jcolwell

I fall in the Oct 2010 approved Thailand group for herbicide exposure in Udorn for 1970 ( Vietnam Era Veterans, not boots on ground ) I have IHD and other secondard diagnosis for direct exposure. I have completed my DRO interview 4 months ago for IHD with ICD and DM 2 filed 9/2012. It will all depend on if they accept my perimeter evidence as a perimeter security guard. I was able to locate my colonel from Udorn who signed my evaluations while I was there and he gave me a buddy letter to that effect . If they accept his statement and mind , then nexus wont be an issue as I understand things. I have a boat load of secondary to the IHD . And I wait.

Thanks. I fall in this window of time you mention . I have never had a C and P exam, I am lucky to see private physicians. I have waited 20 months on an appeal at RO and 11 months for new claim. I haved used DBQs. I will let group know if by some miracle something happens.

Go to Ebenefits login page as usual. Go to bottom click on" Manage DS login : It will give you a pop up box: select Ebenefits and then you can log in. This may or may not include all of the new updated stuff. JC

Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 24: A follow-up review of wrong site surgery OK, I could not stand not to share this info to all of you. I worked with this kind of stuff for 30 years in hospitals. While many elements are involved , in this case, forgetting everything else the veteran has experienced a wrong site surgery event , which may or may not have anything to do with his current problems. no nexus needed. It happened. I would be all over this one.......JC "In August 1998, the Joint Commission issued a Sentinel Event Alert examining the problem of wrong site surgery, including a review of 15 cases that had been reported to JCAHO. Today, the sentinel event database includes 150 reported cases of wrong site, wrong person or wrong procedure surgery, of which 126 have root cause analysis information. Of the 126 cases, 41 percent relate to orthopedic/podiatric surgery; 20 percent relate to general surgery; 14 percent to neurosurgery; 11 percent to urologic surgery; and the remaining to dental/oral maxillofacial, cardiovascular-thoracic, ear-nose-throat, and ophthalmologic surgery. Fifty-eight percent of the cases occurred in either a hospital-based ambulatory surgery unit or freestanding ambulatory setting, with 29 percent occurring in the inpatient operating room and 13 percent in other inpatient sites such as the Emergency Department or ICU. Seventy-six percent involved surgery on the wrong body part or site; 13 percent involved surgery on the wrong patient; and 11 percent involved the wrong surgical procedure.

That is great news. Thank you for your service. Jim

They refused Crestor for my husband 2 years ago. It cost more for the VA than Other meds. We pay private for it since private cardio doctor said it was better. The VA has a book call the Pharmacy approved drugs, approved by the pharmacist and medical staff of the VA. All hospital have this but private hospital will override it but at the VA.. not approved by the committee for Pharmacy.............you don't get it. They say it is medically appropriate, but they do lean to lower cost drugs ............

Just because you have a process, and use the KEY words required does not mean things were done correctly. Ben there hear this many times. Did they have your MRI or Xrays in the room posted..that is the only real way to determine ....and did they review them during the procedure or better still before they started. it is kinda like saying the sky is blue , yes it is blue , I agree it is blue...........I call it group think............they do it everyday so why would today be any different............

Yes you do. In the private medical hospital world , this is called a " Never Event" or Sentinel Event. In the literature and on the web they refer to it as well as " wrong site Surgery ". Meaning oops we did the wrong procedure. You can read the regulations and policies that govern org must follow for marking and assuring that right procedures are done on the right spot.It sounds like policy was not followed. Goggle JCAHO.org . wrong site surgery. In the private world risk management and compliance staff get very involved and settlements are made as this is an injury not a complication of your procedure. I would bet they already know about this event , but this is handled in another part of the VA. The doctors are just doing their work, issues like this up the ladder to the desk jockies. I used to be one. I do know VA is regulated by same rules as private hospitals. It is good that the physician admitted to the mistake up front , many don't. Do your research , there is a lot out there about wrong surgery. Your options are really up to you. Take Care.

I hear you on the waiting . I have not called the CM # yet. I have( orginal claim 4/2011 ) appeal for Thailand Herbicide 10/2011.I completed DRO interview 2 months ago with favorable comments from reviewer and VSO. My VSO just says keep waiting. My wife says call the CM folks at 202 # . I don't want to tick off the VSO , will calling the 202 # upset the RO or reviewer. I kinda feel like it is out of line to call them. My wife says it has been at 18 months and make the call. If approved it would be 100% with retro back to 10/2010. Tired of being patient. Jim and Patsy

FYI Arizona Passes Veteran License Law Week of April 15, 2013 Arizona was the third state last week to pass legislation that eases veterans' entry into the licensed and professional fields. H.B. 2076 -- which passed unanimously in the state's senate and is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Janice Brewer -- will make it easier for veterans with combat medical training to gain Licensed Professional Nursing certification. Essentially, H.B. 2076 will allow medical training obtained in the military to count as the civilian equivalent for training required to become a Licensed Professional Nurse. The bill also will streamline the process of obtaining a temporary nursing license for veterans. Members of the American Legion wanting to know the status of similar legislation in their states, or who want to assist in these efforts or provide updates of what efforts are occurring in their states should email Steve Gonzalez of the Legion's Economic Division at sgonzalez@legion.org.

Hearing completed 2 weeks ago with DRO. He commented to my VSO during the meeting that if this was approved it would be 100 P and T with the ICD. She agreed and then the meeting went on . Input good or bad .......... 1. Could be a year before I hear decision ? 2. Is there un written rules at VA and with VSO that approving a 100 % diagnosis is costly with retro( 2.5 years) to the VA and they might delay decision as long as possible ? 3. Do DAV officers get atta boys when they win for the vets ? Thanks

Berta, thank you for posting this info. One can hope it will make a difference in our wait times. Will this help expedite the NODs at regional offices ( appeals ) or not ? My 4/2011 claim is at NOD. Thanks

thanks , makes more sense now. When and if we do form 9 we will ask for travel board or video. I never had a VSO until 11/2012. We did all the work ourselves until the wait became so long. On the first day we met VSO she immediately signed us up for a DRO meeting. My fault we missed that step. I only wish we get news as quick as you did. JIm

Thanks , When we filed our NOD we never formally asked for a DRO meeting to discuss our claim. I kinda left it to he DRO to call us etc. Because the medical is not of question we really felt comfortable meeting with the reviewer , to provide our direct exposure evidence which was some new and old which we felt was not considered for a Thailand perimeter exposure. I appreciate your sobering comments and expertise. We will get a formal interview for a BVA appeal ? Right? Help me understand , the reason a formal would have been to my benefit ? The evidence and witness we gave really is what it is and wont change that information in the future.for the BVA. Jim

I hear you about the new claims being filed now.I have always heard it will slow things down. I filed for DM2 and HTN and depression about 6 months ago while my appeal was pending and really I don't think it slowed the appeal down at all. We were prepared to wait 2-3 years from what VSO said. During the interview he mentioned all the others diagnosis he noticed in the history and physicals. Despite this being about an apeal for 3 issues he did allow my RN wife to show him a list of all of my diagnosis and a list of all of my meds............I am honestly glad they put it all out there so that I don't have to file them myself. My health is such that I wanted to get everything filed just in case. We are hopeful but know the train could derail at any time for a variety of reasons. I do have confidence in the VSO we had at the meeting. Lucky for us the guy that was suppose to sit in on the meeting was ill and we got the one we really like. Time will tell. Thank you for your interest. PS : One thing we learned from our VSO which we just got 6 months ago..........file for a DRO interview in person. We sat on our case for 1.5 years and finally I felt we had done everything we could to move it along......we went to DAV met with VSO and she immediately file for a hearing which we never thought we needed. The meeting happened 6 months after our request. it is funny how we learn to accept the " Deviant of the Normal. Jim and Patsy

John Mc Cain office looked into my claim and it did not help,. It is what it is..............

Thank you all for replying. We had a choice between formal and Informal and VSO who is experienced felt based on her knowledge of the DRO and her relationship with him and case file that best approach would be informal as case could be decided much quicker one way or the other by going informal. She advise formal notes would take months to be typed up and transcribed and returned. The evidence we have wont change and we do have receipts of everything given to them inpast and at meeting. There is always risk so time will tell. SSDI records wont matter as it is Thailand exposure with IHD and ICD not questionable at this point. It is evidence of perimeter exposure that must be met. We are prepared for a no and to go to BVA where similar cases were approved. We told the truth, and used the Colonel statement , my husband interview with DRO and the VSPA augmentee posting and one buddy letter. VSO said wait could be one year...........we only waited for the DRO meeting for 5 months which was reasonable. Meeting was not adversarial . Yes , if we got led the wrong way we will be finding new repre. Thanks

If you are a veteran who is homeless and or in a hospital other than VA even, contact a Social Worker who can assist you with any issues , including insurance and discharge needs. They will contact the local VA to advocate for your needs. Some of the vets are starting to be eligible for Medicaid in most states. Patsy

Sorry to hear that. I was on Prudential disability and they use a company called Allsup. Prudential paid for my SSDI application . They used allsup and I was approved for the first time. They charge 2000.00 and you only pay if they win your case. That is much cheaper than an attorney. You might want to consider , they will also not take your case if they don't think they can win it. I don't work for them but have seen them success in other cases Patsy

I promised an update to the group on my interview at DRO Phoenix. My appeal is Ischemic Heart Disease with ICD, perimeter augmentee 1970 and jet engine mechanic with travel to test cell site weekly. I used the Dave D map( thanks Dave) to show where I went on base. I never mentioned my barracks. Also in appeal is Chronic renal disease secondard to IHD and GERD service connection. DBQ in file for both of these. VSO advised to go with informal interview versus formal interview. Informal interview was more like a conversation , questions from all parties back and forth. He did ask about travel and stopping in Vietnam ( I did Travis to Udorn )He used the term AO throughout the meeting. Despite the casual atmosphere of the meeting I knew he was evaluating my demeanor etc. He was most impressed with my statement from my Colonel who also signed my evaluation and went back to this several times as very strong evidence. Initially he wanted my SSDI file but then changed his mind and said he would not need it after all. I have all private records and never had a C and P. My wife an RN was present and allowed to speak to my history of indigestion since DC and ongoing GERD and Barrett's. I had 2 statements from family RN's. He also referred to John G buddy letter as evidence. Thanks John G on this site. He noted that everything was in order and the DBQ completed was excellent. He fell short of saying I might get a approval but told the VSO , " you know this will be 100% with the ICD". He repeated several times " you have strong evidence from your prior Colonel". He also said if IHD approved then DM2 would be approved as well ( another claim ). After meeting VSO spoke with us in hallway she said she thought he would probably approved the claim. I cant count the chickens yet, and the fat lady has not started singing. I would retro back to 10/2010. Then VSO took me back to office and filed 5 more claims on secondard stuff like ED etc. Thanks Jim and Patsy

If you want to meet with the DRO prior to a decision on your claim be sure and state that on your NOD or in separate letter. Jim

Good day. Thursday is my DRO meeting. My wife the RN has prepared everything and we meet with the VSO for one hour before our meeting with the VA DRO. Thank you for answering a lot of questions on this matter. We have two binders, one about 4 inches or so that has info we wont need like pay records etc . My wife created a smaller tabbed binder based on titles like : IHD with MR, GERD with MR, buddy letters and letters of support, evidence of exposure , SS letter, .... question: do I need to take the DRO and VSO copies of this smaller binder. It is all in the C-file. We want to use this binder as our quick source of items to refer to ...............and as our speaking points. Thanks My wife is going to try and not curse. JIm

This is all wrong...................they all need to go.......Tonight news reports 1 million claims pending. This guy SCH needs to go and his underlings and all the DRO at VA RO needs to go,. It is a lack of leadership all the way around. The DOD computer system that they bought does not interface with the VA computers..........incompetence and more. ONce the inexperienced staff get hold of a computer that will be the new excuse ..." new system implemented sorry for the delay " . It is just wrong.It sucks. Pc