cowboys4life

Update On the lawyer fees. Lawyer agreed that he did not deserve the 3,000$ because he didn't do anything and,has written a letter to the VA stating such. I am waiting on my letter he supposedly wrote to me also. I did contact the Florida Bar Assoc. regarding this matter and was told that if there was no legal briefs filed or any filings on my behalf then the lawyer should not have received any money. Waiting on the letter and for the regional office to refund that money to me. The lawyer and VA said that they haven't sent out that money yet. So maybe, just maybe there is hope.

I hired and then fired attorney in the same month and the attorney removed himself from my appeal as referenced by the administrative law judge before she made a decision on my claim. In Dec. 2013 I thought about using an attorney but thought better of it and wrote a letter stating that I no longer needed his services. He then sent in a letter removing himself from my claim. He never did anything for me so I assumed that, that was that. Later in 2016 the VA sent him a payment of over 900$ for what I do not know. I contacted the VA and was told that even though I did not still have the services of said attorney he was allowed to receive that payment per our agreement. I told the person on the phone that he did not do anything for me and still, I was told there was nothing I could do, IT WAS THE LAW. Fast forward to this year and the same lawyer was paid over 3000$ for the same service, which was absolutely nothing. I have initiated a complaint with the Florida Bar Assoc. and with the VA to get that money back. I have in my possession the letter I wrote to the attorney and to the VA along with the judge's reference to him withdrawing from representing me in the decision she wrote. So no representation at either court hearings no legal literature sent on my behalf. CASH FOR NOTHING!!! WTF

I just left RO and was told that my finished BVA grant was floating around the RO and she could not tell me where. I guess I should start floating She also said to me that the retro may go back to 04 if the judge gave more probative weight to doctors opinion back in 04. In the judges decision she did reference fast letter 13-13 which I looked up and it explained that if a veteran claims a disability as totally disabling and submit the form stating that. Apparently the VA no longer consider increased claims as an automatic claim for TDIU. It would be great if they went back to the original opinion stating that I was unable to secure gainful employment and that I was advised not to work again. But hey I'll jjust float like the rest

Waiting on decision notification letter. Went to DAV and rep said original denial was referenced in award letter which was 2004, I know that the judge gave more probative weight to my 2004 opinion than the opinion of the c&p examiner in 2016. Letter is on the way and I will know soon enough.

I could not sleep at all last night thinking about what I am faced with. First off I know that the VA must require that evidence must include the veterans statements regarding his or her level of impairment when deciding the claim. I know someone must realize that if there is no input as the level of disability from the veteran then all the cases would be truly one sided and there would be no need for us to say anything about our conditions if they are going to be systematically omitted. I looked over my decision from the BVA and missing from that decision was all the lay person statements and my statements pertaining to the effect of my condition on my daily life. I also could not find reference to all the medications that I take for my heart conditions. As a matter of fact it seemed that the BVA wanted to get me to 100% exclusively by way of my pes planus and plantar fasciitis. They conveniently ignored my coronary artery disease while disproving it by simply citing the many tests that I had over the past 15 years regarding level of ejection fraction and METS. I know that is a noted procedure that gets a lot of weight, but there is a regulation that says the VA just can not submit test verbatim without giving the board the total picture of the veterans disability to include any statements from the veteran and any other laymen that give statements. I just do not know where I saw that information. I am also worried about the BVA use of the two medical doctors' opinions given back in 2002 and the weight that is given to it, stating that, that evidence outweighed the most recent opinion made by the C&P examiner. I have included a portion of that decision for you guys to look at. I posted it elsewhere because I did not quite understand that I could have a stand alone post on this site. I want to know a couple of things so I can get on with my life and not worry myself into the grave. One. Am I grasping at straws when I say that the BVA did not consider my total disability picture when it did not reference my assertions about the effects of my condition on my daily life, regarding every test result and opinion as the whole truth from my previous exams with respect to coronary artery disease. Two. Should I consider filing for reconsideration to the board or an appeal to the CAVC. Here a copy of the decision and you tell me if I have an issue or I just do not understand the application of TDIU

So, as long as the VA kept low balling me after having two separate heart surgeries, to wit: They were able to say with a straight face that my condition did not warrant a higher rating until 2016 which were based solely on medical tests and not my own assertions that that is how it is. I've lost a lot of years staying above ground only to see buried by the bull@#$. I won't ever understand it and will never accept the fact that they won. Hell they never mentioned the opinion of the cardiologist until this decision. VERY CONVENIENT!!!!

