Nice clean decision without a bunch of double talk. Easy to follow with good cites and all you need for a DYI. Beat PTSD gently, then stir in HCV slowly for several years. Bake in a slow oven for 23 years until cirrhosed. Serve piping sick.
http://www.va.gov/vetapp/wraper_bva.asp?file=/vetapp11/Files4/1138414.txt
Imagine having had Hep in service and still actually being jaundiced at discharge. Then compound it by filing and getting the Gettysburg address absent the part about “For he who shall have borne the battle…”. Come back thirty three years later and refile. Witness in utter horror your claim run up on the RO rocks without so much as a C&P exam even though you have documented evidence and a solid nexus.
Pay two hundred dollars or double the third roll of the dice after an idiotic DRO boondoggle to get out of ROLA. Arrive at the BvA and finally get it straightened out. So solly, Chahlie. We blew it on the Dx in 1973. The vA examiner’s rationale was a little askew. Fortunately we got it right in 2011. What’s that? No, sonny. We don’t pay back to ’73. It would be nice if we did but we’d be broke if we ran this ship like that.
As noted, the Veteran filed a claim for entitlement to service connection for a liver disability shortly after separation, and a December 1973 rating decision determined that no chronic disability was present. Laboratory reports indicate a diagnosis of hepatitis C, confirmed by liver biopsy, in 1996. The Veteran has submitted statements from treating physicians which indicate care for the disorder from that time to the present. The Veteran has not been given a VA gastrointestinal examination to determine the etiology of his hepatitis; however, given a very probative opinion by a private physician, the Board determines that such an opinion is unnecessary.
That’s pretty funny, huh? Vet has Hx of hep in service, lottsa post service confirmation of hepatitis and just plain lottsa hep. today. Hmm, what do you think Bob. Should we send the Vet out for a Dog and Pony show at QTC? Naw, the C&P fund is killing us this quarter. QTC charges too much. I’d say it was acute and all his symptoms resolved before discharge. You? Yep. I’m game. Write it up. You think this stuff is made up? Perhaps readers have a more cogent theory on how it goes down. Groves v. Peake ought to put this puppy to bed. Therein lies the problem. The M-21 doesn’t have a LexisNexis VA CD attached to it. No flies on the raters.
http://www.va.gov/vetapp/wraper_bva.asp?file=/vetapp11/Files4/1138995.txt
This will make your hair stand up. I did a blurb on the West LA VA Campus the other day, but this is beyond the pale. Fifty mil for solar (from SOLYNDRA?) and nobody has a pot to piss in let alone a window to throw it out of? Some here and on other Vets’ sites feel I am over the top sometimes with my feelings towards the vA. After seeing this, I’m not sure if I’m capable of being open-minded anymore.
Please do me a favor and spread this abomination around to your Veteran Friends. This is the first time I’ve ever asked you guys to do this. It’s perverted what they are doing. It’s worse than it appears because the homeless are the least empowered and capable of voicing their displeasure. It’s not like Katy Couric is going to show up and demand justice for them. Or Geraldo. Or Oprah. Billboards? Are you serious. You can’t eat billboards or use them for shelter- unless you’re looking for shelter from Public Opinion.
When your tires on your vehicle become worn, you retire the old ones and put on new. This is common sense. To drive with worn ones will eventually result in an accident of being left in the lurch somewhere. War-weary soldiers, like worn tires, must be given a reprieve when they are over-employed. As this article so readily points out, we were never designed mentally to be subjected to the stresses we are putting our troops through now. They can’t see the forest for the trees, and their commanders are instructed to keep it that way. The shrinks are instructed to keep certifying them as good to go. Force retention mandates ensure the ranks are filled-but filled with what?
I received this from Bob who has his ear on the railroad tracks and hears a lot:
Every Modern Marine knows the name Chesty Puller, a general that is now the template by which all measure themselves. But not so many know the story of Smedley Butler a Major General, recipient of the Brevet medal from one action and two Congressional Medals of Honor for two other separate actions. The only Marine so honored.
The reason for this may be the jaundiced view he developed toward the end of his career towards America at war: “I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers.”
He was a veteran’s advocate and wrote the book “War is a Racket”. His distrust of bankers was public and intense.
