ptsd ? about SMC-S and Retro payment

[Sasquatch]

First, let me say thank you for a great and knowledge on this site is overwhelming.

I found this site recently and have been bouncing around here. That's when I found SMC-S.

I'm rated 100% TDIU for PTSD effective Dec 2003 as stated in my decision letter. I was also rated 60% for my back at the same time but SMC was never considered.

This leads me to ask 2 questions from the members here:

1. How did you apply for your retro SMC? 

2. Has anyone received a retro payment based on a decision prior to 2008?

Thanks for the help & info.

[Sasquatch]

Thank you for the replies.

Berta, even though it may have been some time I’d like to say I’m sorry for the loss of your husband and especially for the reason you lost him. Thirty years ago I was sent to the Phoenix VA for x-rays of my back. After 6 hours of laying on an autopsy gurney outside radiology, I got up and left. I was sent back to Phoenix to see a shrink. He walked in and it was a gook, I was escorted out of the hospital by security and never returned. The VA has gotten a little better but back then, we both know it was deplorable.

I’ll try to answer the questions

Berta

Did you serve incountry, Vietnam?

I don't call myself an incountry vet. I went over on the Juneau and we provided cover fire if needed as we were pulling troops out, To me the real incountry vets are the ones in the bush but that's just my opinion.

If so, do you have ischemic heart disease?

Not sure if it’s ischemic but I do have heart disease, I've had 2 heart attacks so far and had to have a stent put in the left anterior descending artery that was 85% blocked.

Were you ever turned down by VA Voc Rehab solely for your prime TDIU disability prior to this older decision?

I’ve never asked for VA Voc Rehab

Do you receive SSDI solely for PTSD? If so when was that determination made by the SSA?

I do receive SSDI which started about the same time the TDIU started but not sure if solely for the PTSD, I might be able to find out.

Were you ever hospitalized privately for PTSD? Prior to the Bradley 2008 decision?

I was never hospitalized but I have been treated privately for decades by different doctors.

Have you re opened your claim recently to request SMC based on the agoraphobia?

Like I told Bronco, in 13 years I have never noticed that word in the decision.

Do you have a copy of your C file and your VA medical records?

Yes to all the above but I’ll need to go through them again since I missed the mention of agoraphobia

Bronco

It may not have been error back in 2004 but if the written statute hasn’t changed regarding SMC (I haven’t found the 2003-4 version) and with the Bradley decision now telling VA how to now APPLY that law it would seem a reconsideration might be a choice for setting up an appeal.

Agoraphobia often means SMC S housebound

In 13 years I have never noticed that word in the decision.

 

 

[Berta]

Your ship is on the VA AO ship's list but for a different time frame than the decision says your service period was.....

"Juneau (LPD-10) Picked up troops and equipment with smaller vessels and transported them out of Vietnam from August 1970 to March 1971 and June to November 1972 - See more at: http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/shiplist/list.asp#J"

http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/shiplist/list.asp#J

It is possible that you could prove the dates need to be expanded for USS Juneau.

Can you tell me the names or types of any smaller vessels you might have been on to pull those troops out ?

The AO list is being upgraded soon but the reason most of these ships are on it ( proving exposure to AO by vets who served on them within the time frames) is because vets proved to VA what their ship did and where it she did it, ...many having fast boats or landing party crafts that went into 'Brown Water"...the tributaries of rivers in Vietnam. Others having been on COD planes or mail cargo to pick up or deliver stuff in Vietnam.

"Not sure if it’s ischemic but I do have heart disease, I've had 2 heart attacks so far and had to have a stent put in the left anterior descending artery that was 85% blocked"

that sounds 'ischemic to me but I am not a doctor.it would be revealed in your medical records. Check your ECHO med recs.

Your heart disease might well be an AO presumptive disease, compensable by the VA.

That could definitely set you up for SMC at some point unless the agoraphobia does.

And certainly if you have a spouse, and die from an AO IHD disability, the spouse would be entitled to DIC.  I get 1,254 a month.(DIC)

Your ship must have been fairly  close to shore to be returning cover fire...was this near Monkey Mountain area , or near Quang Tri province?

Unfortunately VA does not want to consider any vet whose ship anchored in Danang Harbor as exposed to AO....but that ships list has been growing with more to come.

My daughter was in Vietnam twice since she joined the military ( USAF Intel Top Secret)

and LOVES Vietnam. So do I. So did my husband. He loved the people but said it was both horrible and wonderful (USMC Danang 1964-1965 Ops Starlight/Rolling Thunder) Regardless of being a  bush vet or not, you survived Hell on earth and your service is very commendable..

Many survivors of Hell here. From many wars and from the battlefield of the VA claims process.

Are those dates of your service in the decision correct?

VA makes LOTs of mistakes.

 

 

 

 

 

[Berta]

before I forget...you could possibly fall under the Nehmer Court Order.....

hard to tell yet:

This is the criteria for Nehmer veterans:

http://www.purpleheart.org/ServiceProgram/Training2011/T-2%20AO-Nehmer.pdf

This would be important if you in fact have IHD and due to AO, and if the VA, in a past rating decision, gave you a rating for heart disease as NSC....then it is possible to get a very favorable retro date if they SC AO IHD.

To clarify..I mentioned my husband was dead due to VA health care (FTCA and Section 1151)

However his death was also service connected directly because I proved he also had DMII from AO and IHD from AO  which both contributed to his death.

Neither one of those disabilities was properly diagnosed and treated by the VA. My SMC CUE mentioned above was favorably awarded , not by my RO-they cant read,(Buffalo VARO) it was awarded by the Nehmer Division of Philadelphia. Past Cues I had filed included his IHD. (lack of any rating and any diagnostic code at all) That CUE was contingent to their proper IHD award so they awarded it. The EED they paid me as his survivor , went back to 1988, six years prior to his death.

 

[broncovet]

VA admitted you had agoraphobia in the decision you posted under #1 PTSD.  (Page 2), in the first paragraph, precisely, using the term agoraphobia.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agoraphobia

Agoraphobia is a term often used to mean someone is afraid to leave their home.

A veteran once said when the VA admits to agoraphobia, this is automatic "housebound".  

Remember, the defination of housebound is the Veteran is "substantially confined" to his or her premises.  The criteria for housebound is found in 38 CFR 3.351:

d) Housebound, or permanent and total plus 60 percent; disability pension. The rate of pension payable to a veteran who is entitled to pension under 38 U.S.C. 1521 and who is not in need of regular aid and attendance shall be as prescribed in 38 U.S.C. 1521(e) if, in addition to having a single permanent disability rated 100 percent disabling under the Schedule for Rating Disabilities (not including ratings based upon unemployability under § 4.17 of this chapter) the veteran:

(1) Has additional disability or disabilities independently ratable at 60 percent or more, separate and distinct from the permanent disability rated as 100 percent disabling and involving different anatomical segments or bodily systems, or

(2) Is “permanently housebound” by reason of disability or disabilities. This requirement is met when the veteran is substantially confined to his or her dwelling and the immediate premises or, if institutionalized, to the ward or clinical area, and it is reasonably certain that the disability or disabilities and resultant confinement will continue throughout his or her lifetime.

 

[Sasquatch]

Berta

I have not heard of the Nehmer case, so I’ll have to read it soon.

Can you tell me the names or types of any smaller vessels you might have been on to pull those troops out ?

I don’t remember any names on the boats. We just called them mike boats.

Your ship must have been fairly close to shore to be returning cover fire...was this near Monkey Mountain area , or near Quang Tri province?

I wasn’t a month yet past my 18^th birthday and have no idea where we were and at that time did not care. The actual cover fire was when I was on the Juneau’s port side 3” 50 and to me it didn’t seem very close.

Are those dates of your service in the decision correct?

I was in 71 – 78 and 80 – 84

I was on the Juneau Oct and Nov 72, then I got moved over to the Cleveland Dec & Jan 73.

[Sasquatch]

Broncovet

Thank you for pointing out that they used the term agoraphobia.

VA admitted you had agoraphobia in the decision you posted under #1 PTSD.  (Page 2), in the first paragraph, precisely, using the term agoraphobia.

I seldom left the house after I was removed from work in California, I now live in the middle of over 100 acres.