PART IV VASRD–ELIMINATING PESKY DCs

Posted on February 17, 2022 by asknod

Well, pilgrims. We talked about this possibility several years ago when our Overlords of Munificence brought up the idea of giving TDIU a haircut after 65 years of age. I mean What the hell? Dude, you’re getting SSA by then… or can. So what’s the idea of freeloading off the VA system when SSA can supplant that drop in your compensation check? That has now metastasized into an even larger compensation grab if ever I saw one. The most recent proposal to “modernize the Diagnostic Codes” so as to more greatly benefit the Veteran is pure hooey. Read the language and it makes your hair stand up all over without anyone scraping their fingernails across a chalk board. 

I include more pictures of my war as my readers have indicated a desire to see these.

Knowing the author/architect of this was no other than our former Home Depot© Manager and recently demoted/brevet promoted to USB (but never confirmed) Thomas Murphy and you instantly recognize why this is afoot. VA keeps returning to Congress every year with hat in hand begging for a few 10 billions more than last year just to keep their VA Poker Game afloat. Featherbedding is expensive in DC. I’m almost surprised Hunter doesn’t work there but they’re not willing to pay enough for his art work. This newfangled Cerner Electronic Medical records computer changeover from the old VistA system is sucking up oodles of dough and hundreds of VA employees are running for the exits. I don’t think they even have enough extra baksheesh to buy the medical dumoflotchies for the new Denver Medical Palace. The huge influx in claims has really just begun and they need more raters. The war that fired up in 2001 has just ended for Statutory purposes. Just as Vietnam ran officially from 1/9/1961 to 5/7/1975, so too will VA “close the books” on Iraqistan. If this Ukraine insanity turns into a shooting affair and we stick our foot in it, VA will be opening a new chapter of “Ukraine Era Veteran” and announce it in future ratings decisions. As much as things change, so do they stay the same.  SOSDD.

Seriously. Think about it. If I’m filing Vietnam AO exposure claims at a record clip 47 years after we bugged out, what does that say about the future of Iraq/Afstan claims for presumptives? A large number of us who were there are coming down with cancer and Parkinson’s. Well, that or DM II with IHD hors d’oeuvres on a bed of peripheral neuropathies. As I said, that war ended 47 years ago and it’s costing the VA tons of money alone now-in 2022. It lasted fourteen years. This latest one ran for 20 years.

One of the results of the newly resolved conflict are  MUCMIs in VAspeak. Medically unexplained chronic multisymptom illness. Ewww. Sounds like something you catch from sitting on a dirty toilet seat. Think doing the 26-shot series for anthrax and its side effects. Think about sucking in all that smoke from the burn pits for 10 months… or 30 months from 3 10-month deployments. Think about racing across deserts in Humvees and weaving in between burning oil wells. Think archaic diseases like Leprosy and tuberculosis that were supposed to be extinct. In my war, it was watching the old $1.23s come lumbering by overhead at about 1,800 feet ASL dumping AO (or AW, AB, AG,  or the two APs). Back then we appreciated it.  Seriously, it was truly amazing shit. It killed the mosquitos and those nasty red ants that bite and sting. And it didn’t even bother us. But it didn’t stop there. It killed monkeys and snakes. I never saw any more wildlife like the occasional tiger ever again flying over those areas. And need I mention what it did to vegetation? Human life 50 years later?  Here’s the list of mucmis:

What Are MUCMIs?

  • Fatigue.
  • Headaches.
  • Joint pain.
  • Indigestion.
  • Insomnia.
  • Dizziness.
  • Respiratory disorders.
  • Memory problems.

Every war is going to have some shit like tear gas, AO or VX. Somebody always figures a better way to snuff you with fewer casualties. It’s been said this Coronabug the Gooks were experimenting with at Wuhan was a new flavor of the flu and and it got away from them before they had it mastered with their own vax for it. Once she’s out of the box, there’s no use crying about Pandora.

So, the takeaway if you’re Tommy the VA bean counter is how to make it harder to get VA comp money out of Monty’s Cookie Jar hidden behind Door Number 3. If Congress passes a law suddenly granting entitlement on a presumptive basis for this MUCMI shit, it’s almost axiomatic that VA is going to make it harder to qualify shortly thereafter. However, this time they are going after several “problem” disorders. Perhaps they want to be ahead of the game before Congress gets munificent.

The pulmonary disorders (of or having to do with breathing) are changing. It will be harder to obtain an OSA rating or something in that vein. If you have tinnitus, and boy howdy was that almost guaranteed, you’re going to get it lumped in with hearing loss. The actual DC 6260 will be a thing of the past. Think of all those defective ear plugs 3M pawned off on DoD. The chickens are coming home to roost and if you don’t have diagnosed hearing loss, you’re gonna be getting the Zeroes for Heroes ™ treatment at your local Fort Fumble. No more of that subjective Tinnitus for 10% from now on.

37th ARRS out of Udorn. BUFF- when you need a lift.

Modernizing the evaluative rating criteria for sleep apnea, using developments in medical knowledge to evaluate it based on its responsiveness to treatment, bringing the rating criteria for sleep apnea more closely in line with the stated purpose of the rating schedule.

Obstructive Sleep apnea? Hooooooooooooooo, doggies. That 50% for a CPAP is  gonna be gone with the wind if the Home Depot© Dude has his say. There’s a medical surgery that can be performed that will rid you of OSA and its detrimental effects. If you refuse the surgery, guess what. Sayonara rating. Of course if you do have the surgery it’s also sayonara so what’s the difference? Please, sir. May I have a medical dispensation granted for that?

But wait. There’s more. That PTSD gravy train that Vietnam Vets walked point on in ’81 for us all? That’s going to get a progressive remodeling:

Evaluating mental health conditions based on a more robust and holistic approach that assesses how impactful the disability is to cognition, interpersonal relationships, task completion, life activities and self-care. Additionally, the proposed evaluation criteria include a 10% minimum evaluation for having one or more service-connected mental health conditions and will no longer require “total occupational and social impairment” to attain a 100% evaluation.

Where do you find people who talk like this? Or better yet, think like this about Veterans? That ‘robust and holistic approach’ must mean the acupuncture and aromatherapy clinics coming soon to a VAMC near you. Any time VA says they want to fix something, rest assured it’s time to move to a corner table and put your wallet in your front pocket.

If you’re concerned, and every Vet should be, call your congressman/woman and let them know what you think of this. What if they say your PTSD got better?  Do you get whacked under the new system in 2027? Psychologists tell us you can ameliorate the symptoms but, like a broken rubber band, you can never tie it back together and get the same guy or gal back. All this is going to produce is more homelessness, more suicides and more grief. The only thing it may cure inadvertently is the desire to ever enlist in the military.

And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

P.S.