So I received my final decision from the BVA which granted me TDIU which states that my effective date is June 2016 which I strongly disagree no surprise there huh!!!!!!!!!!!!!. My question to the elders on this beloved sight is what should I do. I mean the judge I guess tried to pay me back to my original claim date in 2002 but the evidence did not support staged ratings or extra scheduler rating. She used in my favor a statement dated in June 2004 made by a VA doctor stating that my coronary artery disease solely kept me from working and maintaining gainful employment. That she said outweighed the recent opinion from the C&P examiner made in June 2016. Now my total rating recently jumped to 90% which I guess made it easy for her to give me the TDIU. I am confused about the regulation covering early effective dates and how is it established if a doctor gives an opinion that many years ago and they do not reference it until it is convenient to disallow a big retro. Should I just be thankful for what I got and just get over this. Anxious to hear from the community

If I had two VA doctors opine in 2003 that I was permanently and totally disabled and unable to sustain gainful employment should my IU be applied from that date. I was not given an c&p exam until years later, I was not given service connection until 2010 for my coronary artery disease rated at only 30%. I have gone from 30 to 60 to 90, and recently learned that I was awarded IU by BVA. I am waiting on the letter to arrive in the mail. I posted elsewhere in this thread that I got that info from DAV Washington D.C. If I don't get that date what should I do?

Hello everyone just a quick update on my status as of today via the DAV Washington d.c. I was told that the judge granted tdiu for my claim. What I was told was that she denied all the other stuff I had such as pacemaker implant, foot surgery right foot temp. total for convalescence for foot surgery. I am baffled as to why she denied those claims yet gave me tdiu. I have not received the official letter yet so I do not know how far back she is going with the tdiu. I did put in for tdiu years ago and had been given total permanent for pension for heart disease, which was not because I was under employed, but because I was declared disabled by the VA. I did state to that to her during my hearing and she made note of that as to why they did not want to give me total when my heart was service connected eventually. Should I be thankful for the tdiu and not complain, and wait for effective date to see if it is worth fighting for. Nothing is written in stone so I don't know how to proceed. HELP

It seemed like a life time ago I posted what I thought was a success story for my claim of tdiu among other things, only to find out that that was not the case at all. I did go from 60% to 90% and I am thankful for that and also I do have a roof over my head. If you go look back at some of my posts I stated that the hearing judge pledged to do all she could to give me my benefits as far back as she could. My claim is back with her and ebennies says that she has had my file in her possession since the 17th of Jan. and she is working my claim. However, I learned that even if it says that it is with the administrative law judge ,does not necessarily means she is actually working my specific claim, per DAV at the BVA. So where is my claim and who knows how to actually pin down that info. Of course the BVA status line says the same each time I call, "still with the judge no decision".

I forgot to mention the lawyer that I hired for 30 days, Finance at Bay Pines cut them a check for $895 presumably from a retro of 4,200$ which is the total of my back pay 3,300 supposed to be on its way to me, obviously that is an error, what should I do? I'm the smuck waiting on the letter from regional to see if I am rated at 100% for service connected coronary artery disease

So I uploaded all the recent rating decisions and would like to know if what you see is what I see also. That is, the VA can not change my service connection to non service connection and I just was misinformed and need to wait for that letter!!!!!!!!!

Thank You Berta and here are the decisions that I have received from the BVA also the remand order. I hope that it is just me getting ahead of myself. Rate Decision 2.pdf Rating Decision3.pdf Rate Decision 1.pdf Rate Doc5.pdf Rate DEC4.pdf

I posted in the success part of this site just yesterday only to learn that it may have been premature I guess when you are dealing with the VA nothing should surprise me. Okay so I get a call from my regional office today and the gentleman in the other end of this fiasco said that he was replying to an inquiry I had recently made. I told him that I was good because my service rep had already given me the supposedly good news about being increased from 30% to 100% for my heart, increased from 0% to 50% for my pes planus both feet, 0 % to 30% for residual scar of heart surgery and 10% for residual scar. I learned today that I should have asked the service rep. the effective date and whether or not I got service connected on the heart and feet which are both SC. I also got TDIU all the way back to 2002. Here's the catch everything seems to have been worked as a non service claim. WH(*&^. I asked the guy to explain to me how that can be. How can my service connected disabilities that I put in for an increase all of sudden is written up as a non svc pension. He could not explain it to me and said that he needs a fresh set of eyes to look at and he will get back with me on that. Mind you ,all of these conditions were for an increase and per judge orders should be considered as a claim for TDIU which I had put in for some years ago. The guy also said that my TDIU was for pension for which I told him I'm already receiving the glorified SSI from the VA maximum amount, which was the very reason I put in for those increases which were granted. Will someone please talk to me about what is going here. Is it an hones mistake or am I missing something in this entire process. I'm tired of being broke and homeless every few years and now I have a 3 yr old daughter to worry about. Ready to set something OFFF.

l just left the regional office and learned that my claim was complete and that the decision was a favorable one. It has been almost 14 years and when the judge said that she was going to make this right I had my doubts lo and behold I got 100% for my heart, 50% for my flat feet, 30% for residual scar from heart surgery, and an additional 10% for residual scar from heart surgery. I do not know yet if I got tdiu but I know the judge instructed the VA to include that with any increase in benefits I would receive, to two were one in the same is what I got from her. I want to thank all of you for being so steady in your constant support and for saying to never give up. There were times when I wanted to, but through the homelessness and the health issues I hung in there and for that I say thank you God for the veteran that will never give up.