Knowing today that the Gulf of Tonkin resolution was based on at least one false flag operation and having so recently been sent into Iraq, a nation ruled by a despicable villain, but not one that had WMDs or had ever attacked the US, it seems that little has changed in the century between his wars and ours. Yet there are 3 issues I have noticed that disturb me for our nation’s security going forward.
First and most dangerous is the outsourcing of security to civilian companies. The role of protecting our diplomats was once the job of Marines but just last week the Secretary of Defense visiting Afghanistan had combat troops disarm before coming into his presence, a tacit admission that Washington knows how badly today’s troops have been treated and thus fears them, trusting their security instead to mercenaries and CIA paramilitary assets.
The second issue may explain the first: we have enslaved anyone so innocently trusting that they join the service. The two Presidents Bush combined for two Force Depletion extensions; obligating new recruits to 9 years of service. I am not aware of anyone who did 4 combat tours in Vietnam or Korea, certainly no one who did not volunteer for it. Today 3 or 4 tours are common. We have simply worn our troops out. The cowardice to detain volunteers for extra duty to avoid a politically untenable draft is, simply put, reckless endangerment on a national scale.
Finally it is the combination of unprecedented numbers of badly broken troops returning to a medical and administrative machine that fixes their reports of those troops condition to fit political needs, rather than those of the patient, that poses the most frustrating (and despicable) problem for active military, older Veterans deserving of help with the conditions they have suffered from their service and then the security of the nation at large. What kind of parent would recommend military service to their child today? We have again betrayed the best of us, those who came when duty called, and they have every reason to carry a sense of that betrayal, and the distrust of our government, for the rest of their lives. We can bail out Bank of America and countless others but we can not bring ourselves to offer proper care and relief by drafts on our treasury or populace.
War is a racket… Now more than ever.
The Red Cross representative called us asking if we could contribute to the floods in Pakistan this year. I told her we’d love to but our garden hose only reaches the end of the driveway.
While I know this occurred after the wheels were in motion on WGM’s claim, it seems an amazing coincidence. I’m willing to bet Mr. West Virginia heard about all those hot shot Texas Veterans Commission Service Officers and moved there. Stands to reason.
The long and the short of this claim is 12 years. You will notice they had to go way back with the Fenderson method to get it right. Now, I’m not saying they got it right yet, because there’s a high probability that this isn’t over. He could appeal this if he’s not satisfied. I would because I don’t trust them.
This Vet filed in 2001 and finally got the magic paper in 05. That’s when it started to slow down. Here we are in 2012 and the VLJ is finally writing the last chapter at 810 Vermont St. NW. What appears to be simple isn’t. A Fenderson claim will look at every scrap of paper in the evidence bin and sometimes they come up with the darnedest explanations for their conclusions. Here, from what I see, it appears he got a fairly good assessment and justice was mostly fair. Readers will note what also appears to be a stinky spot from 2002 to 2008. The reason for that is simple. The Vet, whether through error or a mistake, had an opportunity to fix this while waiting for his appeal to come up, but did not submit any new, private medrecs for that period. That was a big mistake if indeed he had any. This is why his rating will be stuck on 40% during the period. If he’d had any supporting evidence to rebut it, the VA would have bumped him up to 60%. He obviously had some pretty convincing evidence to warrant the 100% rating from 2008 on, so it is self-explanatory.
This decision clearly shows the danger of pursuing two similar disease processes where only one is warranted. The BVA here is giving him the 40% based strictly on DC 7354 for hepatitis but jumps ship and goes into DC 7312 (cirrhosis) in 2008. The hepatitis now becomes the less-dominant disease process in their demented minds. Which is all well and fine for Mr. New to Houston as he gets the big banana from 2008.
What is miserly about this decision is this little fact:
As reported above, the Veteran has raised the issue of entitlement to TDIU since the inception of the appeal. The records reflects that, as of April 10, 2001, the Veteran held a combined 70 percent service-connected rating based upon hepatitis C, rated as 40 percent disabling; posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), rated as 30 percent disabling; diabetes mellitus, rated as 20 percent disabling; tinnitus, rated as 10 percent disabling; and bilateral hearing loss, rated as noncompensable. Thus, the Veteran was eligible for a TDIU rating under 38 C.F.R. § 4.16(a).
