EXPOSED VET RADIO SHOW NEXT THURSDAY-3/10/2022

Posted on March 6, 2022 by asknod

Well, well, well. Seems there was some sort of kerfuffle over at Hadit after I published a post about a VA-authored list of doctors who purportedly write sketchy IMOs. Some took offense. The usual suspects showed up to denigrate and dismiss anything I reported. While I never actually tarred and feathered any of the poor physicians/psychologists on the VA’s list of alleged reprobates by name, I stand accused of same. Then the owner (whom I represent) 86’d me. Seems standard procedure at Hadit is to shoot the messenger if they don’t like the news. Which is sad when you consider their Logo is “Leave no one behind”.

This was our idea of leaving no one behind in 1970. We were colorblind.

Looking at the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) docket search, anyone can search decisions. As most know, when you get to the CAVC, all bets are off as far as traveling incognito. No more “Dr. A. opined this and that…” Unlike the BVA site, it lets you know who the major characters are by name. The IMO shit list I published the other day did so too which technically makes it an outlier. VA is supposed to be nonadversarial.

It would also appear some on the Hadit site are a wee bit inept when it comes to ascertaining the e-publisher of the document and some even doubt its authenticity. The repair order seems to be to 86 both the post and the poster. As for guilt, who knows? I never accused anyone of misfeasance, malfeasance or unprofessional conduct. I merely published that which is in the public domain. Apparently, that was a Bozo no-no.

Since I commiserate with the shortcomings of the e-sleuths over at Hadit, I print a screen grab of the “Properties” of that document anyone-even Homer Simpson’s monkey Mojo- could pull up to enlighten them. One thing is certain. I didn’t manufacture it nor did I put any extra names on the list.

Looks legit. Seems it was constructed on 5/2/2019 by none other than our good friends at the corner of Delay and Deny Avenues. Doug doesn’t work for VA. He’s a friend of mine but has never helped me drink my wine (yet). Likewise, I can’t manufacture an official Maryland governmental website which lists doctors who have stepped on their neckties and been called to account. Only a convicted party can make the hit parade list. If this was on appeal, they would have to stay the punishment until the appeals had run their course. It’s in the public domain. A moderator at Hadit has stated he feels the link to the below was hacked by the Russians to defame the doctor.

The original link I published works. Trust me.

https://www.mbp.state.md.us/sanctions_2020.aspx

Does this make me an ogre for publishing these links? Have I maligned any person on the list personally by sharing this with my Vet buddies? Knowledge allows us the power to make certain informed decisions. Hadit Moderators would appear to be desperately attempting to censor this information. Aren’t they guilty of harming the very same people they profess not to want to leave behind? Let that sink in.

Some of you folks, including irate VSOs, who dislike to be maligned for their legal ignorance, come here and accuse me of being pure poison for Veterans. I don’t get where that comes from. I rep Vets. I figured out the Rosetta Stone on this in 2008 and have never looked back. I use a Nexus/IMO outfit who charges a flat $2000.00 for their services. No mystery here. I don’t advertize for them. Fact is, I don’t advertize for anyone. Unfortunately, some (again no names) who have been in this IMO business for decades, feel threatened by my revelations of cheaper prices. They think paying $10 K for a nexus is par for the course. Having successfully cornered the IMO market for all these aeons, they take umbrage with the idea that Veterans are suddenly shopping with their wallets. I guess it incenses them I let the Pandora IMO faery out of her box. What? You paid $10,000.00 dollars for your PTSD IMO? GTFOOH. Well, boy howdy. I didn’t force you to do it. Why blame the messenger? Is it my fault I found a better IMO mousetrap? I confess. It isn’t a holistic mousetrap with aromatherapy and goat yoga but my Vets win.

First, I do not advertise. I have more work than I can keep up with. I don’t want your business to be perfectly honest. However, if you’re dying from some funky AO shit, then you’re one of my special people who broke c ration biscuits with me and shared your Tabasco™ and peaches once upon a time. If possible, I’ll try to make room for you. I married a rich girl so I don’t do this for the money. The only downside, if there is one, is that Cupcake doesn’t own a liquor store, too. Hell, in retrospect, I’d settle for a gas station right about now. Come another month and gas is going to be more expensive than whiskey.

Here’s one threat I received from an unnamed doctor. He came unglued a while back in August of 2019 after one of these radio shows…

“Hey I heard you compare your docs to my 90% successful outcome with for [sic] a lessor [sic] fee .. not fair play on the radio (terns [sic] and conditions) to advertise at my expense probably a violation of rehab act of 1970s.