Posted in Agent Orange, All about Veterans, AO, Complaints Department, Diagnostic Codes (DCs), Legislation, Medical News, VA Agents, vA news, Veterans Law | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

CAVC– Barry v. Denis the Menace

Posted on February 7, 2022 by asknod

Long have we waited for some guidance on this subject. The quandary was, and still is, simple…and ageless. Reading §3.350(f)(3) or, arguendo, (f)(4), is it open to conjecture as to whether a half-step and/or a whole step increase in SMC is applicable more than once? The M 21 says ‘No!’ and sturickly profriggin’ forbids it.  But seriously, reducing §3.350(f)(3)/(4) down to DickandJanespeak, doesn’t it seem rational that a Vet could accrue more than one (f)(3) for a half-step bump from SMC L to L 1/2, and on to M (or more)? Chevron non-deference anyone? In the same vein, could Johnny Vet be awarded more than one (f)(4) bump from L to M and thence, perchance, on to N? Add in an (f)(3) and a K and poof-the next thing you know, you’d wake up in SMC O land… and still have two legs intact. 

The Pig Packer

Up to now, there have been many vociferous arguments both pro and con. As you can imagine, various minds, up until Barry v. McDonough, were divided on the subject. I still am. Last year, I did look up about 7 BVA instances in which a VLJ indeed granted a double bump at (f)(3) or a combo of (3) and (4). Therefore, no one can look you in the eye and start a valid stare decisis argument. I’ve also searched the Purple Book for some guidance and found nothing. If Denis the Menace is going to hang his hat on the M 21, I doubt the Fed. Circus would give it much credence. Every time I ever quoted the M 21 to a BVA Judge, I had to eat my hat pretty tout de suite. Their unanimous response was “We don’t allow that shit in here. Gimme a CFR, a USC or sit down, bubba.”  I know I put the links somewhere showing double bumps but it would take some forensic sleuthing to retrieve them.

Look closely at the 16. No bolt assist= USAF model. Barrel tip says after ’68.

What is intriguing are the possibilities of continued appeal above to the Fed. Circus. Or not. I personally believe this panel decision is not the correct vehicle to reverse this precedence. But if not this one, our opportunity will slip away into res judicata without some vociferous appellate disagreement. Think about it. Read the whole 28-page decision, and boy howdy is it a close second to the Gutenberg Bible. Then look at what was not taken into consideration in the appeal. Even better yet, look at the 10-page dissent by- of all Judges- Jacquith the Unmerciful. He’s an ex-JAG (’82-2011) lifer who only made O-6. Not a glowing judicial resume. But nowadays we all get a trophy for being a Participant so I’ll shut up. Shoot. He’s probably like Col. Lynsey Graham and has a Bronze Star and never heard a shot fired in anger.

PSP as a roofing material

Judge Jacquith’s dissent doesn’t buy into half of what Mr. Barry is asking for. He does find disfavor with the concept that you cannot have two (2, deux, hai, song)  awards of (f)(3)…

Based on these facts, the veteran argues that the plain meaning of §3.350(f)(3) entitles him to four intermediate rate increases, to the SMC rate prescribed by section 1114(o). The Secretary
contends that the one intermediate increase the veteran has received is all he is entitled to under the plain meaning of the regulation. The majority reads subsection (f)(3) the way the Secretary does but acknowledges that the plain language of §3.350(f)(3) does not conclusively resolve the issue. The words I see in subsection (f)(3) give the veteran SMC at the section 1114(n) rate, but no higher.

But hey. Let’s read it ourselves…

(f)(3) “Additional independent 50 percent disabilities. In addition to the statutory rates payable under 38 U.S.C. 1114 (l) through (n) and the intermediate or next higher rate provisions outlined above, additional single permanent disability or combinations of permanent disabilities independently ratable at 50 percent or more will afford entitlement to the next higher intermediate rate or if already entitled to an intermediate rate to the next higher statutory rate under 38 U.S.C. 1114, but not above the (o) rate. In the application of this subparagraph the disability or disabilities independently ratable at 50 percent or more must be separate and distinct and involve different anatomical segments or bodily systems from the conditions establishing entitlement under 38 U.S.C. 1114 (l) through (n) or the intermediate rate provisions outlined above. The graduated ratings for arrested tuberculosis will not be utilized in this connection, but the permanent residuals of tuberculosis may be utilized.”

Here’s what my feeble brain extrapolates from the (f)(3) regulation. If you have extra disability or disabilities, and have a few that can be constructed using the old Buie v. Shinseki Cash Flow System (based on the Dave Del Dotto model), then you should be allowed to do it. Remember the operable word ‘nonadversarial’ and the §3.103 mantra of Browkowski. 

However, in (f)4), the language is more nuanced and explicit. All those multiple expressions of “disabilities” (plural) are absent. Nobody who litigates for a living could try the Bradley v. Peake argument that (f)(4)’s language is ambiguous and TDIU would be okay as a stand in for an (f)(4) 100% schedular disability…

(f)(4)”…additional single permanent disability independently ratable at 100 percent apart from any consideration of individual unemployability will afford entitlement to the next higher statutory rate under 38 U.S.C. 1114 or if already entitled to an intermediate rate to the next higher intermediate rate, but in no event higher than the rate for (o).”

Either this was a photo op or there will be a pig feed jam in 3, 2, 1…

What I do not see anywhere in the Barry decision is a well-argued BVA argument below before Mr. Barry arrived at the Court. The panel decision discusses issue exhaustion and issue preclusion. At the BVA, you have to argue case or controversy-or both. Either the VA pukes at Ft. Whacko, Texas misread (f)(3)/(4) by depending on their exalted belief in M21 or they didn’t have the facts right. You have to say up front what is wrong. If the VLJ denies, you can import that argument to the Court and reargue it. You have to “exhaust” the issue at the BVA. If you never brought it up to the VLJ, you cannot litigate it at the Court. That’s issue preclusion. You can’t just keep boiling more spaghetti and trying to get a new batch to stick to the wall at 625 Indiana Ave. NW.  A pro se Vet can get away with some small stuff if s/he gets a sympathetic Court. Here, you couldn’t get a better Judge than Allen. Falvey and Jacquith are renowned for disliking Vets. Falvey has more Texas necktie parties under his belt than even he can count. That’s not what you want to draw to on a panel. Which is why Jacquith is somewhat the oddity here. To me, his arguments are under-developed because he doesn’t even look at the legality of getting two SMC Ls for a&a. See §3.350(e)(1)(ii).

            Regrouping and going back to the AOJ

Why not go back to Fort Whacko  to the beginning and argue if any of these hundreds of ratings he has could be fashioned into a single TDIU a la Myler v. Derwinski. After all, a shit ton of SFW’d muscle groups will be rated by muscle groups (MG), not individual muscles. Some are going to be minor and some are going to be waaaaay out there in severe country-or missing completely. But the amalgam of all those MG percentages could show a clearcut case of TDIU which frees up other disabilities which are separate and distinct and make them available to be added up into (f)(3) packages of 1/2 step bumps.

Think about what Congress intended with SMC. So few of the Judges other than, say, O’Malley, understand that SMC is a cumulative thing. The closer you are to resembling Hogan’s famous Goat, the more you should be awarded. Just as you can be granted two SMC Ls for separate and distinct disabilities involving different anatomical components (think PTSD and IHD), so, too, would it seem you could get multiple combos of (f)(3)s because let’s face it. You may be missing more fingers and toes and eyes and cojones than the average bear and you shouldn’t be short-sheeted by (f)(3) for it. SMC is a cumulative game. The more you get shot off or exploded off what you were born with, the more you should get. (f)(4) doesn’t suffer from ambiguity the way (f)(3) does, however.

