ptsd Deceased Veteran Widows Pay

[banchie]

Hi Brothers & Sisters. My life has improved so much thanks to all of you! A slight tear there, sorry.

;)

One of my brother veterans died with his power of attorney assigned to his wife. He was wounded in Nam in the leg and received disability benefits for leg wounds & PTSD. He died of cancer before I could get him A/O connected (was filing the paperwork on presumption). His rate for leg wounds never increased over his lifetime.

The VA has since cut his wife off from any VA benefits. Is this correct? Here is a women who endured a PTSD veteran, and cared for him dying of cancer in her home. Is she entitled to anything? Pension or VA compensation coupled to power of attorney?

Thanks for your help in advance. Banchie VN 67-68'

[free_spirit_etc]

Well my bank account is $225 slimmer now. The VA FINALLY reclaimed the March 1, 2007 payment from my husband's Feb 5, 2007 death that they had put a hold on the bank account on May 20, 2007.

According to the IRIS reponse - I won't get the Month of Death payment now until they decide the DIC claim.

Oddly enough - I am relieved that they finally took the money back. I was getting aggravated seeing it sitting held hostage in my bank account - showing on my balance but unavailable to use. I asked them to either take the money or release the hold. You would think if someone died in February they could make up their mind by August.

So at least they did SOMETHING - even if it was just taking the money back.

Technically, what they SHOULD do in these cases IS to actually reclaim the money from the bank account. And then issue a check to the widow. Because the check is payable to the widow.. and there is no guarantee that the widow is the person with rights to the Vet's bank account. So to make sure the widow actually IS the one who gets the money - it DOES make sense that the VA would take it back from the bank and send it to its rightful owner. That way there is no question as to if the widow got the money - or if someone else also had access to the account, or if the account became part of the Estate, etc.

The argument for leaving the money IN the bank account is most often the widow is the joint owner of the account (though I am not sure how this plays out in community propery states). Also - the more steps invloved - the more chances the VA has to make a mistake.

So maybe - some day - down the road - I might get the $225 back.

In the mean time - I am guarding the statement from the bank proving that the VA took the money - so I can prove I didn't already get it.

Free

[tssnave]

Free,

Thanks for letting us know how the bank hold resolved itself.

I suggest you post the resolution to your situation on your other thread about this topic (July 7th, When do they take your money? reclaimation process) to let those people who are tracking that thread (like myself) but who may not read this thread (DIC is not relevant to my claim but how the VA handles payment and reclaimation of funds is an area of general interest to me) know how the bank hold played out. Just a suggestion. In the interest of time I skip over several threads that don't seem germane to my claim but am interested in the ones I tag to track and would hate to miss the conclusion of one thread if I didn't read another seemingly unrelated thread (hope that makes sense).

Thanks for all your posts, they are very informative.

TS

Edited August 15, 2007 by tssnave

[free_spirit_etc]

Thanks for the suggestion. I, too, have looked back at many posts to see what has happened, and eventually lose track of them.

I guess I am going to have to do the track feature.

I think my case was a little unique though. I don't think it usually takes the VA four months to put a hold on the funds or six months to take them.

I think they usually move much more quickly.

Free

Free,

Thanks for letting us know how the bank hold resolved itself.

I suggest you post the resolution to your situation on your other thread about this topic (July 7th, When do they take your money? reclaimation process) to let those people who are tracking that thread (like myself) but who may not read this thread (DIC is not relevant to my claim but how the VA handles payment and reclaimation of funds is an area of general interest to me) know how the bank hold played out. Just a suggestion. In the interest of time I skip over several threads that don't seem germane to my claim but am interested in the ones I tag to track and would hate to miss the conclusion of one thread if I didn't read another seemingly unrelated thread (hope that makes sense).

Thanks for all your posts, they are very informative.

TS

[Judy]

I am brand new here and I found this site by researching. May I share my situation with you all as you seem to know so much about this whole process.

I am the widow of a 100% permanently rated veteran who died in 1990; disability was due to cancer, namely Lymphosarcoma (the first time) and years later was diagnosed and treated for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. He had many surgeries, radiation rounds and chemo rounds. When he died (at home in his sleep) no autopsy was done. The county Medical Examiner signed the death certificate as "Arterialsclerotic Heart Disease" and when I filed for DIC it was denied by RO; I appealed and the higher VA Board (Washington) wrote "remanded back to Houston RO for reconsideration and review"; then Houston RO again denied it.

I have spent all these years looking for an attorney or some representative to help me pursue my pension.

To add to this, we all know that Chemo drugs and radiation (his was to the chest area at one time) weaken all parts of the body including the heart.

Five months prior to his death, he was sent to Baylor College of Medicine (referred there by VA Hospital Houston) for sleep lab testing. We asked Baylor for the results and were told they could only be released to the VA and we needed to get the results from them. We asked VA repeatedly for them only to be told that they didn't have them, then they couldn't find them and so we never got them at all.

After his death, it took me two years to get all the records from VA Houston Hospital as they would only send me bits and pieces at a time, one clinic's records, then I would have to go after another clinic's records and so on. At the end of this process (two years of it) I finally got my hands on that Baylor report and it stated "We strongly recommend that this patient have a cardiac evaluation as soon as possible".

