long as I can remember since the Vietnam Boundary Dispute, politicians in DC have been beating us to death with their lips. I know Sen. Patty Murray sounded good when she bitched about the sorry state of Vets Affairs but she never followed through. Col./Senator Bernie Sanders has been rather quiescent up there in Vermont but that would be expected as he settles into his new armchair. Representative Filner was another example of more recent fame in the Veterans arena. Maybe Anthony Weiner missed the boat on this one. I think he could be rehabilitated as a Veterans Service Representative and go on to a wonderful career sparking female Iraq/Afstan Vets. He’s tech-savvy as evidenced by his prowess with an I-phone. Marriage surely doesn’t seem to be an impediment.

The dog days of summer are just hitting mid-stride. Expect a plethora of these long-winded speaking engagements from the talking heads at VA to explain away the impending inability to get a handle on the backlog. While the numbers evince a declining claims filing by Veterans, nothing could be further from the truth. The foxes are publishing the henhouse production figures. Claims are increasing as more and more Vets begin the unplanned transition from the military to Vethood. With the Reductions In Force (RIF) being touted as unavoidable by Chuck Hagel, VA claims are set to go off like a good 4th of July fireworks show soon. Taking that many out of the military and putting them on unemployment or trying to stuff them into engorged VR&E programs for retraining is not a repair order. Similarly, taking newly-minted Vets offline and packing them into four year colleges is not viable forever. Like a bobber after a strike, they all surface again later with the same problem-unemployment. With all their briefings on how to apply for VA benefits at separation, I foresee a land office rush to the VAROs. VA is far more optimistic. They always are.

No matter how you slice it, there are just so many jobs. Following this latest redepression, even fewer jobs exist now and with lower wages. With the advent of the Affordable Care Act, fewer employers are comfortable with full time employment for their employees. They prefer a part-time scenario and to let the employees go into health cooperatives financed by the taxpayer. While I commend the President and Congress for their farsightedness in enacting a social/medical contract, the outcome is not having the desired effect. The predicted costs were vastly understated in a headlong rush to pass this. As Vets, we see the underbelly of subsidized medicine when we are fortunate to get in the door of the VAMC. A one hour wait for a scheduled appointment is not untoward. Having to wait six weeks to get in isn’t either. I don’t think Americans know what it is they agreed to. 2014 is going to be a rude awakening just as it was for me when I was awarded “free” medical for life at the VA.

image1s

Yo, Bob. Check it out.
There’s nothing in here.

 Veterans benefits are similarly endangered. Witness the apathy once the military wound down after the Southeast Asia Democracy Initiative in the late seventies. We are the last on the list. We are the money grubbers-the Great Unwashed. When we show up at the back door of the VA asking to redeem our promised reward, we discover the fine print of the contract or that we waited too long to act. Politicians will fake umbrage with the injustice and wail and beat their chests with their left fist so as not to spill the martini in their right. Presidents scurry to Orlando to show the false flag of solidarity with Veterans. And the beat goes on.

Promises were made and gifts were exchanged. Redeeming the promises before we die seems to be the bugaboo.

download

Posted in VA BACKLOG | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

VA TO PARTNER WITH REAL LAWYERS TO HELP VETS

Posted on August 10, 2013 by asknod

download

Well, obviously they are getting the thumbscrews tightened down at 810 Penny Lane NW. Having rescinded bonus pay and  golf course dictation and litigation, The VLJs are back at theirs desks hard at work. Rumor has it they have a new production goal of 1.5 cases per day, up from the obligatory one per day instituted by Gen. Shinseki in 2009. There’s still bad blood over that one.

Dissatisfied with the results of the Aspire Training , Accenture ideas brought over from Hickey, Haiku cave painting interpretation and a myriad of other boondoggles that have slowed the conversion process over to electronic format, the VA Secretary is pressing ahead boldly, going blindly in the right direction with little or no cooperation from the hired help. VBMS is the wave of the future. The problem is preventing it from becoming a runaway locomotive that blindly mows down all claims due to premature ejaculation without all the facts and evidence before it. This phenomenon is now just pushing otherwise legitimate claims into the ditch that have been in the pipeline for years in an effort to get the front door attendance figures up.

“ALL IN!” works well with cheerleaders on Friday Night in Denton, Texas. Offering a set of Ginzu Carving Knives free with a bamboo steamer for filing a Fully Developed Claim (FDC) is not going to motivate Vets. Their ills are current, longstanding and genuine. Offering a year of added benefits (read the fine print) is not what motivates us. Speed. Timeliness. Accuracy. Actually erring on the side of caution to the Veteran. Since we’ve never seen this side of VA, we are understandably confused at this sudden showing of good faith.