I do Holistic work – all issues 10-60 plus dbqs ya da ya da so an add [sic] for one off 1500 issue letter is just like medicine now which is all dumbed down to one complaint in 15 min but it does not get our veterans a fair comprehensive rating”

Dr ____ _ _____

10-60 dbqs? Cool beans. I had no idea there was such a thing as a holistic nexus, folks. As with all upset souls, I offer these dissatisfied individuals a free soapbox here to convince you, the reader, that they are legitimate and have a fantastic product to tout. It’s a win-win for Vets. Remember Johnny Vet? That’s who and what this is all about. Not you and me. As for their price, I guess it’s pretty much like lobster or gasoline these days- whatever the market will bear. I don’t charge for the IMO. My IMO company (which I have no financial interest in) sets the rates. I have no idea who they’ll choose to write the IMO nor do I care. My job is to help the Veteran win without reducing him to poverty in the process. If he’s broke, sure, I’m buying until s/he wins. If I lose, I eat it. Sometimes I buy one and don’t need it. I eat it.

Now, with that said, I share this tasty morsel I received this morning from someone who purports to be counsel (i.e. a lawyer) for the unnamed individual above they feel I have maligned. Reminds me of Lily Tomlin saying “Is this the person to whom I wish to speak?” I don’t malign folks. The internet already seems to be very efficient at that without me. I merely find information or am pointed to it by others and report back to you. Think Deep Throat. Would you hold me responsible for not telling you about a cheaper (or better) IMO source if I knew about it? Of course you wouldn’t. But some seem to think it’s a crime to reveal bad news about one certain person over at our former sister site. In essence, I’m forbidden to reveal that the Emperor may be naked. Now that that cat’s out of the bag, I must be excommunicated. I’m crushed. Bad Company…and I won’t deny it.

Dear Sir,

This email is intended for the poster of the https://community.hadit.com/topic/87015-vas-list-of-suspected-imo-fraud/page/5/#comment-519772 https://asknod.org/2022/03/02/the-vas-imo-shitlist/

My name is Steve and I posted a response to your question on hadit.com. As a new member, it must be approved but below is my post. I was contacted by my client, the MD in Maryland you cite. He was not happy! This is the only MD performing free IMEs for any poor veteran in the entire world! He did mine for free and I am at 100%. In exchange, I agreed to prepare his divorce answer. After seeing how bad a disabled veteran MD was being discriminated against, I stayed on and now performed for free over $100k in legal work for him in 4 different venues!

In fact, with your credentials, it baffles me that you would even post something against him, or anyone, unless you are soliciting or have an agenda? Thats [sic] what happened in Maryland. A dirty DVA advocate was losing clients and kickbacks because my doctor’s IMEs were being done for free instead of a cut of the back pay! Do you not get paid for your services? I suggest returning any and all funds collected from vets ASAP as a sign of good faith.

Just last month I got a Texas law firm to pay $25,000 without even suing because a female lawyer posted some derogatory stuff based on hearsay identical to yours to solicit away clients! That female lawyer removed her post and was fired days later. Although that Texas law firm did found out [sic] I am the craziest one of five senior counselors state side for the largest cartel south of the border.

You appear to be just some wanna-be lawyer who may have made a terrible mistake. Let’s just hope you realize that now!
You may want to have a real lawyer repsond [sic] to me! A guy with your balls/crendentials [sic] should have plenty of lawyer friends!

Anxiously awaiting your reply.
SCT

MY post follows———————————————————————————————–

Hello all,

I will answer your question as plain as day! The Doctor in Maryland you link is a disabled veteran medical doctor. He completed his residence for free because he was injured during training and is a quadraplegic. His practice is solely doing IMEs and DBQs for veterans. He saved my life for free, I finished law school and now I am suing in the USDC AZ against the psychologist who falsified my psych exam and hundreds others. I suffered for 21 years because of the refusal to treat PTSD and I now have the names of every physician who tried to kill me with bi-polar malpractice. Digital world has its benefits!

You are not BI-Polar, and if any VA “physician” said you were after 2003; you have a claim if its within 2 years for sure. The 6th appeals court ruled all veterans are considered sound with more than 90 days of service in 2003!

If you are not 100% in AZ or anywhere, I will cover all IME costs and legal fees for your claims! The Doctor you cite from hearsay is in fact the only one in the country who does this directly. If you are broke, you do not pay! We are the only MD/Lawyer combo who charges $0 if you are broke! For those who were not broke and just trying to squeeze the DVA, I have over $300,000 in outstanding debt from them! So, that is why the DVA is impossible for the really sick! There are over 3,000 100% disabled veterans making six figure salaries at other federal jobs as we speak!

I represent the Doctor you link in Maryland and the fine was increased from $1,000 to $50,000 when disputed due to fraud by the Veteran who filed the complaint and with head of the MBP who was behind it. They raised the fee to CYA. Then I stepped in!!! The case is still pending a ruling from the COA in Maryland. If you are not a lawyer, I strongly advise not to judge any reporting against any MD or post any links implying wrong doing until justice is served.