Boots down = KHA

I love my SMC bookends of Bradley and Buie  but, as with any legal screwdriver, you have to use them correctly. First, Mr. Barry did not put forth a theory of rearranging his disabilities a la Buie post-award to maximize his entitlement and permit VA, as they say in Unicorn country, ‘to render a decision which grants every benefit that can be supported in law while protecting the interests of the Government’. If he goes back down to Ft. Whacko, he preserves his effective dates and can reargue TDIU instead of a 100% combined. This is win-win but sadly will not stay the decision about multiple (f)(3)s.

Leach escargot for dinner hors d’ouevres

I know it sounds weird to try to disagree with a finding of 100% combined and the big check and argue instead  for TDIU based on one specific disability of 60% (think IHD) or 70% (PTSD). What the hey. We’re in an AMA wonderland these days. Make a u-turn from the CAVC, march smartly back to Fort Fumble and refile a supplemental with an IMO or a VRE assessment of dead in the water-including the impossibility of selling time share condos in Hawaii from the privacy of your own home for $12 K a month. That’s certainly one repair order.

Why we didn’t have women in combat in 1969

But, as for undoing the CAVC panel decision, it will be cast in concrete if not appealed to the Fed. Circus. While Jacquith’s dissent will be noted, Mr. Barry will have to find a Veteran-friendly panel above- one where Jacquith’s pro Veteran dissent will resonate. Or, Mr. Barry could ask for an en banc Court  do over. There, I wager to say he may get a different outcome-maybe a win.

Pre-’66 M 16. Note the roachclip tip on the barrel

Everyone has the benefit of Monday morning quarterbacking when looking at any case. I sure do not mean to pick apart Ken Dojaquez’ work. I understand. I get a lot of cases that are already cast in concrete below and you have to search for the escape hatch to win or work with what you’re dealt. The above are a few suggestions I’d make which are a day late and dollar short.  The ‘but he had…’ arguments that come to mind all lead to the Fed. Circus if we, as Veterans, are to right the misunderstanding of (f)(3). At this point it’s imperative to appeal it because the Fed. Circus may take a look at the (f)(3) regulation and come to a completely different conclusion. Like old Spec 4 Gump said about a box of chocolates, You never know what you’re gonna get.

P.S. Everyone likes a good dog story.

Posted in AO, BVA Hearings, BVA Purplebook, CAVC Knowledge, Earlier Effective dates, Humor, Lawyering Up, TDIU, Tips and Tricks, VA Attorneys, VBMS Tricks, Vietnam War history | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

HADIT.COM RADIO SHOW- THURSDAY 2/3/22

Posted on February 1, 2022 by asknod

Can you imagine ol’ Punxsutawney Phil crawin’ out of wherever he crawled into (last Fall) tomorrow and seeing this Global Warming ‘event’ across Pennsylvania’s fruited plains? I doubt he’d make it past his front door. It’s probably about 4 feet under. Shadow my ass. Maybe the spectre of starvation shadow if things don’t start heading smartly towards Spring. 

With that said, I guess your wondering why I called you here. Right. Thursday, being the day after Groundhog Day and very auspicious for special events, just happens to be John and Jerrel’s preferred day for holding VA Court and discussing the VA disaster of the week. This week it’s one of the wildest and wooliest c&p medical opinion I’ve ever read, and trust me, I’ve seen a passel of them over the last 30 years.

When you think you’ve heard Le Whopper de l’anée in terms of a long term-claim appeal fight, look no further than Mr. Charles. He had 55 years into it before he got VA to sit up and take notice. When they did, in 2008-2011, they inundated him in grants from bilateral frozen feet to status post (S/P) encephalitis at 100% with all the tinnitus  etc. thrown in to attain SMC S. That’s when Mr. C decided to go for the date he filed. He died waiting after investing a total of 69 years into this. Now it’s Mrs. C’s turn at the  rudder.

One of the beauties of VBMS is that the subcontractors are handed a paper file and they scan it. All of it.They couldn’t give a hoot whether what they are scanning incriminates earlier raters and proves their mis/malfeasance. They’re like a hammer and every piece of paper in the claims file looks like a nail. Scan. Scan. Scan. Next Vet? Ditto ad infinitum. In Mr. C’s case, it showed he arrived at the local Topeka, Kansas VARO in November 1953 and filed a claim. It isn’t in there but the issuance of the claims file number is…17 xxx xxx.  He gave them his wife’s and kid’s name, rank, airspeed and tail number. They have the marriage license. Why all that if you are not filing a claim? And, just like all negro Veterans’ claims back then, the VA pukes filed it in the trash can. Probably even had a good laugh over it at Happy Hour that night. Well, if any of them are still alive, I’d love to see the look on their faces when this comes out of the oven.

Accrued money from past VA errors is meager pickings. No back interest and a 10% rating in 1953 was about $6 a month. In 2008 I won a 10% back to 1994. $18, 250. I won a 10% increase up from 10% to 20% from April 1970 to March 2015. $45,000 or so. It isn’t a pot at the end of the rainbow if that’s what you’re hoping for. But if you got screwed out of a 70% rating in ’53, then you’re talking some serious folding money. And boy howdy does VA take a dim view of that crap… as I’ll share with you all.

But we’ll discuss that Thursday. If their show is still all the same, John and Jerrel’s FB will light up about 1900 Hrs on the Easterly Coast for some H&I. For those dysleftic, that would be 1600 Hrs over here adjacent to our Shining Sea.

Here’s all the Data you’ll need.

(515) 605-9764

Or, if preferred via your computer…

https://www.blogtalkradio.com/jbasser/12058153/connect/fbd75b3bf5f34019a7c9ae96c4aff1eeca24dfc0

In the interests of keeping it down to a dull roar, please refrain from dialing the number 1 unless you wish to ask a question. We have enough problems with all Jerrel’s hounds barking and making a ruckus in the background as it is. I hope to hear you there.

Posted in C&P exams, IMOs/IMEs, Nexus Information, Tips and Tricks, VA Agents, Veterans Law | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

VA C&P EXAMS–THE NEUROLOGIST FROM HELL

Posted on January 30, 2022 by asknod

Right. I’ll take c&p exams for a million dollars, Alex.

The answer is… “Dr. JD  of the American Lake VAMC”. 

What is an “illegitimate IMO”? 

Correct, Johnny Vet. 

Boy howdy, in all my days doing this, and they’re beginning to add up, I have never seen such a slam job. My clients and I knew going in that we going to encounter extreme headwinds. VA simply doesn’t cotton to uppity VA agents bearding the lion in their own den. But I get ahead of myself. Imagine, if you will, filing a claim and finding out a year later (in 1954) that they simply assigned the claim to the circular file. This was before shredders and identity theft.

In 2018, the BVA granted Charles’ CUE and said his original claim for encephalitis was filed November 19. 1953 and was still alive and well. The VA raters initially said “Fine. Here’s your Zero % sucker. A week later, they must have gotten the VACO brief from the AMC and upped him to 10% back to 1953. Well, there you go. Now the claim was ripe for a Notice of Disagreement with the 10%. It’s an original claim and that means the date of entitlement is the date of claim. It makes no difference the CUE reversal upset the applecart. This puppy was now alive and justiciable again.