VA is trying to help Vets by partnering them with pro-bono lawyers in St. Pete and Chicago. I hope that doesn’t speak to VA’s mindset about their geographical IQ. The only thing I see amiss here is that these Law dogs are going to be helping prepare and prep these claims for Vets. They are not currently VA lawyers. They need a crash course in this pronto. By the time any of these guys are worth their salt, this big contrived backlog will have dissipated and the new program will be for naught. Or,… it will be so wildly successful for Veterans that the VA will acknowledge  the concept works and promptly shut it down as not being financially feasible.

Which brings us to another little problem. Current regulations only allow Veterans Service Organizations and their minions to represent Vets. Or, a Vet is free to go it alone. Openly employing attorneys with genuine JDs is shopping trouble. Granted the rules are stacked against us six ways to Sunday, but this munificence and relaxation of the rules almost always is followed by a pleasantly-worded letter telling you why you won’t be cruising on Bucks Boulevard. The mere presence of another in your claim is always given the hairy eyeball-even if its your best friend Ben who ate clay and AO with you at An Loc in 68.

If he’s a Veteran, he can represent you once. No other Vets after that. End of legal career. An attorney can legally enter in after your initial denial at the Regional Office but not before. This instance described, of course, is set in a pro bono scenario but that could all change in a heartbeat if it had to go up to the Court or the Dead Circus. They will not be ready to step into that arena with no training. Much of the time invested in your case will be lost if another has to pick up and take over later. Familiarization is 50% of the claim to me.

Posted in VA BACKLOG | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

GILEAD SCIENCES SET TO GO-BUT WHERE?

Posted on August 10, 2013 by asknod

image1s

With all the latest trial completed, the Sofosbuvir/Daclatasivir/Ribavirin combo is clocking 100% of the last 40 patients.  The Philadelphia GS7977 trials yielded a resounding 100%  SVR of the 40 souls on it. The Seattle, Houston and Denver trials were equally impressive. Obviously, there’s no need to follow VA’s suggestion that they include  placebo pills to half the volunteers to make sure no one was faking it. Vets do that a lot, you know.

Of more import, and to me especially, Genotype 3A (G3) is being eradicated as well. G3 is easier to kill with Interferon/Ribavirin and almost a guaranteed 83 % will go SVR (remission) on it. The Victrelis/Incivek regimens are even more effective but unfortunately they have a nasty, pronounced habit of killing the patient or making them blind and riddled with thyroid issues. If you are older like some of us Vietnam -Era Vets, it’s a death sentence. Try as I did, I couldn’t convince old WGM not to do it back in December 2012 and simply bide his time. He woke up in the hospital several days after his second dose and they’re still doing a Humpty Dumpty reconstruct on him to this day. Fortunately, he’s a charter member in the Win or Die Club, so he’s not liable to throw in the towel prematurely but he says it’s like getting drug through a knothole backwards.

Sofosbuvir/Daclatasvir appears as one exciting possibility from this article. Unfortunately, all is not well in Mudville. The problem is far worse than you can imagine this time. Gilead owns Sofosvuvir. Bristol Myers Squibb owns Daclatasvir.  Ne’er the twain shall meet. The two kids can’t play in the sandbox together so we all lose. It’s like a cure for cancer but one party is taking his toys home because he wants more money. We become the pawns in this war.

Gilead is working on Ledipasvir (GS-5885) as a replacement to Bristol’s Daclatasvir but this will only improve the bottom line on the Genotype 1 population cohort. G3 Heppers will get the short end of the stick when Gilead and Bristol discontinue the GS7977 two-drug cocktail trials. It never fails. Just when you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, they build two more miles onto it.

What Ledipasvir holds for G3 Hepatitis sufferers is an unknown. One thing is that it won’t be as successful as the Daclatasvir version. It seems a crime to have a cure for something at your fingertips and then stub your toe on pharmaceutical greed. Gee, it almost reminds me of filing claims with the VA – almost.