The patient was/is a junkie former Baltimore cop and professional patient who was on his 3rd strike with the VA over heartburn per se. Despite over $60k/year in income, the patient beg the doctor for 4 signed DBQs for $4k. The patient went from 50% to 60% as a result. Significant benefits increase! The veteran then charged back the $4k to AMEX the next day after uploading the document to the DVA just hours prior! The patient then called and threatened the Doctor’s billing lady repeatedly with violence until she gave back the $4k to AMEX. At the first trial, the patient admitted not having the money and was broke. If he had told the MD that, it would of been free or pay later. Instead the veteran patient filed a bogus complaint that now has him on the run from me, the FBI and the DVA. My investigation proved discrimination by the Maryland Board of Physicians against a disabled quadriplegia veteran Doctor. In fact, the junkie veteran patient was a patient at one of a dozen pain clinics owned by the head of the MBP at the time, a DO, with a grudge against the Doctor. And most likely typed up the bogus complaint since it was medically thorough while repeatedly claiming to be not sure.

Again, if you need any help with getting 100% and you are really sick and broke; just email me!

I WAS/ AM A CORPSMAN AND I NEVER LEFT ONE MARINE BEHIND AND I HAVE NEVER HAD TO PAY FOR A DRINK AT A MARINE BAR IN 33 YEARS!

(signed) Steve

Pretty wild and wooly email there, Steve. I’m not sure if I should shit or go blind. I never said I had bipolar disease. As for getting free drinks for 33 years, my suggestion might be to see a gastrodoc (or your good buddy doctor) pronto and get a Liver Function Test. Well, that and a crash course in English Comp 101. I have found that when it takes 500 words or more to explain why you ended up on the wrong end of a punji stick, it probably has a much longer backstory with a heapin’ helpin’ of stupidity that explains why. Or… in the instant case, the low-life ‘junkie’ Vet mentioned above discovered he got taken to the cleaners and found out a hop, skip and a jump after the check cleared the bank. Caveat emptor, dude. And P.S. too, I’m already 290% P&T but thanks for the offer of the free IME.

While I love Hadit.com and have always tried to be brutally honest in my responses to queries about VA law, it seems there are a few there, much like the Poohbahs at “Pink Peggy’s VBN site” who equally dislike being told they are leading Vets astray. VBN Moderators insist the VA is a stand up outfit. I want some of what they’re smoking. I prefer to tell the truth-as ugly as it may come across. I don’t wrap advice in cotton candy. I don’t need to. A Vet will find out in short order if I am blowing smoke up their ass. In the same vein, they come thirsty for knowledge, not wild goose chases to links to CCK or DAV explaining it to them in lawspeak. And most probably do not come (but I’m not sure) looking to find the most expensive holistic IMO provider in the Yellow pages. When I get into a heated disagreement with a VA DRO, I like to remind them that this is not about them or me. This is about the Veteran. I offer that same advice today free to Hadit.com. It’s difficult to avoid leaving Vets behind when you choose to sanitize what Vets are allowed to know.

Which brings us to John and Jerrel’s famous radio show for aspiring VA compensation seekers. John likes to ask me what my contact information is at the end of the show. Even if I declined to say, it’s readily found on the VA OGC’s accreditation site. Frankly, in this business, if you have to advertise, you’re doing something wrong. I get about 100 calls a week begging me to help. I wish I could. Maybe I ought to start a gofundme™ site to buy a bunch of JDs to cover the overload? Anybody know Gary Sinise’ phone number?

Anyway, I’ve been invited to discuss the VA’s letter and the idea of how that weaponizes the IMO process against us. Jez, I’d say VA looks like a Spad in 1970 struggling for V2 7,500 feet down the runway at NKP and the stick ain’t responding. VA has had every litigation hard point loaded with CBU 26/49 and liquid sunshine since the War of 1812 in case a body hadn’t noticed. Their IMO shitlist letter is merely more proof of the crime.

This is what it truly means to leave no one behind. Even wounded civilians.

But let’s talk about that next Thursday on the 10th. I’m heading out to Houston tomorrow for what may be my last Legacy sit down face-to-face travel board hearing. It’s for my oldest client Malcolm in the Middle. Google him. You’ll find him on my site.

The call in number is

(515) 605-9764

Or, if preferred via your computer…

https://www.blogtalkradio.com/jbasser/12072048/connect/b2d536118f0ed9fa748df0fd1e41b3bbe5c0630c

The show starts at 1900 Hrs EST or 1600 Hrs on the more enlightened, liberal, westerly side of the nation. I look to see you there. If you come to “bash” us (certainly no pun intended), why, hell’s bells-we’ll still welcome you. While I cannot speak for other VA litigators, I can say that I profess to be a bit of a mustang at representing Vets. I’m the A in ICARE. Advocacy is the VA’s choice for the letter in the acronym. I might say it stands for ahole. Litigators have to be one to win one. Shoot. Why not assknod? It does have a certain cachet, n’est pas?

