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Will This Suffice As An Imo?

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kate7772

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I think what I really meant was a Nexus.

My husband had planned to get an IMO from Dr. Bash to use in his reconsideration for his kidney issues but needed to obtain his SMR first which is seeming nearly impossible. He was seeing and diagnosed by a private Nephrologist who agreed that the kidney condition was likely caused by the water at Camp Lejeune but refused to give the verbiage VA requires. My husband thought it a good idea to get his condition and treatment on record with VA, so started seeing a VA Nephrologist. The VA doctor said he definitely believes the water to be the cause and had no problem saying so. This is what he put into his notes in my husband's medical record:

"Review of his history makes the development of his disease as likely as not a consequence of exposure to drinking water contaminated with trichloroethylene/benzene while at Camp lejeune as there is some evidence in the literature of an association between hydrocarbon exposure and development of membranous glomerulonephritis."

Should this be sufficient to use for a nexus or will we still need to get an IMO from Dr. Bash?

Thanks,

Kate

Edited by kate7772
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That is a nice statement to have in his medical records. My personal opinion is that though this is supportive of your husband's claim, it might not be strong enough standing alone. It certainly helps, but the "there is some evidence in the literature of an association between hydrocarbon exposure and development of membranous glomerulonephritis." is not particularly strong. It is good, but could easily be defeated by a doctor intent on working against the claim. The fact it is in the medical record is a really good thing. And doctors are not generally going to write detailed opinions in the doctors' notes. But depending on where your husband is in the claims process, I would still keep following up on the possibility of getting a strong IMO, or having the VA doctor write a more detailed statement for you.

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  • HadIt.com Elder

I agree that the statement "there is some evidence in the literature of an association etc." is really not strong enough. I would get a strong IMO/IME that hits all the VA buzz phrases and refers to the vet's SMR's and personnel records to locate him at Camp Lejeune during the offending time. You want this air tight as you can get it or you may end up having years go by.

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http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/camp-lejeune/

I'm having weird problem trying to paste text (it takes me to top of page instead of pasting) but the link above has info.

Good luck! :smile:

The Aug. 6, 2012 law applies to health care, not disability compensation. At this time, there is insufficient scientific and clinical evidence to establish a presumptive association between service at Camp Lejeune during the period of water contamination and the development of certain diseases.

Veterans may file a claim for disability compensation for health problems they believe are related to exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. VA decides these claims on a case-by-case basis.

- See more at: http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/camp-lejeune/#sthash.k2PcQlzc.dpuf
Edited by Notorious Kelly
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  • HadIt.com Elder

A Doctors statement linking service is gold. 20 years ago most Doctors were mostly not willing to make a diagnosis based on history or that they thought questioned another Doc's opinion. Dr Bash will do a good job

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Did the doc give a hyperlink or treatise citation for his nexus statement?

We have had discussions here on Camp Lejuene on what I call, the "Bad Water vets":



The VA Lejeune Training Letter is here:


Info here


and update info here:



This is a 338 page IOM report that I assume the Training Letter and disease VA listed in above links came from.....
http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12618&page=180#p200188109970180001

AO IHD vets were SCed due to "limited" suggested nexus factors for DMII as well as IHD...my point is, if the doctor can cite a specific study ( Google IOM on this...I regret I only had time to read a few pages of the above link and there might be more current studies on this)

The report links also references ATSDR. Maybe this is the report the doctor meant.

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