Mr. Charles went up to the BVA again and complained he didn’t get no respect. Well, shoot. He didn’t.  The VLJ, Mike Skaltsounis, agreed wholeheartedly and wrote an eleventyseven page ‘this is how I want this to be done’ instruction booklet with the remand. All the raters did was laugh at us and find some shmuck to say “Are you kidding me? This guy is a malingerer. He’s healthy as a horse and he’s funning you. You gave him a 100% P&T and there’s nothing wrong with him. Well, nothing but  the 71-year history of headaches, dizziness and memory problems, but we already paid you 10% for all that. Go home.” TY4YS.

Gardenhire BVA remand redact

That’s when Mr. and Mrs. Charles found me.  This began to go south when VA set them up with a General Medicine doctor instead of the VLJ-requested neurologist. He blamed all Mr. Charles’ sixty-odd years of disabilities on PTSD, and anything but s/p encephalitis residuals.  I called them on it and pointed out that a) Dr. Goldilocks was not a psychologist so he wasn’t allowed to discuss bent brain; and b) he was self-admittedly not a neurologist so he didn’t fit the Remand instructions.

redact IMO 10-28-20

VA rustled around in their IMO doctor basket and scrounged up our good buddy Dr. JD.  I want you to read this one. It was only 18 pages of horse pucky but it reeksof narcissistic blather. I am a neurologist. Hear me roar. I’m the undersigned. I know my shit. I have tons of medical literature to support my opinion but I neglected to bring it and cite to it here. Who cares? I’m smarter than any of you. Just trust me on this one. The undersigned, a licensed neurologist “resulted” the following opinions… WTF, over.

Dr. J redact IMO 11-2020

This wasn’t enough for VA. They went to Honolulu and found another Judas. Paid him 30 pieces of silver, too, they did. This one pretty much consists of “What he said” referring back to Dr. JD’s not so erudite attempt at bushwhacking Mr. Charles.

redact1.4.2021 neuro DBQ

I immediately ramrodded it back to the BVA with a dynamite IMO replete with lots of cites by a real,  objective, Board-certified Neurologist, not some Hungarian refugee with a Univ. of Grenada Medical School degree wanting to become a citizen. In VA law, we call Dr. JD’s IMO merely data and conclusions with no supportive rationale. He talks lots and boy howdy can that boy cut and paste. But what stands out in his IMO was a failure to just do what they asked him to do. Are the subjective symptoms Mr. Charles suffered related and b) what would you rate them at over the intervening 55 years until 2008. Mr. Charles was no spring chicken and time was of the essence. Finding a good neuro willing to opine on this one was a real challenge.

Redact filed 10182 5.21.2021

Because the VA is almost always willing to give the Agency another bite of the apple, the VLJ remanded it back again and inserted the “perhaps you didn’t understand. Let me break it down into monosyllabic words. Okay. Stay with me, Seattle…” And then Mr. Charles died in July. Remember VA’s favorite ditty? Delay and deny… Well, they delayed him right into the grave. I got Mrs. Charles substituted and voilà ! Déjà vu right back here in Seattle all over again.

redact BVA dec. 12.8.2021

Now, this time out, you’d think they might have read the fine print from VLJ Mike that this was going to require the full measure of all the King’s Men and all the King’s Horses. But no. Hold on to your seegars, gentlemen. Fort Fumble sent it back to Doctor Resulted in the Undersigned JD. This time he outdid himself. He was so taken aback that his professional credentials had been maligned and raked through the mud that he decided to get really down and dirty. In a 42-page treatise, redundant to the extreme, our Neurologist resulted that Mr. Charles (deceased) need not report for this c&p examination because he (the undersigned) had sufficient information, to include all the records VA lost between 1953 and 2008 upon which to base his exalted medical opinion… supported by the weight of invisible peer-reviewed medical literature and the imaginary (lost) VA records of his entire medical history.

redact bogus VA IMO

I’ve sent VA an email explaining that the unequivocal measurement criteria is “at least as likely as not”. The use of may, possibly, coulda, woulda or Uncle Jack had the same thing and it was encephalitis sure as shittin’ won’t fly. Just to be a dick, I asked where he got his JD and psychology degree and why isn’t it listed in his CV. Wait a minute. Where is his CV? Check out page 8. We’re talking Perry Mason shit.

While it’s helpful that Dr. JD wants to ensure the VBA folks note that our Board Certified IMO neurodoc is not the treating physician, and all her suppositions should not be medical evidence of record, he blithely glosses over his non-medical association with a dead man and proceeds to insert his backwards binoculars retrospective. Don’t these dolts even read their own maundering logic? Is it that they perceive us so dense or uneducated that we’ll swallow this drivel hook, line and sinker? Holy Shit, Batman. Babel® must be to blame.  I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say English is definitely not Dr. J.’s  primary language. Or if it is, he got dropped on his head when he was a baby.

I can’t wait to see what Act III portends. Seems to me that if they step on their DROC neckties again and deny it, it shore as hell ain’t gonna be a predecisional error no mo’. About that time our Dr. Debbie and her most excellent IMO are going to be the only IMO evidence remotely probative to the conversation. Note our VLJ Mike S. has declared the three prior VA IMOs as tripe and worthless so that leaves them high and dry. As the new IMO from Dr. JD is now a matter of record in VBMS, I don’t see how they plan to proceed. It’s a virtual LP version of the November 2020 IMO.  Do they saw off the branch he’s standing on and go with our IMO? Do they go out and find a neurodoc who respects the “White Wall” wherein you never disparage your medical equals? It’s perfectly okay to trash an ARPN or RN’s IMO because they are dispensable.

I had a hunch this would transpire. No GS-15 or VSCM wants their John Hancock on a seven figure payout. That would blow a hole in the Christmas Holiday Party budget- not to mention your career at VA. Sorry, no General Patton knockoffs or spin-the-bottle games. BYOK(arioke) this year. This will have to be dealt with in a firm manner. Who blinks first will be interesting.

This is the third neuro IMO I’ve received from our illustrious MD/JD Doctor. I have another  client he assassinated on a Parkinson’s IMO/DBQ. Said he didn’t have to waste his time rating  JohnnyVet under §4.124a because Parkinson’s isn’t a nerve disease of the extremities. Okay, I give up but that’s what the regulation says to do. I didn’t make it up. Denis the Menace did. And Wilkie, Shulkin, McDonald ad nauseum.

VA is scraping the bottom of the barrel for VA doctors who are in compliance. QTC, LHI and  VES don’t have any neurologists. If they did, even they could see the writing on the great White Wall and concur with our Dr. Debbie. What is evident is VA will have to ignore him and get a new doctor.  It appears you can’t teach ol’ Dr. JD anything at this point. He knows it all. Wait a minute. They could promote him. That’s SOP at VHA.