Well, obviously that never happened, in fact, he never even saw a cardiologist at VA. So there is apparently no history (at VA Hospital anyway) of heart problems. I don't know how the county ME can determine the cause of death exactly or was it his best guess?

Anyway, the DIC was denied becuase "cause of death was not related to service connected disability".

When I filed the appeal, I got an IMO in the form of a letter (didn't know what other way to do it) and that apparently had enough effect to have it remanded back to HOUSTON RO but to no avail.

Thats the end of my saga only now it is 17 years later.

Can I reopen this case? I have been reading about "new and material" evidence...what must I obtain? How can I go about this the strongest way possible?

Any help, advice, or contact person information would surely be appreciated.

Thanks to all,

Judy

[Ricky]

Judy sorry to hear that the devil called the VA has given you so much trouble. Have you tried a VSO such as the disabled vets, AL etc.....? Berta is probably the best one to assist you with this issue. She is very busy but if you will just hang on for a couple of days she will be along and I am sure she will weigh in with some very helpful information. Welcome to Hadit.

[Berta]

I am assuming he was not 100% SC P & T for ten years prior to his death.

Therefore the denial was solely based on the death certificate.

I suggest calling the Medical Examiner to see if their county or your state has a way to amend the death certificate-with medical evidence to support this- so that his service connected disabilities can be listed as contributing to death.

I helped 2 widows get this done-in other states - however in my case, here in New York the ME has put info as to my husband's actual cause of death into their files ,but NY does not have any way to amend a death certificate.

You stated:"Anyway, the DIC was denied becuase "cause of death was not related to service connected disability".

Whether you could get the death certificate amended or not-

the prime evidence you need is that his SC disability contributed to his death.

A SC disability does not have to directly cause death but if it is found as contributing to death -the VA will award DIC.

You mentioned sending them an IMO but obviously it did not help.

I suggest you get a new independent medical opinion.

This can be costly but 2 DICs checks could easily absorb the cost.

I always recommend Dr. Craig C Bash-

or you can go to Med Opinions on the web or any doctor who can provide you the opinion that you need.

Dr. Bash knows VA case law as well as being able to provide competent opinions.

If the IMO is not within his area of expertise he can often refer someone to another IMO doctor.

A specialist in cardiology or onocology would help too.

Obviously will all that he dealt with ,it certainly could have weakened his heart and thus caused his death.

VA will need medical evidence of that-however.

Under our search feature there is a post called "Getting an Independent Medical Opinion" and it contains the key features that an IMO must have.

The doctor will need to review his complete medical records so I hope you have copies of them.

"We strongly recommend that this patient have a cardiac evaluation as soon as possible".

"Well, obviously that never happened, in fact, he never even saw a cardiologist at VA. So there is apparently no history (at VA Hospital anyway) of heart problems"

I also strongly suggest that you file an additional claim under 38 USC, Section 1151 and tell the VA this is a claim for service connection of your husband's death under Section 1151 because they failed to properly diagnose and treat his heart disease.In addition to the DIC as directly contributed by SC.

Attach a copy of that Baylor statement as well as anything whatsoever in his VA medical records that indicated whether they attempted to rule out heart disease (Get his medical records first from the VA-they flag 1151 claims and wont want to send them to you after the Sec 1151 is filed)

Tell your IMO doctor that you have raised a claim on this issue also and to opine from his clinical records if the VA failed to diagnose and treat heart disease.

The VA killed my husband by failure to diagnose and treat heart disease as well as other conditions.

I receive DIC under Section 1151 because I proved that the clinical record showed he had a heart attack in 1988 that was diagnosed as a sinus infection-

the records revealed abnormal EKG and he was supposed to get cardiac work up- according to the med recs- VA however never told him this nor set him for additional testing.He thought he had been very sick for 3 days with a sinus infection=not a heart attack-

he also has numerous transcient strokes causing blurred vision, inability to stand up and walk, and he could not work for days-in the preceding weeks that they said was due to a hole in his eardrum.He didnt have a hole in his eardrum- Ultimately he suffered a major CVA they misdiagnosed for 3 weeks and then dropped dead in our barn due to a sudden heart attack.

As soon as I got his medical records, I filed the Section 1151 claim.

The medical proof of malpractice at the local VAMC as well as additional cover ups of malpractice by an additional VAMC was there.

That took considerable time to find -also I am not a doctor so I needed to read considerable medical books on cardiology etc- his sudden death due to a heart attack just didnt make sense.

It was a tremendous shock as he thought he was beginning to recover from the major stroke he had.

I did not have an independent medical opinion and prosecuted this claim myself. I had no help at all from my POA the DAV-at that time-but I strongly suggest that you get an IMO to cover both the DIC on a direct basis as well as Section 1151 basis.And get a good service officer-one who understands the DIC regs and Sec 1151.

They can only award under one or the other but unlike many widows you have 2 ways to go-direct SC and Sec 1151 DIC.

In order to get a Death Certificate changed they would need an IMO anyhow-

and that is not the main point for VA purposes-

they need competent medical evidence of either VA negligence in failing to diagnose and treat his heart disease (atherosclerotic heart disease sure does not happen over night)

and /or competent medical evidence that his SC contributed to his death.

Edited September 21, 2007 by Berta