BL13_1P2_GILEAD_692262f

Posted in HCV Health, Medical News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

VA TO EMPLOY STARBUCKS CARDS, PSYCHICS

Posted on August 8, 2013 by asknod

download

+

images1=

125 DAY CLAIM

Dateline: VA Central Office

810 Penny Lane Washington, DC 20420

In a bold move to reduce the backlog, VA’s Under Secretary for Benefits, Allison “in Wonderland” Hickey announced VA will be handing out free Starbucks® cards with the initial notification that they have received your Fully Developed Claim (FDC). The cards have a $25 dollar limit but you can refresh the card if you are denied. To do so, Vets will log in to Ebenefits site and click on the Starbucks® logo once the denial is uploaded to the site. This takes approximately six weeks. The cards are good for 2 months but if you file your claim within the next month you may get retroactive Starbucks® benefits for up to a year before your original filing date. VA officials are still unsure how this will actually result in any free coffee in the future.

The latest iteration of the FDC, according to an anonymous VA spokesman, was to drum up business and flush out some of the older Veterans filing the old-fashioned paper claims. The idea, according to the unnamed source, is to eventually forbid paper claims entirely. By letting Vets know this now, it is hoped all the claims will be filed sooner and they can once and for all rid themselves of the paper filers.

“We figure to put the fear of God in them with the new VBMS. Lots of the older guys are computer-ignorant so we’ve got that going for us. If they can’t file electronically, that pretty much sinks the old claim boat and boy are we ever counting on that. This alone will reduce the backlog at least 60% until 2016 when it is expected to hit two million claims a year. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

As for the resultant backlog inexorably building at the Board of Veterans Appeals, the plan is to revamp the CFRs outlawing any more evidence that can be admitted after the Regional Office denial. This alone, is expected to result in the eventual demise of the Appeals Management Center (AMC) and their immense volume of remanded claims for development.

Bradley Mayes, former Director of Comp. and Pen. in DC and now the titular head of the Manchester Regional Office up in New Hampshire, had this to say:

“For years we’ve been telling anyone who would sit still long enough about our streamlined process that insures fairness and a rapid resolution to claims appeals. This reduction of evidence innovation, while it may disenfranchise a large number, is just the panacea for the backlog. We’ll be running it like a Chinese dry cleaners- in by ten and out by three. We expect the VLJs will be deciding about eight to ten appeals a day.”

So what’s in the pipeline? VA is considering hiring psychics for the next generation of claims adjudications. Veterans will simply call the Prize Redemption Center at 800-827-1000 to talk to them. The specially trained seers will be fully conversant with the new M-21-2 MR (Mental Review) and capable of rendering the decisions on the spot within seconds. With the proper implementation and training, this can be applied to the BVA Appeals process as well.

download (1)

Special VA M-21 PsychComputer

download (2)

Psychic Conversion to 38 CFR method

Mr. Mayes added that with  the introduction of the Psychic Rating System (PRS), VA will   be able to rid themselves of those bulky electronic .pdf folders and slim down to even smaller, hand-held computers. “VA is on the cutting edge of technology and we want to lead the knowledge race into the twentieth century.” When informed that he was already in the twenty first century, Mayes added ” See? It’s working.”

Posted in VA BACKLOG | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

BVA– VFW STRIKES AGAIN

Posted on August 8, 2013 by asknod

FROM THE HUNTINGTON, WEST

DELIVERING VETERANS' MAIL SINCE 1895

DELIVERING VETERANS’
MAIL SINCE 1895

VIRGINIA VFW POST # 1064

Waiting Room

VFW Post 1064 Conference and War Room

Looking for cryoglobulinemia cases to illustrate for claims purposes, I came across this gem. Rarely have I seen a judge make such short shrift of a Veteran so utterly and completely. The phraseology almost conveys contempt but the tone is thinly veiled. It shouts “You didn’t perform due diligence. Where’s the IMO?” Veterans Law Judge George E. Guido Jr. is less than impressed with the preparation of this claim and assassinates the Veteran on each item. The technique is as clean as a guillotine and almost as bloodless initially. Hemorrhaging begins when you notice there is no hard evidence to support the precept that he actually had any legal help. 

Johnny Vet may or may not have had some viable claims here but we’ll never know. He hired the best in Huntington- those guys at the VFW with all the legal training. He’s not what you might call a “model Vet”. He has some service time that is “other than honorable” (10/73 to 12/78) which is by law, not remunerable. As a personal aside, I don”t think a Big Chicken Dinner should be a forever sentence. We certainly don’t put the Mark of Cain on rapists and child molesters.  His good time in service, however from 6/69 to 7/73, is permissible. This is where the focus of the claim should turn. Unfortunately, everything that happened regarding IHD, heart problems etc. occurred at the wrong time (1976) for Johnny.