And that’s all I’m gonna say about that.

P.S. Revised 3/09/22

Posted in All about Veterans, IMOs/IMEs, Nexus Information, Tips and Tricks, VA Agents, VA Attorneys, vA news, Veterans Law, Vietnam War history | 6 Comments

THE VA’S IMO SH*TLIST

Posted on March 2, 2022 by asknod

Bad Docs. Bad Docs. Bad Docs. Whacha gonna do when they screw with you? Love that show but it’s waaaaaaaay too politically incorrect to admit to watching now. What’s the opposite of woke? Asleep? It’s probably above my paygrade so I’m not gonna poke that sleeping dog. So here’s the gig. I have friends who send me things. I don’t need to go into exquisite detail about who. That’s where things like the Purple Book came from. Sometimes, VA employees see things that are over the top. Suffice it to say this dropped into my e-inbasket. I probably should make him/her a client so I can claim attorney-client privilege and protect us should a subpoena arrive demanding the identity of my Deep Throat.

See the attached. It’s a VA work product. and identified as such in the properties info. I find it interesting that it was distributed to the usual suspects (VES/QTC/LHI) and VHA/AFIP IME doctors used to rebut private IMOs. For the uninitiated, an IMO is an Independent Medical Opinion. Some call it an Independent Medical Evaluation or IME.

IMO IME list

So, I noticed one of the offenders, Stephanie Procell, Ph.D was a neighbor (relatively speaking) to me. She was listed as being up in Oak Harbor which is just a hoot and a holler up the coast from me here in Gig Harbor. Puget Sound is huge and has a gazillion harbors. Captain Puget started running out of names on this expedition in 1792 and began naming harbors after boats (gig) and even their shipboard kitchen cat (Rainier). I called Dr. Procell up to tell her she’d been tarred and feathered by VA and got her recorder. Turns out it wasn’t Stephanie’s name, rank, airspeed and tail number at all but that of her boss Sarah (Sally) Sharp. Ph.D.-also listed on the bad boys list. She has an IMO practice but isn’t quite the bogus nexus letter gin mill she’s being touted as. Dr. Procelle works for her practice and is equally besmirched by VA by being included in this consortium of miscreants.

19-yr. old kids who were playing with Mattel Tommyguns 6 years before

The fact is we’re beginning to see a cottage industry of genuine, legitimate doctors providing IMOs beginning to be overrun by a plethora of greedy internet outfits preying on unsuspecting Veterans. It began as a trickle but has since turned into a veritable gully washer. I’ve had guest authors write articles discussing this phenomenon over the last few years and their ranks have sadly only increased in number.

Ah, the magic peach can to prevent feed jambs

To begin with, being accredited by VA has some very strict rules. In most instances, we can only charge 20% in fees for our successful representation. Extremely complicated representation at a higher level can warrant up to 33 1/3% if all parties agree. That is a rarity. Most of us do it for 20% and some for nothing. In fact, if you win for your client right out of the gate, you get nothing. I don’t have a problem with that. Others are a wee bit more avaricious. Here’s an example.

Pop Smoke

Johnny Vet has been denied again and again. He never got the email on Caluza v Brown. He didn’t have a diagnosis of PTSD in 1968 when they extracted him from their forward LRRP position. Seems someone got the wrong coordinates and FB Bronco laid 35 rounds of 155 on top of their position and killed everyone in Johnny’s platoon except him. The PRC-25 on his back saved his ass. He spent a year in the psych ward on the sixth floor of the Seattle VAMC picking out little pieces of retained metal fragments and “calming down” while doing the Thorazine Shuffle.

So Johnny hears all about an outfit that guarantees you a VA win with most excellent compensation ratings and it’s free. No up-front down payment. Let’s call them GoodtogoVAclaimsguys.com for shits and grins. JohnnyVet shows up for their c&p workup and gets 6 IMOs for all his ailments-including the SFWs and the tinnitus. He seeks out an attorney or an agent and they refile the whole shiteree. Well, sure enough they win.

DShK

The attorney says 20%, Johnboy- as per our fee agreement. Johnny, being an honest Vet like all of us, says Roger That and coughs up the 20%. A day later, the folks at GoodtogoVAclaimsguys.com call up to remind him “Dude, you owe us 5 months worth of the increase from what you were rated at before you hired us. Soooo, if you were at 0% and all of a sudden you’re at 70%, that’s $1659.00 shekels times five months or $8295.00. Even more if you have some rugrats. But wait. The total went back to your filing in March 2020 and they paid you $1659 per month back to then. You got $19,908 from VA less the 20% for your law dog. That $3,980.00 reduced you down to $15, 928.00 before Goodtogovaclaimsguys.com came knocking. Their $8295.00 tithe knocks you down to $7,633.00. Pretty skanky, huh?