l just left the regional office and learned that my claim was complete and that the decision was a favorable one. It has been almost 14 years and when the judge said that she was going to make this right I had my doubts lo and behold I got 100% for my heart, 50% for my flat feet, 30% for residual scar from heart surgery, and an additional 10% for residual scar from heart surgery. I do not know yet if I got tdiu but I know the judge instructed the VA to include that with any increase in benefits I would receive, to two were one in the same is what I got from her. I want to thank all of you for being so steady in your constant support and for saying to never give up. There were times when I wanted to, but through the homelessness and the health issues I hung in there and for that I say thank you God for the veteran that will never give up.

I am really done with this claim stuff and ebenefits web site. My claim has been decided but no update on ebennies how long does it take to update decision or is it because I may have been denied on all my issues?

I posted in another forum. Just looking for clarity on one issue. Does two signatures point to an approval or another delay tactic.

I posted in another forum. Just looking for clarity on one issue. Does two signatures point to an approval or another delay tactic.

Hi I would like to know if a second signature means that the VA is trying to find another way to screw me. I have been waiting on my remanded appeal to be processed since Feb. of this year, it was advanced on the docket for hardship, and I believe that the judge did not want to send it back, since my claim is older than ten years. She said that she would do all that she could to give me an earlier effective date back to 02 when I first filed my claim. Her remand had some staunch words for the C&P examiner for among other things, saying that I did not have a residual scar from two heart surgeries even though it was already rated at 0%. She asked for him to rate me again and for him to explain in detail how my atrial fibrillation was not secondary to my coronary artery disease which required a pacemaker implant, which he also said was not related to my heart. I like most of you have had to endure a lot of BS so I just need to know if I have to wait again for the RO to screw me again before the BVA grants my appeal.

Listen I have for the most part traded very lightly not blowing my cool, letting the process play out and having all the patience of Job. Now I am at a critical point and I have HAD IT!!!!!!!!!!! I was homeless up until a few days after thanksgiving so my family and I are now in an apartment thanks to the VASH program. I can not help but get pissed off when I think about the egregious errors made by a C&P examiner for blatantly saying that I did not have a residual scar from two previous heart surgeries. I had the Judge even flustered about the obvious disregard for the way this claim has been worked; for almost thirteen years and counting. Had it not been for this one examiner who has opined on more than one of my issues, I would not have had to wait yet again for things to be corrected. The judge wanted to, I believe, give me a favorable award without having to remand my case. However her hands were tied because of the many missing reports pertaining to my many conditions, one of which has never been adjudicated on, while another I have never received a SSOC. From the wording of her remand it was not lost on her that these people were just grossly negligent in their duties to assist me. I'm sitting at 40% total with a rating of 30% for CAD and 10% for pes planus. She has taken them to task to give me a rating consistent with my heart condition, she also wants that same jerk doctor to explain how he can differentiate my coronary artery disease and my atrial fibrillation and pace maker implant which he claims happens separately and are not related to my heart surgeries which caused scarring on my heart which leads to irregularities of the heart. Even though I had developed atrial fibrillation during the recovery period of first heart surgery. At least it is secondary to my claimed heart disease which is not under the Nehmer guidelines. The Judge also said that at best I should have been giving the benefit of doubt when these issues were rated on. So the shmuck that gave me that standard F$^$k You exam should at least be reprimanded for his unprofessionalism when he neglected to read the file, for he would have seen that I was already rated for residual scar at 0% and I was going for an increase of that rating. Thank you all and especially for the undersecretary's email address. I actually got a call from the directors' office at Bay Pines Regional office.

I was on the brink of disaster and you brave men and women saved me along with the strength of my faith. I will forever be in your debt and always know that I am truly not alone.

What a difference this site made in my life. I shot an email to the under secretary and not only did I get a reply a supervisor from bay pines regional called me to tell me that she is personally handling my claim. I cannot thank you veterans for your help and I am optimistic but hopeful. One of the statements the supervisor made to me was that; When she said out loud to herself that there was two open heart surgeries and no residual scar,that, it sounded crazy to her. So thank you all, I have VASH housing voucher and am desperately trying to find a place that doesn't mind my background of one evict. No luck yet and the 1st is almost here. I am keeping the faith that there is someone out there that won't mind giving a homeless vet a chance at redemption, after all we are all Americans first.

Thank you all for your insight and I am happy to inform you all that I have a housing voucher to find a place to live, at least I won't be on the streets this holiday season with my family or in a shelter. I did send out an email to the under secretary suggested by Flores. I must say that I had all the relevant evidence needed to decide my claim all of it date stamped and because of those missing medical records and doctors opinions, the BVA took offence to those not being apart of my file, when there were references to them by the regional office. I really don't know what I would do without the vets like you all that take the time out to help another vet. God bless you all