 

 

 

Posted in All about Veterans, Earlier Effective dates, Lay testimony, Legacy Claims, Nexus Information, Tips and Tricks, VA Agents, Veterans Law | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

BVA–I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW

Posted on January 23, 2022 by asknod

Once upon a time, we had the Legacy system of litigation. It worked fine from about 1960 on until some gomer decided it was broken around 2016. Enter Congress and the “Big Six” VSOs. Ruh-oh, Rorge. Any time somebody in the government says they can build it back better, put your wallet in your front pocket and sit at a corner table with your back to the wall. What’s more, the effrontery of those Bix Six jackwads to even think they could “re-envision the VBA” into a new more Veteran-complicated Rand McNally Road Atlas is a hoot. All they did was create job security for life by constructing seven different ways to get to a denial. Most of these guys couldn’t find their ass with a methane detector. 

But back to the golden age. There were 20 Boards of three judges each (60). Supposedly, one was going to be a MD with a JD. That’s a pretty tall order. They were perennially short of these fellows so your tribunal of three was more often than not whittled down to two without a doctor. How could you ever get justice? Well, the short story was you couldn’t until 1989 and the passage of the VJRA. This was when the VA got clotheslined by the Federal judiciary- the COVA- now the CAVC. Even then almost all the big names you read about like Gilbert and Layno all lost. The good news is they stepped into the punji pit so you wouldn’t have to.

In 1995, business had heated up so much, the BVA decided to revamp their Boards and reduce them to one VLJ each. This increased the adjudicator workforce by 66% just in time. They still attempt to fluff it up and make it sound plural with the term “Board Member” or Trier of Fact.

Once the stranglehold on justice with those early and inevitable “acute and resolved before separation” kangaroo courts were reined in, a slightly more refined form of VLJs began to arrive and dispense a much better, uniform decision process with heavy emphasis on the Purple Book. Denials were still rampant, don’t get me wrong. They just were interspersed more frequently with grants. And then along came Caluza. This COVA decision, in my mind, finally let the cat out of the bag for most Veterans. At least now we knew the three actual ingredients for baking VA claims and getting a win. VA had been hiding this gem since all the way back to the War of 1812.

The problem I bring to the table today is the inevitable aftermath of monkeying around with the Legacy process and litigating in the new world order of AMA. Quite simply, the old saw about delay and deny etc.  has inadvertently become the VA’s new AMA Logo. By “appealing” your denial to the BVA via a 10182, all you do in most cases is get a 2-year boomerang remand that comes back and whacks you upside the head. Your local Fort Fumble now goes back to the stable and brings out a new horse. The DRO hangman gets out a fine new waxed rope and they all lead you over to the old Oak tree…again. You are thanked for your service and get a warm 19- page denial with suggestions on how to Read the Rand McNally roadmap if you are confused. AMA is like a Mobius Loop with a seamless beginning and ending. You can keep filing forever but it’s like running in place. Well, that or a crude caricature of the Hotel California.

A well-traveled SP/4 and his peach can under the belt.

In my extended history of Legacy appeals with the BVA, I always got finality. A remand, if it was due, was for a rating and any inferred or late additions after the VA 8 had been issued. The VLJ would politely refer those back to the Agency (your VARO) for initial development. In the brave new world of AMA, a judge or their industrious JD wannabes, will purposely misconstrue a fine point and say something inane like ” While the Veteran presented a bitchin’ IMO, the Dr. didn’t discuss whether the Vet’s blindness might be due to DM II instead of the Malaria. This is a Duty to Assist error.  Thus the appeal must be remanded back so those pricks in Roanoke can deny you again. If you don’t get any satisfaction there, please return here with a new 10182 and we’ll start this shit show all over again.” What’s a poor Veteran to do? You don’t know whether to shit or go blind.

I guess the worst part of all this is that most rank and file VSO service officers are even more confused now than they were in 2015. It’s a perfect recipe for overwhelming the intake system…and it did. Then along comes Corona. I had Vets beating my door down begging for help. All-and I mean all- the urban and suburban VSO assets in Bremerton/Tacoma evaporated for two years. A telephone or a fax machine in this day and age are like green firewood and a wet blanket on a hilltop. You gotta be hard wired with high speed computer and scan/print/efax capability.

How many Vets would know that if they’d never filed before and they go online and pick a form to file with, that if they use a 20- 995 instead of a 21-526 that their claim will go into cold storage for a month before someone MAP-Ds a letter to the poor Vet and still doesn’t tell him the correct one to use. Worse, assuming you can take a number and wait, it’ll be even longer to get an audience with a VSO guy who probably knows squat about it and will make the same mistake, too.

When the VA made substantial changes back in 2015 with the introduction of the VA 21-0958  Notice of Disagreement, countless hundreds and thousands of VSOs continued to file NODs using the venerable 21-4138. They considered it to be a utilitarian form- good for anything. They even filed original claims on them and after a month or two, a VA gomer would send them back a letter  asking what it was they were trying to accomplish. That was back when the mail actually worked and the notices were timely sent.

Now, in the new, improved world of VA claims, we have the Centralized Mail Processing (CMP) center in charming Janesville, Cheesconsin. Around July 2021 of last year, they ran out of workers. It was too lucrative to stay home and claim the unemployment plus the Federal bonus. I heard folks claimed they had to take care of their kids because they couldn’t get any daycare. One enterprising TV reporter took camera in hand and hit the road to find out how bad it was. Turns out a lot of the “kids” needing daycare were 18- 22 stay-at-homes collecting it too. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction- even in employment. So, naturally, nobody knew if their evidence was received. Nobody knew if they won or lost. Just the Veterans with Attorneys or Agents with access to VBMS. We then had to go into business full time downloading the documents and contacting the clients.

The AMA created a tsunami of appeals to the Board.  The VA didn’t foresee this for some reason. I’m sure they thought they could deny and put paid to Vets using the new three-card Monte game they invented. Hey! Don’t like that denial? File a supplemental. Bummer- denied. Take one of these 996 HLRs and spin again, soldier. Oh drat. Another zero. Nowhere will you  see it written that they suggest Caluza. Never will you hear the word Hickson or Shedden pass their lips.  Seems weird when you think about it. The AMA grants us all a brief blurb of favorable findings at the end of a rating decision now and what we’re ostensibly still lacking to win our claims. I’ve found that a lot of the ROs haven’t even received that email yet and still neglect to explain it. Even ones that do don’t say “Sonny, what you need to do is go find a hired gun outfit that does Independent Medical Opinions and get one. Then we can grant, Get it? Until then you’re just pissing into the wind.”  Well shoot. You’re never going to hear that. VA ain’t ever gonna whisper the Pick Six Lotto numbers in your ear.

Even worse, if you go to the BVA, you stand a 70% chance of ending up in the old Chutes and Ladders game back to Baltimore/Houston/ St. Pete and a new c&p denying you yet again. How do you get off this merry-go-round? Well, I for one have finally figured it out. You’re better off with the new discovery of the language they found that Congress said once you’ve been denied and you file again, an attorney can be paid his 20% for helping you win. It used to be you had to get a fresh denial of a supplemental claim and we’d win it at the BVA. Thus, I research your records and can see your 1998 filing (and loss) for bent brain. I go get my wunderpsyche doctor to dx you with the MDD and presto- you win. No two-year wait for a remand back to Whacko, Texas asking for a c&p to determine what day of the week you were born on.