Now do not get me wrong. There are those among you who are very busy people who work for a living. You don’t have time or the legal acumen to win your claim. You purposefully made a decision to farm it out. I’m sure you didn’t quite see this scenario unfold that would divest you of more than half of your winnings. Neither did Congress when they wrote the regulations. So, in essence, what we have here are a group of quasi-legal, greedy scalawags who have no qualms taking you to the cleaners for their services. The problem is the legality of the business. Technically, if you are not accredited, you can’t sit in on this poker game. Goodtogovaclaimguys and all their like-companies would insist they are merely “facilitators” or mayhap Sherpas whom you hire to take you up the claims mountain. Congress did not authorize this technique. VSOs do it for free (no comments from the Peanut Gallery). It now falls to the DOJ to prosecute these carpetbaggers. As with most government entities, justice moves at a snail’s pace. I’m sure somewhere they’re holding a hearing on it and maybe have even empaneled a Grand Jury. By 2033, we should have the authority to lock ’em up.

130 Arc Light Mission w/ 105mm flares

More interesting is that these rapscallions are starting to pair off with attorneys and pliant doctors and form loose consortiums of Veteran-scalping raiding parties. It’s rumored some are trying to interconnect a nationwide, fruited plains group from sea to shining sea with some fancy branding. I don’t mean to trash any legal operation with genuine VA accreditation credentials. This is a knowledge expedition- not a tar-and-feather committee. But we did run across this outfit which no one seems to be able to locate on the OGC Accreditation lists…

But wait, Roberto has been a busy little beaver…

So, if the Bobmeister above is charging (or even a party helping to charge) Vets 5 friggin’ times the amount he won for them, as an agent that’s a violation of his accreditation agreement. By rights, if this is true, he should be reported to the VA’s Office of General Counsel (022D) for being out of compliance with 38 CFR §14.636(f)(1). And, as an aside, I’m sorry Robert. I sure don’t mean to endanger you or make you feel uncomfortable but you are aware of the regulations -anything over 33 1/3% is considered unreasonable and unlawful.

Project Heavy Green participant- Laos 1970

Which brings us to poor Doctors Procelle and Sharp. They tell me they were inveigled into this web of greed by one or another of these avaricious outfits and sold a bill of goods. Once they grasped the concept of what they were being asked to do, they beat feet and divorced themselves from these 5/50 guarantee ( five months of the increase or $50,000.00 dollars-whichever comes first) companies that practice the technique. Again, let me be clear. I’m unsure of the legality but something grossly unfair to Veterans like this should be declared illegal if it hasn’t been already. No Veteran should be subjected to this level of greedy insanity. We deserved more than a saliva medal w/ 2 OLCs at San Francisco Airpatch in ’68 or that stale “Welcome home” shit they began regurgitating about ’91 when the guilt and angst for all Veterans began to surface. Yellow ribbons on trees don’t pay mortgages. But that’s a story for another day.

Aside from Drs. Procelle and Sharp, I note the inclusion of some well-known names of some of the old hands in this business. I’ve only hired one of those on the list (and lost); I have no knowledge firsthand of the others’ track records. I’m old fashioned. I rely on Court (CAVC) records to gauge a fellow’s prowess. Go to the CAVC site yourself and pull up a few cases to see what you think. I’ll throw out a few for your perusal. CAVC # 02-2195; #06-0451; #09-0260; #09-1349; #17-3556; #16-1515; #14-0437; #19-0709. Obviously, some of the medical doctors and nurses on the list have earned an undesirable cachet that precedes them in this business. Some, however, do carry some baggage (see entry @ 3/10/2020)-https://www.mbp.state.md.us/sanctions_2020.aspx). I feel sorry for anyone who has their professional qualifications besmirched by anyone-including VA. However, the IMO field is an exacting science. We Vets have to play by the rules. So do the medical professionals. That VA doesn’t should come as no surprise.

Doctors have specialties for the most part. In the IMO business, it behooves a Vet to choose the board certified neurologist over the jack-of-all-trades podiatrist who just happens to opine on matters neurological for a small fee. If you have a cross pedigree such as a Juris Doctorate and a Doctor of Medicine, it’s advisable to wear only one hat at a time. When you get to Court, you can get in a real pickle when the Judges have a hard time discerning which hat you’re wearing- the one with the white wig attached or the one with the caduceus. I’m really not sure how I feel about this truthfully. I find it abhorrent to think a Veteran’s choice of his IMO doctor might exert a negative influence on the probity of the IMO or its author’s bona fides. As you can see from the list, VA doesn’t hold some physicians with a JD in very high regard. That is a horrible stain on a Professional’s reputation. I do not condone it. Each IMO should be given a fair hearing. Why they keep the list hidden and unpublished does Veterans a great disservice. Sunshine is the best disinfectant. But what is equally unfair-far worse in my mind- is putting innocent physicians on the list . It was Jonathon Swift who opined “A lie travels around the globe while the truth is putting on its shoes”.

