100% Rating Reduced To 40%

[jhorak101]

I live here in Central Texas near Fort Hood and was talking with a Vietnam Vet a Marine veteran who told me he got a letter from the Waco TX VA regional office saying that they purpose to reduce his disability from 100% un employable to 40% I was under the impression that 100% was permanent and total and would never change I myself am rated at 80% overall with my highest disability rating at 30% then others at 20% and 10% The DAV told me that I have to maintain that rating for 20 years before it becomes permanent and total according to 38 CFR they already tried to reduce one of my disabilities from 30% to 0% because they say during a recent exam the VA medical doctor an neurologist at the Temple TX VA hospital said tat me condition improved ?? I had to go back a submit civilian health report form my Tricare provider at Hillcrest Baptist medical center in Waco to overrule the incompetent C&P evaluator. Now its this kind red tape that needs to get to the Top people in Washington i.e. the President and the VA secretary and congress. But my primary question has to do with my Vietnam Vet friend that the VA is trying to screw.

Thank You

Jim Horak, TSgt USAF Chapter 61 Disability Retiree

Belton Texas

[LarryJ]

Surely he can cry CUE!!!

If he has a IMO that states his condition has not improved and that the C&P doc made a Clear and UNmistakable Error then it is very possible he could get this overturned. They tried doing this to my husband 2 months before he went 20 years (can you believe it!) but his VA doc never wrote anything about improvement in his notes and in fact he is much worse. The C&P doc does have some power, but they have less than the VA doc that has been treating you for years.....

Tell your Nam Vet friend to get his medical records from his VA medical Center or private doc, submit as evidence of Claim, stating you believe the C&P Doc was "inadvertently mistaken" in his determination. Provide all the notes you can, highlight the most important info that applies, write a contents page so the Adjudicator can find the info and cross your fingers. Don't let them take a benefit he has earned if he needs it! Tell him to get to a VSO or something, because it is extremely difficult to get back to 100% once you've lost it.

Good Luck

As carlie pointed out, you can't cry CUE, for the reason that she already stated AND for the reason that a Doctor's medical opinion is not fodder for discussion when it comes to "clear and unmistakeable error" (a doctor's opinion is only questionable when it comes to, for example, malpractice, but, in this case, not even then).

[Berta]

could this be a temp 100% for a prostate cancer claim?

hard to know why they want to reduce.

[LarryJ]

...................of course, if he was as stated "100% unemployable" and went to work, and the SSA and VA computers "talk" with each other.........I can see a 100% TDIU vet getting knocked down to 40%...........and, if this is the case, he'd best be hoping that the VA doesn't go after all the comp that they have paid him since he went to work.

just sayin' , may not be the case here at all, kinda hard to tell with no more info than what we have.

[jhorak101]

Thanks for all the posts to this question, 1st my friend did not go back to work he remains unemplyed. 2nd he has hired him a very expensive lawyer to fight this it just makes me sick that vetrans are having to do this. I know that the Waco & Houston TX VA regional centers are swamped with claims and over worked and understaffed, "Thanks Congress" I have an Apeal for Plantar Faciaties "Feet Pain" the DAV said its may take 4 years before I here from them. Totaly FUBAR.

[Commander Bob]

Thanks for all the posts to this question, 1st my friend did not go back to work he remains unemplyed.

Did your friend fail to return the VA annual employment questionnaire sent to IU vets that are not P&T yet? So many blanks in his story. We need more info...

Good luck with your claim.

[carlie]

2nd he has hired him a very expensive lawyer to fight this

I believe ALL LAWYERS - are capped at the same percentage for taking on

VA Claim and SSA claims.

carlie