Those leaglebeagle.zoom guys at the VFW (all wars except Vietnam) know all this. If they had been helping, advising and mentoring poor Johnny, he and they wouldn’t have wasted his time trying to develop this dead end since 2007. Unfortunately, that was just one of three claims filed. The other two, however legitimate, got the same high level of exacting VFW scrutiny and development (unfortunately). One thing can be said. Nowhere on this claim are you going to find VFW’s fingerprints. They’re AWOL. Not at their duty station. Deserters. Absent the VFW’s mailman work, it would appear this Vet was pregnant and alone for six years.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

And no factual foundation has been established to show that the Veteran is otherwise qualified through specialized education, training, or experience to diagnose chronic fatigue syndrome. See King v. Shinseki, 700 F.3d 1339, 1345 (Fed. Cir. 2012) (the Board may find that lay evidence to diagnose a disability is not competent evidence). Where, as here, there is a question of the diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome, which is not capable of lay observation, to the extent the Veteran’s lay statements are offered as proof of the presence of chronic fatigue syndrome in service or since service Veteran’s lay statements are not competent evidence, and the Veteran’s lay statements are not admissible as evidence, that is, the Veteran’s lay statements are not to be considered as competent evidence that chronic fatigue syndrome was present in service or since service.

As the Veteran’s statements are not competent evidence, the Board need not address credibility.

Next?

Eye Disability

And no factual foundation has been established to show that the Veteran is otherwise qualified through specialized education, training, or experience to render an opinion on a causal relationship or nexus between the stromal scar in the left eye and an injury in service. See King, 700 F.3d at 1345 (the Board may find that lay evidence to establish medical causation is not competent evidence).

For this reason, the Veteran’s lay evidence is not competent evidence of a causal relationship or nexus between the stromal scar in the left eye and an injury in service. Since the Veteran’s lay evidence is not competent evidence, the Veteran’s lay opinion is excluded, that is, not admissible as evidence and cannot be considered as competent lay evidence favorable to claim.

As the Veteran’s statements are not competent evidence, the Board need not address credibility.

Two down.  Jez, this is easy. Note to self: Call Bob.  I’ll still make that 1PM tee time with  him and Jessie. Next?

Hypertension

During the Veteran’s second period of service, hypertension was noted in January 1976. The timing of the finding, however, corresponds to the period of service the character of which the RO has determined is a bar to VA benefits. The character of his discharge disqualifies the Veteran from receiving VA benefits based on direct service connection for his period of service from October 1973 to December 1978.

But just to make sure the cement overshoes stay on, Old George and his twelve dwarves pour in some superglue:

And no factual foundation has been established to show that the Veteran is otherwise qualified through specialized education, training, or experience to render an opinion on a causal relationship or nexus between hypertension and any service-connected disability. See King, 700 F.3d at 1345 (the Board may find that lay evidence to establish medical causation is not competent evidence). For this reason, the Veteran’s lay evidence is not competent evidence of a causal relationship or nexus between hypertension and any service-connected disability. Since the Veteran’s lay evidence is not competent evidence, the Veteran’s lay opinion is excluded, that is, not admissible as evidence and cannot be considered as competent lay evidence favorable to claim.

As the Veteran’s statements are not competent evidence, the Board need not address credibility.

Here we go again. The horse is dead. Continuing to beat it serves no purpose other than to illustrate three times over that Johnny’s legal strategy had some holes in it-big ones I might add. The crime committed, for those unaware, is that no new evidence is now permitted. You have two opportunities to advance evidence on your behalf to prove your case. Johnny actually had four because his wise Veterans Service Representative from Post #1064 arranged not only a Decision Review Hearing in December 2009 but also a Board hearing before Judge Guido two years later in November 2011. Somewhere along the line no new and material evidence was produced that could sway the Judge and jury. No IMOs. No opinions from his primary care physician. Nary a “Gee, this could be related to his good time in service.” No sage advice from his representative that a boatload of lay testimony hadn’t convinced the DRO so why repeat it to George. Nothing. The VFW hierarchy rep. in DC at the BVA had the authority to set it aside and procure more evidence that might keep Johnny from digging a deeper hole. Again, no VFW fingerprints.

VA calls this the perfect storm-no evidence. Now, with the denial at the BVA complete, the record is sealed. No new evidence can be added. Johnny can appeal to the CAVC, but without a legal argument concerning due process of some sort, screaming “They dissed me and refused to listen” is not going to put the chicken in the pot. Judge Guido gave him a very clean decision based on what was presented. He was circumspect and ruled on what was available. This didn’t rise to a Buchanan violation. Absent any viable medical evidence, all the lay testimony in the world that consists of “In the beginning there was nothing…” is going to be treated as incredible.

