Failure Of C&P Examiner

[63Charlie]

In the middle of a C&P exam for scars, the examiner didn't take any measurements.

He sent a woman in after he left, to take photos of my scars.

 

I asked this person," Why didn't the examiner measure my scars?", as this was necessary to get a fair decision/rating.

She left and in a short time the examiner returned.

 

I asked him the same question.

He measured one scar on the back of my neck and none of the others.

I even specifically pointed out the ones I wanted him to measure.

He said that the rating officer will see the scars from my photos and that is mostly how they make their decision.

 

That isn't the rules on scar evaluation.

 

This guy was a P.A.

 

It was a bad omen when one of the first questions the examiner asked was," What is your current disability rating?"

That made me feel like he was going to do all he could to make sure I would never reach 70% disability.

 

At the end of the exam he stated he was a veteran too.

 

When his assistant returned once again to take the photos, she began to tell me how my examiner was a really good guy and was serving in the Reserves currently.

Took all I could do to bite my tongue and hold back and tell her how he did a hatchet job on my claims.

 

Finally.... forgot to mention..he checked my ankles range of motion without using a goniometer, or any form of test instrument.

Then he proceeded to inform me that I needed to get a medical diagnosis of my ankle condition.

I told him that I have an orthopedic appointment scheduled for my ankles the following week.

 

MY QUESTION IS: Will I have to wait and NOD/appeal the bad exam AFTER a decision has been made? Or is there an alternative such as writing a complaint and/or request a new exam before I get a rating?

Edited July 27, 2016 by 63Charlie

[armorer]

QTC is a waste of time. Due to Present Value of cash, Vet's should be able to sue QTC for incompetent and biased reporting on the federal records of a Vet. If they do provide a competent educated tester, they are right out of school and don't know their ass from their elbow. What the VA does not comprehend, their no interest rate decisions don't compensate the Vet for years of waiting on this stupid one year delay game of tag they play. "Oh, you switched your claim around. Start all over!"

The testing rules are plain to see, and yet we have to spend thousands of dollars getting an expert to say the same gd thing we said, and be delayed one year every step of the way. Good luck on getting a fair exam by QTC. It should be called the VA-QTC to be more representative. How people can get tested and NOT use QTC is what I want to learn how to do.

Edited July 28, 2016 by armorer

[63Charlie]

4 hours ago, armorer said:

 

The testing rules are plain to see, and yet we have to spend thousands of dollars getting an expert to say the same gd thing we said, and be delayed one year every step of the way. 

At this point, it doesn't bother me if I "offend" an examiner.

If he/she can't do their job according to the rules, they can EXPECT for me to offend them.

Write up whatever they want. Going to do that anyway.

Their bogus exam will end up being appealed ANYWAY and cost money out of my pocket to dispute their opinion.

Doesn't cost the examiner anything other than to listen to some well-earned criticism.

 

[Vync]

20 hours ago, 63Charlie said:

At this point, it doesn't bother me if I "offend" an examiner.

If he/she can't do their job according to the rules, they can EXPECT for me to offend them.

Write up whatever they want. Going to do that anyway.

Their bogus exam will end up being appealed ANYWAY and cost money out of my pocket to dispute their opinion.

Doesn't cost the examiner anything other than to listen to some well-earned criticism.

You make a very good point!

The C&P examiners surely must realize that they don't work at the VA of 20 years ago. Back in the 90's, I had no way to know if the examiner was being thorough or not. Now, we are empowered with knowledge here from Hadit and also are fortunate enough to have the DBQ's and C&P exam questionnaires available to us online.

If C&P instructions say to measure something, the examiner better measure it. With the rating criteria we have, even 1 mm could mean make a difference in your rating. If I ever have to go back in for another C&P exam where the rating is based on a measurement or ROM, I will ask if they have their ruler or goinometer. If they claim they don't need one, I will be like oh yes you do. You don't have one? Here, you can borrow mine. If they still refuse, I would ask for a new exam with a competent examiner who knows how to follow the regulations.

[63Charlie]

Yes, Vync.

I read the pertinent DBQ before my exam.

My examiner refused my request to properly do the testing for scars mandated on the DBQ.

Walked out and didn't measure anything!

The left side of my face is fugly due to scar deformity.

When I was active in the Army, I even asked the doctor about  dermabrasion because the cystic acne scars had deformed my face, and neck..

So yessiree..I told one of his staff that he needed to come back again and finish his exam for my scars since he didn't measure any.

He strolls back in, measures only one scar on the back of my neck. That's when I said why didn't you measure these facial scars. Replied, "Nope. The rating officer will see them on photos and said RO mostly decides on photos to do ratings anyway."

I will have another C&P coming up for rhinitis in the future. If it is a bad as this last C&P, I will ask them why they aren't doing it properly? I will use their reasoning as evidence in my appeal. Too bad I can't tape record them.

It's bad when these examiners have no accountability. I mean what do you do? File a complaint? with who? File an appeal..sure and wait many years to get to see someone that will actually follow the rules and apply the law.

I'm under the impression that C&P examiners receive instructions by the ratings officers on what to test.

Are they also given instructions to keep the rating as low as possible?

Why would he want to know what my rating was before the exam began?

 

Edited July 30, 2016 by 63Charlie

[Berta]

VYNC said"

"The C&P examiners surely must realize that they don't work at the VA of 20 years ago. Back in the 90's, I had no way to know if the examiner was being thorough or not. Now, we are empowered with knowledge here from Hadit and also are fortunate enough to have the DBQ's and C&P exam questionnaires available to us online."

That is SO true! In the late 1980s I realized how much the RO could manipulate what a C & P actually said.

They deliberately left out a final statement by a C & P examiner to deny my DIC claim.11997. He had speculated a ridiculous Cause of death , but what the RO failed to add was ,that he wrote, "that an autopsy could have ruled out." 

They did have the doctor's name in the denial so I called him up and raised Hell...to learn that VA not only did  not give him the 6 page autopsy (which they had) but also what it revealed would have completely changed his opinion. He then got angrier than I was and I could tell the VA had pressured him for exactly what they expected from him.He sent me a copy of his exact opinion that they had and that gave me the evidence I needed to keep fighting them and draw them out on the autopsy.

(They also removed it from the files they sent to the General Counsel. I fought back on that and when the VA  got the 12th copy of it , OGC awarded the FTCA case and then after another RO denial, the RO awarded DIC under 1151.

It is the C & P exam that controls our claims.

As Vync said, because we can get copies of it these days, the R0s cannot get too creative with the results.

But the fact remains that C & P doctors are paid by the VA.

If the APRN rule goes into affect, I guess AP nurses will be doing  the C & Ps.

The 2 main reasons, in my decades of experience, that most claims are denied is that:

the evidence does not establish a nexus ( this is really the claimant's responsibility)

or

that a C & P was done improperly or by someone with no expertise to adequately do it.

One more reason...secondaries even if absolutely obvious, need a strong C & P opinion but 

many of those claims need an opinion from a real doctor.(a non- VA doctor with expertise in the field)

Unfortunately C & P exams do not fall under the malpractice regulations.

I have fought back vigorously every bogus posthumous C & P exam they ever did on my claims.

They knew the veteran could not speak for himself or have input into those C & P exams,because they killed him in 1994 with outrageous piss poor medical care. Pres.Clinton said months before he died that VA was the Best Government- run health care system in the world.My husband almost dropped his 1151 claim when we heard that on TV.

Since then the malpractice stats of the VA have gotten much worse.

Maybe the medical incompetence has not really gotten worse, but for sure, veterans and their survivors have gotten smarter because of the internet and their ability these days to file and prove malpractice claims, if it has occurred, and their willingness to get an opinion from a real doctor.(IMO/IME)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Buck52]

I can only imagine President Clinton got his information and from the VA Officials  and trusted them.

jmo

...............Buck