And that’s all I’m gonna say about that.

P.S. I just got an email from a Vet disgruntled with the outfit formerly known as Vetcompandpen.com. He says he decided to fight and blew them off for the money they claim he owed them(which he contends he did not). They sued and the Judge dismissed it. Turns out the contract was, and is, unenforceable and defective. My guess is they should have hired an attorney to write it.

P.P.S. I received this ( 11/2/2022) from one of my readership. It sure appears to be a damning decision regarding the individual named. However, I’m merely the messenger, not the Judge, jury or executioner. As they say on the Six o”clock news- We report. You decide.

Maryland Court of appeals Decision dated 7.22.2022

P.P.P.S. This is a hoot. Hadit’s former CUE queen Berta is now contacting WWP’s former attorneys seeking to have them (the doctors on the shitlist) sue me for…? She even left her telephone number in case any of my readership wish to tell her their thoughts on the subject. I have yet to hear from SECVA McDonough regarding the matter.

Posted in C&P exams, Complaints Department, IMOs/IMEs, Tips and Tricks, VA Agents, VA Attorneys, vA news, VARO Misfeasance, Veterans Law | Tagged asknod.org, Disabled Veteran, DIY vA Claims, Help with vA Claims, Helping Veterans, VA claims, VA's IMO shitlist, Veterans Benefits, Veterans claims help, Veterans Humor, Vietnam Veterans Claims Help. | 18 Comments

§5104(b)–WHAT’S IN YOUR RD?

Posted on February 24, 2022 by asknod

February 22. In Bent Brain land, the folks in white coats call it a trigger or precipitator of depression. You watch that date approach inexorably every year and dread its arrival. After two weeks in a horrible funk, you crawl out the other side and try to better prepare for next year. And the year after that. Multiply that by 51 years. I’m fortunate. I didn’t find out Chuck had augered in until May 2008 when I went looking for him so I’ve only suffered this malady fourteen years. Time heals most wounds-not all. And I reckon that’s all I’m going to need to say about that.

Palace Dog was run out of Udorn. RAVEN (Detachment 1, 56th SOW) was listed on the Udorn base roster but was run out of AirAm’s Air Operations Center (see? the acronym was already taken before the Bronx Barista arrived in 2018) up north at Alternate (LS 20A/LS 98) over the fence in Long Tieng. The 56th SOW HQ was over to the southeast at Nakhon Phanom Airpatch (NKP) under the able command of an old friend of our family… Col. Heinie Aderholt. His son Ross and I went to school together at Seymour Johnson AFB, NC back then. My dad and Heinie loved bird hunting so we saw a lot of each other. And we even went to St. Stephen’s together …1964 Confirmation Record with Ross Adderholt

A close 37mm AA rd.

It was a pretty small world back in ’64. My dad got transferred to Dir. of Ops at TAC HQ up at Langley and Lt. Col. Aderholt decided to move into Special Ops the next year and was transferred to the spook farm down at Hurlburt Field (Eglin Auxiliary Field No. 9) in Florida. That was the last I saw of either one until I ran into Col. Aderholt up at Alternate one day in ’70. But that’s a whoooooole ‘nother story.

38 USC §5104

I digress. After passage of the AMA in 2017, they (Congress) had to go back and rewrite/add extra things into existing 38 USC Statutes to encompass the wildly different new forms of screwing us out of our benefits. I know the regs/statutes are resplendent with words telling us we are God’s Greatest Gift to America but please- enough bullshit. If only 12% of us get our benefits without a godawful 2-year fight, then the system is rigged. If 74% of everything (excluding Ex. Writs) that goes to the CAVC is vacated, set aside, or reversed, then there’s something queer afoot. You don’t need a shopping cart full of pronouns to figure this out. If the VA proudly touts its 98% accuracy rate (as did USB Hickey for years) and you, Johnny Vet, are holding twenty eight years’ worth of denials topped by a lowball grant last year, then you know this stinks to high heavens. Why even profess to be nonadversarial? Why not just call a spade a spade, piss on the fire and quit wasting money on a Veteran-friendly façade of bullshit. We could take those billions from boondoggles like Vantage Point and eliminate Veteran homelessness. Keep on dreaming, GI.

One of the little idiot items which we are supposed to get in this Brave New AMA World Order is compliance with 38 USC §5104. It’s also reiterated in §3.103(f)(5). Let’s take a peek at it and see what it says. I don’t think I need to turn it into DickandJanespeak. It’s my opinion that §5104(b) flows from Bryant v. Shinseki, 23 Vet.App. 488 (2010). The Court held that 38 CFR §3.103(c)(2) (2009) requires that the Veterans Law Judge who chairs a hearing fulfill two duties to comply with the above regulation. These duties consist of (1) the duty to fully explain the issues and (2) the duty to suggest the submission of evidence that may have been overlooked. Helloooooooooooooooo?

38 U.S. Code § 5104 – Decisions and notices of decisions

(a) In the case of a decision by the Secretary under section 511 of this title affecting the provision of benefits to a claimant, the Secretary shall, on a timely basis, provide to the claimant (and to the claimant’s representative) notice of such decision. The notice shall include an explanation of the procedure for obtaining review of the decision.

(b) Each notice provided under subsection (a) shall also include all of the following:

(1) Identification of the issues adjudicated.

(2) A summary of the evidence considered by the Secretary.

(3) A summary of the applicable laws and regulations.

(4) Identification of findings favorable to the claimant.

(5) In the case of a denial, identification of elements not satisfied leading to the denial.

(6) An explanation of how to obtain or access evidence used in making the decision.

(7) If applicable, identification of the criteria that must be satisfied to grant service connection or the next higher level of compensation.

After you read this, if you’ve had a recent denial, I would ask you to take a gander at the end of any of your rating decision (RD) epistles if they were authored after 2/19/2019. Do any of them list any of this? Granted, a RD will always list the items being adjudicated at the beginning thus satisfying the dictates of (1). (2) is sometimes a goldmine. VA prints up a bodaciously long list of evidence and often pointedly leaves out one essential document- usually the veritable Rosetta Stone needed- to unravel the Gordian knot of service connection. It isn’t by accident. Nothing at VA is by accident. They didn’t disremember. I feel for you when you have this moment. It’s like finding out the tooth faery was your mom. Get over it. VA lies. So did your Mom.

I caught them at this recently when they assembled the QTC/LHI/VES letter to the assigned “clinician”. Absent for review was a very important IMO from my private doctor which was the only way to win. I sent an email to the booth bitch and demanded that the document be tabbed and included for review. It was but the dickhead Doctor treated it as contaminated and worthless. The RD didn’t even bother to list it.Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! Violation of §5104(b)! Predecisional error. The RD is fatally flawed and must be readjudicated.

(3) Here’s another one that looks to be legitimate. Check it carefully. If you filed for loss of use and they are telling you that your SMC rate is at a&a and you do not have loss of use of your arms or eyes, they’re screwing up. If you find no mention of §4.71a DC 5110 loss of use of lower extremities, they’re funning you. You probably won’t find any mention of §3.350(b)(1) either. In short, they will inadvertently use the wrong reg/statute and pretend they’re legitimate like dress up lawyers. Again- it’s a §5104(b) violation. Argue it in a HLR. Call them out on it.

Never heard of using a thumper in a tunnel but it would have to be easier on the ears than a .45.

(4) is a big one. VA sometimes gets this quasi-correct. They’ll probably redundantly announce you need a&a when you’re already getting it. It’s what they do not say that makes this an error too. So, if you’re falling down a lot due to that mega-PN problem in you feet and can’t even feel them, that’s called functional loss (§4.10). If they just up your ratings for PN in the lower extremities from 20% to 40% and call it good, they haven’t addressed your new and relevant evidence from the VAMC that you were an inpatient (again) due to continued falls and a need for a neurological workup to find out why you fall down a lot. VA cuts corners and hopes you won’t notice.

Hue. Tet ’68

(5) is the biggee for Vets. Did these pukes ever discuss what was missing that they needed to help them grant your claim? Did they just obliquely say you do not have X or Y? This is important. It would normally be discussed somewhere in a denial under each disability being rated or denied. If it isn’t , then proceed to HLR or a 10182 NOD after the denial.

(6) is not very helpful to Joe Average Vet. He doesn’t have VBMS so he can’t “see” what VA c&p adjudicators write about him. You’d be surprised what they don’t write down and /or get wrong. I have Vets with DM II go in for a PN increase and the clinician checks off the no box where it says “does he have DM II?”

(7) is the absolute must for most of us. You need to know exactly what it is you need to win. If VA doesn’t tell you, it’s a pretty good chance you’re going to be sitting on the Group L bench for losers forever. If you ask and the folks just shrug their shoulders and say ‘that’s not our job’, then you again have a pre-decisional error. But once they write the RD, the record is closed. You can’t stick in the new IMO or the new 4138 buddy letter. So, the §5104 data you need only occurs at the end when it’s too late. The only way to get a can opener into it again is to produce some new and relevant evidence ( a buddy letter) and file a 995 supplemental. At that point, you can take advantage of data what you earlier lacked and §5104(b) demands they inform you of. But if they fail to tell you, you won’t ever know.

This popped up the other day in a CAVC oral argument. Ken Carpenter was arguing this very point. Where is it written that the BVA doesn’t have to do this too? §5104 is not specific as to which august body is required to comply. Certainly, the fact that this is also summarized in §3.103(f)(5) is indicative that it certainly applies to the Agency of Original Jurisdiction, but think about it. The Statute doesn’t give the BVA VLJ a bye to foist §5104(b) dicta off on the rater below. Food for thought. Boy howdy, listen to Judge Allen ream the OGC attorney. It’s fun to watch.