You really have multiple opportunities to fix this dilemma with proper legal help. Unfortunately, Johnny didn’t. Back to the War Room, I guess. So my last thought is this. VFW refused to allow Vietnam Vets to join because it was a “conflict” rather than a war. They are more than willing to represent a Vet with other than honorable service. I’m glad they are. I would, too. I just don’t understand the concept of their bylaws. As for their investigative/hands-on approach to claims, I’m still in the dark.

Posted in BvA Decisions, Tips and Tricks, VSOs | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

MORE TRAVAILS IN SOUTH CAROLINA

Posted on August 6, 2013 by asknod

download

VA Regional Office

AFGE LOCAL 520

PO BOX 1778

COLUMBIA, SC 29202

August 3, 2013

Joe Average Vet sends this one in. We have commiserated with the rank and file employees of VA numerous times. No one, and certainly not Vets, fault them (AFGE) for the unholy backlog we are suffering. We’ve been saying for years that this should be a process where a claims manager handles a claim. Period. Think GEICO. Just like in the old days, a rater would pick up the file and get to know Johnny Vet. He might even call him up and get his measure. He’d weigh the evidence and come to a fair and balanced conclusion. VA superiors would promptly denigrate his logical conclusions and infuse doubt, shoot holes in an otherwise seamless history and recommend denial. Nevertheless, the rater would pursue it with an open mind and basically be limited by no more than the precepts of the older M-21. Even so the Vet never did fare well.

Those days are gone. We’ve been through the Model T version where everyone inserts a fender, door or motor until the claim rolls off the end of the line with 5 doors and no tires.

We’ve been through the plus seven Haiku training manuvres. We have now arrived at the DBQ/FDC crossroads. One would think VSRs would be jumping for joy at the new, simplified procedures to accurately and correctly adjudicate claims at the local State Regional Offices. The folks at the Columbia RO, alas, refuse to drink the Koolaid.

Here, in the words of a senior member of the  VARO Columbia AFGE, are a scathing indictment of what they are trying to pawn off on us across the nation.

It is clear that FDC did not provide the results that all its proponents assumed. The FDC has been around since April 2009. It apparently has not been successful. I was a Senior Veterans Service Representative when the FDC pilot program began in VARO Columbia. I am a witness that it was not successful. However, now VA is trying to tie a perceived benefit to the process instead of focusing on why it did not work.

Does this sound eerily familiar to you?

The DBQ requires the Veteran to get his own examination. There are two negatives for the Veteran. He has to pay for an examination and he may not be service connected for the disability he paid to get an examination for.

I have been harping for quite a while about the VA divesting themselves of the duty to assist and subtly insinuating that if the Vet gets it all, he stands a better chance of getting it right-and in order. This, of course, implies the VA does not.

I have been harping as well that Under Secretary for Bullshit Hickey has been more worried about getting her hair color right that worrying about getting Veterans’ claims adjudicated in a timely manner. The imbroglio she had enveloped herself with over the NOVA case that was released tyesterday at the Federal Circuit shows all that she is ill-prepared for the job she does and the VA in particular.

Remember, one of the initiatives of the transformation was FDC. So what is the purpose of this press release? This is my personal observation- public relations and an attempt to use a perceived nugget – money to entice Veterans with an option they already have to participate in a program that since 2009 has not yielded the results anticipated. Again, VA is shifting the focus from timely processing claims for all and placing their responsibilities on the Veteran.

The hair problem hasn’t gone unnoticed either.

The current USB brought in from her previous employer, Accenture- People, Process, and Technology, over 40 unplanned transformation initiatives, an “All In” attitude, and enthusiasm. However, no one cheers for their the losing team when the score is 72 to 3 and there is a minute left on the game clock. Veterans and employees are not cheering, but suffering.

Remember our assessments several days ago?

The only other thing FDC is doing on the Monday Morning Workload Report (MMWR) is not accounting for new claims as the diary won’t mature for a year, therefore, making it look as if no new claims are coming in. 

I suggest all of you who feel as I do that Mr. Robinson and his fellow VA raters ( and indeed all the rank and file) are doing a splendid job send him an email at  rbnsnrnld@yahoo.com. When the people who rate you see the perfidy and utter futility in trying to work, let alone reason, with the chuckleheads running this Dog and Pony show, it’s patently obvious that the Clowns have taken over the circus. We always presumed it was so. Mr. Robinson has now removed all doubt. When the firemen say the blaze is out of control, I believe them.

Posted in VA BACKLOG | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment