Chuck75

All of the VA stuff aside, Depleted Uranium rounds were around before the gulf war. It's remotely possible that airmen that serviced certain aircraft cannon were exposed, due to the residue left in the weapon barrels. Let's just say that I stayed away from areas on fighter bases used to do such things in the late 70's.

It's been my experience that the government hires primarily based upon "paper" qualifications, not real world accomplishments or experience base qualifications. "Get all the boxes checked, and come back" As a result, it's not uncommon to see contractor personnel at many government sites, doing work that the government employees don't or can't do. I should know, since I spent twenty five years in such environments.

It's the VA's money if it came out of administrative funds and bonuses. (Fat Chance!)

For whatever reasons government web sites seem to have poor reliability when compared to private ones. Even when up and running, things like links to other parts of the web or even within the same web site are not really reliable. At one point during my research into a claim a couple of years ago, the documents containing information favorable to the claim started just disappearing from publicly accessible VA web sites, or the links were mysteriously "broken". I still occasionally find documents that have broken links, yet can be accessed if you happen to know the current location, and can enter it directly.

The mortgage balance is a negative value, like the house value. It's money you owe, even though the house value is not part of your assets for VA purposes. So the appraised value of the house gets deducted from/is not part of the VA net worth, along with the outstanding loan amounts, and any bills due/not paid etc.. In theory, since your husband died due to service connected conditions, the DIC is applicable, and not dependent upon net worth. However, if the VA tries to weasel out, and your assets and income are low enough, you would likely get a "Death Pension" anyway. A "Death Pension" is based upon VA net worth.

The best answer I can give is possibly. You will need to obtain a copy of all the service records. (dd214, medical records, deployment records, etc.) If your deceased husband was treated for things such as concussion, TBI, etc., or the records show exposure to IUD's etc., there is a good chance. Just remember there is a time limit to file. and 10 months has already passed. If I remember correctly, you have just short of two months left to file. You can file without supporting documents if that's what's needed to make the deadline. It's likely to be a bit of a fight.

Congratulations! Student Loans are a sore point for many. I was fairly lucky when it came to three kids and student loans. Seems the state of Georgia had a fairly generous scholarship program, and besides that, my middle daughter was able to get through Georgia Tech with just a $5k loan, long since paid off. Sadly, today, the colleges have gotten greedy, and just about doubled the costs.

What happened to the retirement exam results? Do they show the contention? Unless you have a full copy of the service medical records etc. in your possession, you can be that it will be some time before they are available to you or the VA.

No one ever said that the VA was consistent. Hopefully, you have an alternative, in that you can go to your PCP or outside doctor. The PCP can see the C&P if it's in the electronic files, and have a copy printed. A VA clinic can also print a copy if they are willing to do so. You can fill out a medical information release form, and have the C&P results sent to your outside doctor, if you have one. Why they would give you PTSD C&P results and not TBI results is beyond me, unless the PTSD report minimized the problem. Being somewhat paranoid when it comes to some of the things the VA is known to do, I'd suggest you get your hands on the TBI report one way or another. Past practices of the VA in such things as the fiduciary area scare the "H" outta me. There are some recent directives/fast letters that address a couple of the fiduciary problems, but who knows if they have been really implemented. A significant statement in one establishes that the VA now considers the fiduciary relationship as between the veteran and the fiduciary, not the fiduciary and the VA. This is a reversal of recent VA attitudes and practices that led to court cases.

Just goes to show that the VA has the capability to do things right! Consistency? Well - - - -

Pure personal opinion and thoughts that in no way can be considered legal advice. Given the veteran's known SC'd conditions, did the conditions, along with perhaps delays by the VA in providing appropriate care, or non care, result in or significantly contribute to the crimes that resulted in incarceration? At this point, seems to me, the state is responsible for providing appropriate medical care, not the VA. The veteran's lawyer should be considering action against the VA, if there is evidence showing that the VA didn't do what it should have, when it should have, and significantly contributed to the situation. If the veteran "needs" surgery, the lawyer can also argue that the state is not fulfilling it's obligations and responsibilities, and may be involved in "cruel and unusual punishment". The old worn-out "Fighting City Hall" also comes to mind.

The VA has a reputation and rather obvious history of denials, regs or not, and hoping that the veteran does not submit a "timely appeal". "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" seems to be the governing factor. After all, the majority of denials are not appealed. And, lets say that 50% of the appealed denials are reversed, or require further RO work. The VA still comes out ahead. Think of the bureaucratic man-hours expended, and how they inflate personnel numbers and budgets. Then, assume that 50% of the denials were not appealed, or the appeal was denied for various reasons. It's a win win for the VA, anyway you look at it.