And that’s our lesson on how to win a claim today. On behalf of myself and asknod Inc., I hope we passed the audition today.

Posted in Appeals Modernization Act, Duty to Assist, Higher Level of Review (HLR), Humor, Tips and Tricks, VA Agents, VARO Misfeasance, VBMS Tricks, Veterans Law | Tagged asknod.org, Disabled Veteran, DIY vA Claims, Help with vA Claims, Helping Veterans, Service Connection, VA claims, vA CLAIMS FOR PTSD, Veterans Benefits, Veterans claims help, Veterans Humor, Vietnam Veterans Claims Help. | 4 Comments

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 asknod.org, Disabled Veteran, DIY vA Claims, Help with vA Claims, Helping Veterans, NEW VA diagnostic Code changes, Service Connection, VA claims, Veterans Benefits, Veterans claims help, Veterans Humor, Vietnam Veterans Claims Help. | 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 asknod.org, Disabled Veteran, DIY vA Claims, Help with vA Claims, Helping Veterans, How to get VA SMC, Service Connection, VA claims, VA Claims for SPECIAL MONTHLY COMPENSATION, VA SMC rules, VA Special Monthly Compensation Claims, Veterans Benefits, Veterans claims help, Veterans Humor, Vietnam Veterans Claims Help. | 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 asknod.org, Disabled Veteran, DIY vA Claims, Help with vA Claims, Helping Veterans, Korean War Vets Help, Service Connection, VA claims, Veterans Benefits, Veterans Humor, Vietnam Veterans Claims Help. | 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 ASKNOD BOOK, asknod.org, Disabled Veteran, DIY vA Claims, Help with vA Claims, Helping Veterans, Korean War Vets Help, Service Connection, VA claims, Veterans Benefits, Veterans claims help, Veterans Humor, Vietnam Veterans Claims Help. | 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 asknod.org, Disabled Veteran, DIY vA Claims, Help with vA Claims, Helping Veterans, Service Connection, VA claims, Veterans Benefits, Veterans claims help, Veterans Humor, Vietnam Veterans Claims Help. | 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 asknod.org, Disabled Veteran, Help with vA Claims, Helping Veterans, Service Connection, VA claims, Veterans Benefits, Veterans claims help, Veterans Humor, Vietnam Veterans Claims Help. | 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 asknod.org, Disabled Veteran, DIY vA Claims, Help with vA Claims, Helping Veterans, How to get VA SMC, Service Connection, VA claims, VA SMC Ratings, VA SMC rules, Veterans Benefits, Veterans claims help, Vietnam Veterans Claims Help. | 3 Comments

Veterans Claims Help

EXPOSED VET RADIO SHOW NEXT THURSDAY-3/10/2022

“Hey I heard you compare your docs to my 90% successful outcome with for [sic] a lessor [sic] fee .. not fair play on the radio (terns [sic] and conditions) to advertise at my expense probably a violation of rehab act of 1970s.

I do Holistic work – all issues 10-60 plus dbqs ya da ya da so an add [sic] for one off 1500 issue letter is just like medicine now which is all dumbed down to one complaint in 15 min but it does not get our veterans a fair comprehensive rating”

Dear Sir,

(515) 605-9764

THE VA’S IMO SH*TLIST

§5104(b)–WHAT’S IN YOUR RD?

38 USC §5104

38 U.S. Code § 5104 – Decisions and notices of decisions

PART IV VASRD–ELIMINATING PESKY DCs

What Are MUCMIs?

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.

CAVC– Barry v. Denis the Menace

Regrouping and going back to the AOJ

HADIT.COM RADIO SHOW- THURSDAY 2/3/22

(515) 605-9764

VA C&P EXAMS–THE NEUROLOGIST FROM HELL

BVA–I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW

LRRP HUMOR–PART II

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.”

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.”

R1–DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC

R1#1

R1 #2

SMC K

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“Hey I heard you compare your docs to my 90% successful outcome with for [sic] a lessor [sic] fee .. not fair play on the radio (terns [sic] and conditions) to advertise at my expense probably a violation of rehab act of 1970s.

I do Holistic work – all issues 10-60 plus dbqs ya da ya da so an add [sic] for one off 1500 issue letter is just like medicine now which is all dumbed down to one complaint in 15 min but it does not get our veterans a fair comprehensive rating”

Dear Sir,

(515) 605-9764

Share this:

Share this:

38 USC §5104

38 U.S. Code § 5104 – Decisions and notices of decisions

Share this:

What Are MUCMIs?

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.

Share this:

Regrouping and going back to the AOJ

Share this:

(515) 605-9764

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

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.”

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.”

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