I love litigating. As fast as the VA chuckleheads can come up with a new denial trick, we sharpen the punji sticks and dig a new pit for them. Worse, you feel like your working with mental midgets and taking advantage of them. Kinda like fishing with hand grenades or having a company of gooks coming at you and you call in Air Support with Nape and CBUs. It’s not really a fair contest.

Posted in Appeals Modernization Act, BvA Decisions, VA Agents, VBMS, Veterans Law | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

LRRP HUMOR–PART II

Posted on January 11, 2022 by asknod

I love ol’ Ed. He’s from Winner, South Dakota. They must not have much to do there but collect jokes and send them to me. I get about 10 a day. Maybe it’s just a Corona thing and it’ll blow over. Be careful when they sound the all clear, Ed. Double mask, get your jabs. Avoid everyone. Don’t catch a case of the ‘cron. You don’t want to be marginalized by your neighbors… if you have any. This cancel thing is almost worse than the bug.

I even got this in the mail this morning from another contributor

Looks Like Consolidated International Airlines is branching out into a different area…

But I digress. From the LRRP comic library…

So an old Vietnam Vet goes in to see his ‘personal care physician’ at his VAMC. The waiting room, like all VAMCs, is packed to the rafters with guys who’s doctor (your doctor, too) is running hours behind. Sound familiar?

VA Nursey-nurse at the window asks ” Name and last four. Let’s see your Corona card.  Do you have an appointment? What for?”  The Vet  answers ” Johnny Vet-3940. Here’s my vax card. I’m all up to date. Yes, I have an appointment. There’s something wrong with my dick.”

Nursey nurse comes unglued, blows an assgasket and lectures the poor guy in a loud, stage whisper… “You’re not supposed to come in here and say that in front of all these folks. It embarrasses everyone and makes them uncomfortable.” Johnny Vet says, in an equally loud whisper, “Okay. What was I supposed to do?”

VA Nursey nurse motions him in closer, hiking up her mask back over her nose. She stands up, leans across the counter, turns toward the crowded room and announces to all in a normal voice…”You’re supposed to say something like ‘I have something wrong with my ear’ and then discuss it in private with your doctor. Try to remember that.”

Johnny Vet squints his right eye a bit and asks with a note of concern… “Are you touched in the head, ma’am? If so, I apologize. But if you aren’t then you’re really batshit crazy. You asked and I answered”. With that he storms out in a huff.

About five minutes later he returns subdued and meekly gets back in line. When his turn comes, Miz VA Nursey nurse hikes her nose up to 12 o’clock high and sniffs… “So. How, exactly, can I help you?”

Ol’ Johnny Vet rolls his eyes patiently and allows that, yes, he has something wrong with his ear. The Booth Bitch, unfazed, asks loudly “And what is wrong with your ear?”

Turning to the crowded waiting room, he opines “Seems I can’t piss out of it, ma’am.”

 

  

Posted in Corona pandemic, Corona virus, Humor, VA Health Care, Vietnam Disease Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

R1–DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC

Posted on January 6, 2022 by asknod

Sometimes I feel as if I’ve been gifted a VA faery wand whereby I can just wave it and pumpkins turn into coaches and mice to steeds. Wait. Hold that. Wrong faerytale. Perhaps,  a truckload of silver iodide and a VA-issue Sandy with eight hardpoints to be a rainmaker. Nah. Poor analogies. I’ve been blessed to have had a fair share of VA R1/R2 wins but nothing megadramatic…until now. What are the odds of VA issuing two (2)(deux)(hai)(song) R1 ratings the same morning? Or winning the Powerball tax free? Or winning a “I double, double, double dog dare you” contest? I guess the only downside to VA wand waving is it takes soooooo damn long to win. You can actually watch trees grow doing this.

R1#1

#1 was one I’ve been working on for years. It goes back to 2012 in part for a SMC K and 2014 for the R1. My client, God bless her, has the patience of Job and silently suffered for almost a decade. Nothing could be finer than to pick up the long talker and tell her she won. She’s the poster child for how many things that can go wrong with a body. Hogan’s much maligned goat comes to mind instantly.

This dude is a FNG. He needs a c rats peach can under the belt.

The BVA decision came out on 12/17 but it’s never over until the fat Secretary sings in Act III at the local Veterans Service Center. Whoa. Sexism? How come we’ve never had a female (or another of the now-46 acknowledged genders) installed as the VASEC? Inquiring minds need to know. Boy howdy is that ever a Pandora’s box mistake. I don’t want to get cancelled in VBMS so I’d better observe radio silence. STFU.

The shit must have been contacting the rotary oscillator here. The dude had his selector on auto.

Here’s the first BVA  grant (but only back to 2019) with a biiiig typo.

redact r1 12.17.2021

I held my breath until the actual rating appeared on the fourth, two days prior to today.

redactR1 RD 1.4.2022

Check out the extra canteen pouch. You could soak them and stretch them enough to hold six 20-rd. mags.

What’s funny here is I had the effective date contention already framed in the CUE claim. The BVA insisted on bifurcating the CUE into two decisions.  VLJ Ames held off writing his CUE decision until he could “see” the Fort Fumble rating decision curing the R1 back to 2014. Collusion anyone? Seems there was some horsetrading in the back room up at the corner of Delay and Deny. What this did is relieve him of having to crank out about another 20 pages of discussion on how many wolves it takes to raise Roanoke Rating Coaches. VA hates to admit they are wrong.  This just saved them a shit ton more humiliation.

redact BVA SMC K win 1.6.22

The Pig hauler.

R1 #2

And right under it in my claims queue was R #2. My boy Danny is a fellow USAF Vietnam Vet and with him being on his last legs, I had to take over. I respect VSOs. They mean well for the most part but it’s a known fact someone tore their VA Bibles in half. They have no conception of the New Testament (SMC). It’s like trying to have a meaningful discussion at a Flat Earth society meeting. And, much like anti-vaxers, most deny its existence vehemently. They want to know what I’ve been smoking… or snorting.  Silver iodide, dude. VA faery dust. Breakfast of Champions, apparently.

Smart. A 30-rd. mag taped back to back with a 20-rd.

Quite differently from my gal above in R#1, Danny is an FNG. He came aboard in August of 2021. He was already SMC L for a&a due to the Parkinson’s. VA finished the project by granting him loss of use for the upper and lower extremities. Under my good friend §3.350(e)(1)(ii), he gets to utilize the Chutes and Ladders codicil  and advance to R1. I don’t doubt he’s an R2 candidate but we’ll explore that for both of them next directly.

SMC K

At the time my gal filed for a&a in 2012, her right foot crapped out. The Roanoke chowderheads even managed to mangle that one. SMC calculator quo vadis? They granted her the 80% for complete paralysis of her foot but managed to snatch error out of the jaws of an otherwise correct decision and forget the SMC K that goes with it. Ever wonder why you don’t get a 100% rating for one foot? Well, gee pilgrim. It’s because you have two feet. This same immutable principle affects one eye, one boob, two testicles, bilateral buttocks and a few other things. Ditto loss of use of only one hand at 90% (dominant)-not 100%.

So, when I filed this big CUE, I was sure to throw it in. It might only be a $3200 add on but I was taught to never leave any money on the VA poker table when I walk away. Bad form.

redact BVA SMC K win 1.6.22

The good news is I have reduced my caseload by two deserving Veterans. Maybe I can go out and do the winter trim on my fruit trees this weekend. Cupcake has a massive New Year’s honey-do list for me. Unfortunately, somebody has been monkeying around with the silver iodide. The snow has melted. Noah and his crew floated by this morning and the giraffes waved. Going down to the mailbox requires a Zodiac™ and a 5-horse Merc. Good thing I kept my poncho from Vietnam.

Thank you-all of you- who allow me to wave my VA wand. It’s good for Vets with bad karma like me. If the erudite Seattle VA employees had acknowledged I was a member of the Nehmer class in 1994, I would never have had this opportunity. Coulda, Woulda and Shoulda are what most say when they’re 70. I feel lucky to have had a midlife crisis that gave birth to all this. Do you believe in Magic? At LZ Grambo, we most certainly do.

P.S. One thing you will always see in the pictures of Vietnam. We all helped each other. There was no discord. We were colorblind. I long for those days.

Posted in Aid and Attendance, All about Veterans, AO, BvA and VARO CUE DECISIONS, BvA Decisions, CUE, Humor, R1/R2, SMC, Tips and Tricks, VA Agents, VA Attorneys, VBMS Tricks, Veterans Law, Vietnam Disease Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

FORT FUMBLE, ANYWHERE USA–WHEN FIRST WE PRACTICE TO DECEIVE

Posted on January 2, 2022 by asknod

Happy New Year, pilgrims. I don’t ever want to come across as too bubbly and effervescent in these posts because I know there are many of you struggling to survive-both medically and financially. Concomitantly, I try to avoid giving false hope to those who need it knowing they are doomed. Rather, I like to remain upbeat, positive and glass-half-fullish about life. In my current profession, I’m blessed in that, for the most part, I can forecast the weather holds nothing but clouds with silver linings for my Veterans. 

The last week at LZ Grambo

Have you ever gone to Denny’s™ for dinner with the family and the waitress oops- waitperson (s/he, they) brought your youngsters paper placemats and crayons? Granted, the maze puzzle is not overly complicated but it still requires mentally tracing you way to the center with a few false starts. Comprende? Now, imagine giving it a cursory glance and being able to discern the path instantly. Or, equally, being able to see no path and know it was impossible instantly.

My front yard several weeks ago.

I don’t profess to be an idiot savant but I’ve kept a good diary of my successes and my failures. As most know, I take the impossibles, the improbables or the dying Vietnam Vets. I have a horrible soft spot for crying widows. But what is striking is that, with very few exceptions, I can foresee who are going to be the chicken dinner winners and who are most definitely not. I’m not some cherry picker who takes the mega-lucrative claims. They come to me unbidden. Usually, nobody else would take them.  I did a pro bono for the widow of a Vietnam eleven bravo this fall who was heading over the cliff with her VSO. He refused to file it for her. Said acute myeloblastic lymphoma wasn’t on the §3.309(e) presumptive list and to get lost. I won a R1 at the Little Rock RO last spring without a fight. You end up doing a lot of pro bono stuff and that’s a good thing.

I spend a lot of time talking or answering  emails from Vets who ask me questions about “what if…? Most of these are about Special Monthly Compensation at the higher/highest rates. As a one-man band, I’m time-challenged. It forces me to make snap decisions so I can get back to work. Being able to see the possibility of a rock-solid claim quickly saves me a two-day review of every page of  235 pages of 1970s handwritten SMRs.

Which brings me to today’s church service on SMC. This one will really roll your socks down. I’ve been working with a Vet and his wife/caregiver for three or four years trying desperately to get them SMC at the L rate for A&A. I took this one on shortly before the March NOVA in Nashville back in ’18. In fact, in the middle of a presentation, the Hartford Puzzle Palace calls me and informs me they tried like the devil to grant my boy that A&A but they just couldn’t find enough to pull the trigger. This guy is 100% for COPD and about 80% for DM II with PN in all four extremities… and sleep apnea… and sinusitis ad nauseum. I wisely gave up on the local yokels and beat feet to DC for a 10 182 Direct BVA review. It was a slam dunk but VA has recently rolled up the Welcome carpets at their 57 service centers across the fruited plains. If you thought it was difficult to win A&A before, it’s now even worse that trying to extract teeth out of a live, pissed off alligator. TDIU is equally as dicey.

In the meantime (August 2018), my boy got another 100% for his now major neurocognitive disorder with a side of incompetency. When my Vet’s PN in the lower extremities became so debilitating this year, I decided to go for the SMC L loss of use codicil to get him what he really needed-R1. Fort Sam Houston immediately pulled up the drawbridge. We got a denial back in 5 business days in spite of him being admitted to the VAMC for a really bad fall last March (2021). He thumped his melon on the sidewalk and got a concussion. This is where being able to ascertain the path through the maze pays off.

First, I’ll put the rating decision up. The obvious 800 lb. gorilla on the sofa was a new 100% mental rating which got an automatic ticket to a SMC L for A&A all by itself-but based on something six months after filing. Huh? VA glommed on to that as the predicate and ignored the 2008 100% for COPD w/ DM II. And, being ignorant of the ways of SMC, failed to infer that he got a bump up to SMC M for the extra COPD 100% -§3.350(f)(4). That began my second battle to get him up to M. The pukes ignored me and told me to engage in sex with rolling donuts. redact narrative A&A 3-4-20 reconsideration Bad idea.

After a year of no traction, I emailed our acting Under Secretary for Benefits and asked him for relief. Bingo. Seven days later, on August 27, we had the SMC M. VA fell on their sword and granted it but found CUE and moved the effective date for the SMC L back from August ’18 to February ’18… based on the same 100% neurocognitive disorder. No can do GI. My boy wasn’t 100% for the neurocognitive disorder on February 12. He was 50% and that, with another 20%, will get you little more than SMC S and some shitty VFW coffee at an Interstate rest stop. But the big error was the camouflage attempt to cover their asses. The DROs huddled and tried to braille their way out of it. Phonics© won’t save your ass at the RO if you can’t figure out how to read a Code sheet. The M 21 doesn’t go that far.

My Vet had asked for A&A in February 2018-not August of ’18. By using the neurocognitive disorder as need in the February earlier effective date, they couldn’t support A&A. Check out page 4 highlight. It read like someone high on Phonics©. The PTSD bone is connected to the… asthma bone and the asthma bone is connected to the …DM II bone… and the…okay-got it. Call CUE and grant EED for the M.

redact SMC M RD 8.27.2021

I called bullshit and asked for a Higher Level of Review and explained all this to the booth bitch.  I even grilled her as to whether she understood SMC law or had to take her shoes off to supersize her abacus. About six hours later, out comes the HLR. She tried to fix the anomaly of not having a 100% by simply waving her magic rating wand and changing the medical reason for the A&A. Boy howdy is that a Colvin violation unless she has a MD after her moniker. This framed the idea for the name of this post. Sir Walter Scott nailed it in 1808 when he inadvertently prognosticated on how VA would forever rate claims “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” . The problem was her statement that the a&a  did not include any psychiatric disorders. See underlined in green on page 4. Kinda makes you wonder how they get their shirts on in the morning facing forward, huh?