"The VA shows no mercy for failure to follow their regulations." Except when they are not following their own regs.

Now, the remaining question is the difference between paying 90% or 100% compensation. If the EDD for the 90% involves retro, you should investigate claiming TDIU back to the EDD, likely via an NOD. The VA is required by law to automatically consider TDIU, but often does not. I never did figure out how they manage to do this, other than the law language is vague as to what the "consideration" actually amounts to. When you get and understand the VA's jargon in the award letters, etc., it may be that they actually did decide to pay at the 100% rate.

Stem cell therapy may result in an increased risk of cancer, according to some of the news that I've run across.

It showed up on some pages, not on others. I ended up using the archive access. On my machine, Firefox has trackers, most cookies, and popups blocked. Usually, I see a prompt to allow a popup, which was not occurring with hadit's "blue bar" ????

First, you don't file for a C&P, the VA RO requests a C&P. You file a claim. Assuming you fall under the A/O presumptive rules, stints and blockages fall under IHD as presumptive. You will want to file evidence (medical records) of the stint implantation, the severity of the blockages, etc. The sooner you file, the better off you are. You show an existing 50% disability, so I assume that the VA has a "C-file" with your name on it. You may also have related problems, such as high blood pressure, PAD, etc. After stint implantation, and associated test results hopefully taken with the stint implantation, you should have documentation of such things as ejection (LVEF for example) These can be used by the VA to determine the compensation percentage. An LVEF of less than 30 equates to 100% schedular compensation. You will likely have to prove "feet on ground" Vietnam service, if you haven't already done so. I also believe you may qualify for a temporary 100% rating, even if the LVEF is above 30.

The header I see is attached

Who knows? Actually the AMC must take action as directed by the BVA. They should send or have already sent a letter to you, likely requesting information you may have already sent, and possibly scheduling yet another C&P. The confusion factor is whether AMC does things directly, or creates additional delay by going back to the VARO and asking it to do things that the AMC was directed to do by BVA.

What "Blue Player"?

There isn't a form that is appropriate. Forms exist when you owe the VA money, not when they owe you! A letter or possibly a phone call requesting an insurance audit should get things done. You may have to call to find out who should be getting the letter at the VAMC. As I previously mentioned, I got the runaround for quite some time before things got taken care of. The VAMC pointed to the VARO, or the financial section, who pointed back to the VARO or VAMC. What a Zoo!

Yes, since the retro award was 100% scheduler. (Nehmer)

Assuming the claim is at the AMC, and you wish to submit a waver, I'd send it to the AMC. At this point, it looks like your file is at AMC.

You stated that you were denied on 8/15/12, so you are in the appeal time frame. I'd NOD rather than CUE at this point, citing (and including) the 1998 Army records, and current medical records, preferably showing continuity with the 98 records. It might be that that the retirement physical shortchanged you.

It's generally NOT a requirement. Having said that, the VA C&P examiner was probably miffed due to the lack of VA medical records, and easy access to them. After all, it might be that you don't live in a location that has easy access to VA medical facilities. You mentioned "High White Cell counts" as a persistent problem. I certainly hope that your private provider has tried to find out why, and if necessary, referred you to those able to determine the cause. The PTSD bit gets into a contentious area, and may have been behind the "have to be seen" statement. The VA claims that they are the only ones (by VA regulation) able to diagnose PTSD. This is in opposition to past practice, court rulings, and language in the laws that govern the VA. The validity of the new VA PTSD regs, to my limited knowledge, has not yet been tested in federal courts. Years ago, the VSOs often advised veterans to at least utilize the "veteran's drug act", in order to have at least minimal VA medical records of treatment on file. Personally, I usually darken the VA's doorstep once or twice a year, although the benefits and the hassles are about equal. At least, the VA in my case, provides "free" prescriptions. When I started this practice, with no SC'd conditions, I was paying a co-pay of $2.50, much less than my insurance co-pay. At one point, I got into a small "fight" when the VA was trying to charge a "visit" co-pay. I successfully challenged that, based on the fact that the VA was not "treating" me, just reviewing and re-issuing prescriptions originated by my private physicians. An issue I never investigated or totally resolved was that all the conditions I take prescription drugs for were retroactively SC'd. But, the EDD was later than when I started taking the drugs, first using the usual insurance route, then as available, from the VA. To this day, I don't know if the VA refunded the drug co-pays back to the EDD date, or back to the date the VA originally started providing them subject to co-pay. The VA's accounting statements did not have enough detail to determine what dates they used. I also never found out what if anything, the VA refunded to the insurance companies.