TDIU may be awarded TDIU based upon a showing that the Veteran is unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation due solely to impairment resulting from his service-connected disabilities. 38 U.S.C.A. § 1155; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.340, 3.341, 4.16. Consideration may be given to the Veteran’s level of education, special training, and previous work experience in arriving at a conclusion, but not to his age or the impairment caused by any nonservice-connected disabilities. See 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.341, 4.16, 4.19.
It is clear that the claimant need not be a total ‘basket case’ before the courts find that there is an inability to engage in substantial gainful activity. The question must be looked at in a practical manner, and mere theoretical ability to engage in substantial gainful employment is not a sufficient basis to deny benefits. The test is whether a particular job is realistically within the physical and mental capabilities of the claimant.
Addressing this matter in a practical manner, including consideration of the service-connected impairments involving multiple bodily systems, the limited types of employment available to the Veteran given his disability status and limited education and vocational experience, and his credible testimony of being unable to work due to service-connected disabilities as of April 10, 2001, the Board resolves reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran by finding that his service-connected disabilities have rendered him unable to secure or follow substantially gainful employment for the time period from April 10, 2001 to October 2, 2002. 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107. The appeal on the TDIU issue is granted.
Mr. VLJ and his merry men thus split the TDIU melon down the middle, carve off an 1/8 and give it to Mountain Man. They promptly turn about and take it back, returning him to 70% for six years until his liver hits bingo. Suddenly he’s 100% again. Talk about Ricochet Rabbit.
The decision perfectly incorporates the theory of not only TDIU, but the Fenderson method of staged ratings. This fellow was lucky that he had a fairly detailed medical file. But for the DM2, and the ascites, he’d probably have lost weight. This may seem like a long time to adjudicate one of these things. Frankly, it is. He depended on the RO kids to do him right which they didn’t. He ended up appealing it because the mindset on these things at the AOJ is denial. With that sure knowledge, his best path lay in beating feet to D.C. right out of the denial and taking care of business there. DRO reviews are all well and fine but all they do in the long run is put you in a holding pattern waiting to take off to D.C. Unless you have evidence that is going to rock the DRO’s world, you’re wasting your time. DROs specialize in post hoc rationalizations and fabricating the denial furniture to fit the facts as they interpret them. They do all this from the original denial, too. They usually take any new exculpatory evidence and fashion it to fit the denial better rather than the obverse.
Check it out. This one is an excellent example of so much you need to know. The judge is also being mighty liberal with the money here, too. When you look at the bottom, you see why
____________________________________________
T. MAINELLI
Acting Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans’ Appeals (aka wet behind the ears)
Pour yourself an ice tea, download this puppy, print it and get out the yellow highlighter.
http://www.va.gov/vetapp/wraper_bva.asp?file=/vetapp11/Files5/1144158.txt
See. These State SO guys in Texas even wear white hats.
Well, as usual we are treated to Saturday morning news of Veterans-what else is important? As some know, in Southern California there is a large tract of land (400 acres) called the VA’s west LA campus. This was deeded in 1888 to be specifically set aside for Veterans housing purposes. This was the case for almost a century-until the end of the Vietnam Boundary Dispute. At that time, there were approximately 4,000 Vets still living there in VA housing. I’m sure the VA heard celestial voices insisting on a higher purpose and gave Vets the boot. The housing has since deteriorated with no maintenance as could be expected. But what of the rest of the campus?
In order to get some extra baksheesh for their martini happy hours and bonus remuneration fund, they have been leasing the property out during the ensuing decades. Face it- homeless Vets are indigent and not in a position to pay for this free housing. Faced with negative publicity due to the Veterans homeless population rumored to be as high as 8,000 locally, out of a total of 107,000 nationally, the VA recently made a big showing of revoking those leases. Or did they?