Redact 9.28.2021 HLR RD

My Vet’s A&A now was predicated solely on the COPD as it should have been when the shit show began in March 2020. But by doing this, Ms. HLR reviewer freely vocalized the anomaly that they had already admitted the 100% neuro disorder was also an A&A in it’s own right… but was not being considered in this particular a&a determination. Shit. I can’t make this stuff up. After three bites of the apple, they admitted without saying as much that he has two needed separate and distinct 100% a&a entitlements to obtain R1.

This is easier than fishing with hand grenades. I admit it took me about an hour to follow the error back to February 2012 and realize this lipstick-on-a-pig gig wasn’t going to fly at the BVA. What the hey. I’d have a field day with this at the Court.  So here’s the prelim brief. If it seems redundant, remember it takes a lot of breadcrumbs to keep these folks on the reservation. Even staff attorneys at the BVA can’t follow the SMC Yellow Brick Road without going in the ditch. Which brings to mind the immortal revelation by Stephen Hawking…

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance. It’s the illusion of knowledge.”

Imagine if they took the M 21 away from raters. They’d be lost. They suffer the illusion of being knowledgeable. They don’t know statute and regulation. They push X + Y and the M 21 magic 8 ball spits out the answer. If you file a NOD, they cobble together a bunch of cut -and-paste Adobe 2 Pro phrases which leave dangling participles and incorrect syntax scattered galley west. Who cares? Right? You’re denied.

redact10182 R1 Brief

That concludes this  teaching moment for VA raters. Be careful how you craft a CUE revision or you may find you inadvertently have created a bow wave into SMC R1.

P.S. PFC Princess Penelope (Padawan 1st Class) is practicing up for her gig with the Rebel Alliance.

Posted in Aid and Attendance, Appeals Modernization Act, CUE, R1/R2, SMC, Tips and Tricks, VA Agents, VBMS Tricks | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

No Bones About It: Dogs Have a Positive Impact on Our Health

Posted on December 23, 2021 by jamesaurora

If you’re a pet owner, you know that pets make you happy. But as a Veteran, did you know that owning a pet can be especially helpful? Having a companion animal is highly beneficial for veterans with PTSD, and lowers our blood pressure and increases our happy hormones, which can make our lives longer and better. 

If you’re on the fence about getting an animal, AskNod.org shares some more information on how our pets can make us healthy.

Physical Health

Research has shown that paying attention to animals gives us a feeling of calm and can lower blood pressure, cholesterol, heart rate and stress hormone levels. Recent studies show that our brains release dopamine and serotonin, nerve transmitters associated with calmness and happiness, when we’re interacting with animals. Not only do our moods improve more quickly than if we took drugs for stress, but also the effects last long after the animal has left our presence. Petting animals in a rhythmic manner releases oxytocin, the stress relief hormone, and comforts both you and the animal.

Staying Present

More importantly, pets make us focus on the present moment and keep us from feeling isolated. They don’t worry about the future or fret over the past, and they demand that we pay attention to them. When we are stressed about work, life or whatever, our animal companions can help us refocus on what is in front of us. They make us laugh, but they demand that we play with them RIGHT NOW. That has a way of making other concerns fall away if only we let them. As the Serenity Prayer says, let go of what you cannot control… (and then go play with your dog).

Of course, there are ways to get health benefits without actually owning a pet. If you can’t have animals in your home or cannot afford to care for one, you can help both them and you by volunteering at a pet shelter or becoming a dog walker. You will be getting good exercise and socialization, but you’ll also be helping the dogs you walk to learn social skills and be more likely to get adopted. That’s a win-win if ever there was one!

Mental Health

Animals can also help with our mental health. Dogs have been trained to provide focus for autistic patients, uplift people with depression, and be calming presences for those battling PTSD and anxiety. Therapy animals are pets who have been trained to visit people in need of comfort, such as in a hospital or nursing home (unlike service dogs which are trained to provide assistance to a person with a particular disability, like a seeing eye guide dog, and are not considered pets). 

Emotional Support Animals are pets that provide comfort but are not necessarily trained to do so, but they are considered companion animals to those in need of emotional assistance so they are allowed in certain housing and transportation venues where pets are not. Some doctors use animal assisted therapy, so you might be able to benefit from it even if you cannot afford to get a specially trained dog of your own. 

What You Need to Keep a Pet

When you’re ready to take the leap into pet ownership, there are certain supplies you’ll need to gather. Food, food and water dishes, toys, a collar, a leash or harness, and a comfortable bed. Depending on the level of activity you anticipate with your pet, a waterproof bed is a solid choice since the cover can repel moisture.

Your living environment will determine which size dog you get, but remember that a smaller dog will do better in an apartment than a larger dog. If you have a yard that’s unfenced, this is another consideration to keep in mind. To ensure your dog has room to roam, you need a fenced area that will keep them secure. You can remedy this situation by working with a local fencing company. They can help you choose the right materials to fit your budget, and can do a faster job than if you were to DIY.

Please know that adopting an animal is a commitment that should not be taken lightly. Your dog will depend on you for companionship. If you’re lonely or depressed to the point that you cannot care for another, please do not take in an animal that you might have to give away later. While animals can help you to feel better, you should not get one unless you can care for it as well as yourself. You want to create a good home for your pet so that you both benefit from being together. That’s paws-itively the best situation you can have.

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EXPOSED VET RADIO SHOW 12/23/2021

Posted on December 23, 2021 by asknod

Holy Macaroni. Sorry for the late announcement. I’ve been buried in the computer solving claims mysteries and completely forgot to put up a blurb to announce the show. John & Jerrel are doing a day-before-the day-before-Christmas show and asked me to come on and discuss my client’s recent SMC R1 win and the secondary CUE claim for R1 going back to June 2014. It’s been sitting in CASEFLOW since last Wednesday as “Ready for signature” by Veterans Law Judge (VLJ) D. Mantz Ames. Judge Ames has been kicking around the BVA as a staff attorney since the dawn of time (all the way back to 2005). He was awarded his wings in 2017 and seems to be a straight up Judge. Fingers crossed.

Some, as we know, are decidedly not the Veterans’ friend but life is full of prejudice. No use crying over that.

A nice Christmas present for any of you who served in Thailand, Laos or Cambodia would be to joint the TLC Brotherhood. You can find them at www.TLC-brotherhood.com. They’re a great outfit and we help unfortunate villages over there with donations and construction projects. Check them out.

Here’s the skinny on the Show:

(515) 605-9764

The show starts at 1900 Hrs on the easterly Area of Operations and 1600 Hrs in the Lefterly AO. Armor up w/ beer and pretzels before the show so as not to miss anything.

The www. link is:

https://www.blogtalkradio.com/jbasser/12041401/connect/6c0b625e6d658518e5ebf3028944c70985440b11

Dial one (1) (nung) (wən), (un) only if you wish to speak to the person you wish to speak to. Otherwise, refrain from dialing 1 so we do not get a lot of background noise. Merci.

Posted in Exposed Veteran Radio Show, Humor, SMC | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment