Agent Orange And Ihd Claim

[Donna]

My husband (a Viet Nam Vet) filed a claim on hearing loss and IHD in 2006. He has suffered 3 heart attacks since 1994 and the heart muscle has weakened to a point of needing an ICD implant in 2004. The claim for the heart disease was denied for not be SC and hearing loss was rated 10%. On 4-7-10 he filed a request to reopen his claim. We stated the reason as IHD related to AO and it is well documented in his files through private doctors. Two questions: the reply we recieved referenced CAD not IHD, I am thinking the reg states IHD includes CAD, am I right? and I have read that any vet having a ICD implant would receive a 100% rating, is that true? We are seeing a VCO Thursday. I need a place where we can ask questions.

[Berta]

Get the filled form for TDIU back to them (keep copy and proof of mailing) as soon as you can to protect the EED for the claim.

"My private cardiologist has wrote his medical opinion in a Nexus that my early onset of IHD/CAD was caused by AO exposure."

Did the VA ever deny you in the past for IHD/CAD?

If so the denied claim might be the proper EED for the new claim.

And they might have to make some staged ratings.

Hard to say yet but it sounds like they are doing the right thing to consider you for TDIU.

[Donna]

Social Security declared my husband's disability date as March 2004. With an ejection factor of 36, he had a defibrillator implant in May 2004. Does anyone have an AICD implant from IHD ? and I have read it is a 100% rating. His original claim was in 2006 for IHD and hearing loss

with the VA and was denied. 10% hearing loss is his current rating. This is the "kicker" his VCO said "we should know something by May or June". His claim was re-opened in April 2010. There is no way we think that working with the VA, but he said Oklahoma is rated number 1 as far as getting claims resolved and Oklahoma was sub-contracting for other states and has since quit doing that to devote themselves exclusivly to Oklahoma claims....could this be possible?

[vperl]

Social Security declared my husband's disability date as March 2004. With an ejection factor of 36, he had a defibrillator implant in May 2004. Does anyone have an AICD implant from IHD ? and I have read it is a 100% rating. His original claim was in 2006 for IHD and hearing loss

with the VA and was denied. 10% hearing loss is his current rating. This is the "kicker" his VCO said "we should know something by May or June". His claim was re-opened in April 2010. There is no way we think that working with the VA, but he said Oklahoma is rated number 1 as far as getting claims resolved and Oklahoma was sub-contracting for other states and has since quit doing that to devote themselves exclusivly to Oklahoma claims....could this be possible?

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Below is a File to answer all your ICD questions about ratings and all other rating the VA will use to assign a rating....

ICD information towards the end......

the button to get the file is below

S4_104.doc

[aboogger]

Get the filled form for TDIU back to them (keep copy and proof of mailing) as soon as you can to protect the EED for the claim.

"My private cardiologist has wrote his medical opinion in a Nexus that my early onset of IHD/CAD was caused by AO exposure."

Did the VA ever deny you in the past for IHD/CAD?

If so the denied claim might be the proper EED for the new claim.

And they might have to make some staged ratings.

Hard to say yet but it sounds like they are doing the right thing to consider you for TDIU.

Berta, thank you for the response, As to the IU form YES I submitted it within a couple of days of receiving it from the VARO via my VSO and I had also FAXED it to the Appeals Team. Yes I was denied for IHD/CAD when I first filed my claim for CAD due to AO back in 2001. I got denied in 2002 because CAD was not a presumptive disease at that time. When I reopened my claim in 2008 I had submitted New and Material Evidence of which the Nexus was enclosed at that time along with numerous medical records from 2006 up to 2008 and since getting awarded SC for IHD/HHD secondary to SC hypertension I have submitted additional NEW and Material Evidence. I have had numerous heart caths over the years and more recently since 2006 up to April 5, 2010 of which all of those records have been submitted as evidence.

As I have stated before I first filed for VA Pension in 1995 for CAD when I also filed for SSDI due to CAD and was awarded Non Service Connected Disability Pension in 1995 and then 7 months later I was awarded SSDI for CAD and have been on SSDI since then. When I was awarded SSDI I lost my VA Disability Pension due to the income I was receiving from SSDI but MY wife and two daughters continued getting VA Pension payments until my daughters were no longer eligible but my wife continued until I was awarded SC for Hypertension then the Pension converted to SC Compensation in 2009 with an effective date back to 2008 when I reopened my claim for CAD due to AO. I have ALWAYS noted in my claims documentation that my CAD was due to AO, except back in 1995 when I applied for the VA Pension, as I did not know about AO issues back then.

I have been told that my effective date "could" go back to 1995 but not sure how accurate that information really is, but for now I'm trying to get my effective date back to 2001. I have been in touch with the NVLSP via emails and they have all my claim information and have advised me to notify them once I'm awarded under the New Rule for CAD and AO or when the New Rule is official.

I will also contact the NVLSP in ref: to the 1995 claim for NSC Disability for CAD to see if they can advise to whether that would be worth filing an appeal on for an effective date under the Nehmer Rule.