Closer examination of the property reveals that a public golf course, athletic practice fields for a prestigious prep school (Brentwood) and a college baseball stadium (UCLA Bruins) are still leasing parts of the property. In addition, the Enterprise Car rental and Tumbleweed Charter Buses outfits are leasing large areas for vehicle storage. The Sodexho Marriot has taken over the former VA laundry facility and the Barrington Dog Park and Recreation Center are alive and well, too. Well, shucks. At least the dogs are being accommodated. The Brentwood Theatre also has a facility there. I assume it has something to do with properly preparing the kids at the prep school for a future in Hollywood. Oh, and did I mention there is a VAMC located there, too?
http://www.aclu-sc.org/documents/view/332
The ACLU has decided to rep a few homeless of the vaunted 8% who heard the Patriotic Call. VA feels this is basically much ado about nothing and has asked for a dismissal of the lawsuit- probably based on the idea that it’s far more lucrative to continue the leases than minister to the great unwashed. U.S. Judge S. James Otero made it clear that the case is going forward and that the property was clearly set aside to help Veterans-not private schools and colleges.
While we commiserate with Tumbleweed Bus and Enterprise Car Rental that it’s damned hard to find storage space close to LAX for that many vehicles, we find it incongruous that they feel their predicament is more pressing. As for balancing the needs of the UCLA Bruins and a bunch of culturally and athletically deprived prep school children against homeless Vets, we have to ask: “Are ya kidding me?” I don’t blame Marriott of showing up. If a perfectly good, surplus VA laundry facility was lying around unused, I’d certainly attempt to take advantage of it.
We can only wonder who got the ax on their leases. The West LA Playboy Club? Mayhaps Solyndra Solar Panels, Inc? Now that the war religious misunderstanding in Southwest Asia is winding down, VA will probably declare the acreage surplus and unnecessary for their purposes and sell it to Principi, Peake, et al for a dollar and other valuable considerations (read political contributions). QTC can then relocate their operation from Diamond Bar and provide a valuable service for Vets doing C&Ps conveniently located cheek and jowl next to all those “habitation-challenged” Veterans who foolishly choose a vicarious life of homelessness over a more mundane one as productive members of society.
http://www.ktvl.com/articles/veterans-1204210-judge-says.htm
http://www.scpr.org/news/2012/03/16/31665/fed-judge-rules-aclu-lawsuit-against-va-la-may-pro
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/22/health/homeless-veterans/index.html
Whichever way it comes down, I’m sure Vets everywhere will collectively scratch their heads and say “Huh? Has VA lost their minds?” VA will continue to spend profligately on “studies” to determine if they need to do anything about it. Many trees will be converted into the pulp needed to publish these studies, further increasing the probability of global warming. Eventually a responsible party will convene a beer summit in the Rose Garden (weather, public uproar and schedule permitting). I expect the aforementioned homeless Vets will be “unavailable on such short notice”.
They’ll reach a modus vivendi on this. Trust me. The property will be sold and a monument to these men and women will be erected in a designated wetlands area in Cucamonga or the Mojave desert. The statue will be created by the sculptor who did the Vietnam Wall and will depict a Homeless Vet pushing a purloined shopping cart with all his worldly possessions. Said homeless Vets, should they desire to view this heart-rending statuary, will be bused there at no charge several times a day in a grand “green”, wind turbine-powered conveyance (wind permitting). After several years, there will be a small fee to offset the costs. This will be called an “energy surcharge and carbon tax” to defray the cost of towing the bus to and fro when the wind isn’t blowing.
Life will return to normal and the homeless will retreat to their abodes beneath highway overpasses. Millions more will be spent in years to come in an effort to study and cure this phenomenon. The actual pursuit of, and identification of these homeless Vets will continue on selected private golf courses and four star restaurants across the nation. Eventually the notion that these souls exist will be disproved as none will be found. Funding for the homeless can then cease and be devoted to far more worthy causes which we under-educated boobs cannot imagine as yet.
I apologize for being caustic. I am blessed and cannot conceive of the life these poor souls endure. I was close a few times in the early 70’s when I was rudely “divorced” from the military. Veterans deserve better than to be kicked like a can down the road. The time to deal with it is now. The facilities are there now. The will isn’t.
P.S. Attached is the Court motion on this.
I ran into this site somehow. I’m like a bumbling traveler who sometimes arrives at places and am not exactly sure how I got there. Who cares? If there is something of value there, then it was a success. If it’s too Mel Gibson, conspiracy-driven then use the red X at the upper right.
http://www.vetsforjustice.com/VA%20is%20Rigging%20Claims.htm
asknod
Bethanie Spangenberg
kcraveiro
robinhoodesqvetsatty
Wesley McCauley
Veterans Claims Help 