Ricky

After reading the BVA decision if they had the evidence stated in it this guy is a goner. Period. The BVA decision, like CID posted, laid out a classic case of fraud. His only hope would have been if he stuck to his story. There is a big difference in a story when at first you are there running around trying to save your best friends live to simply being assigned to the same post.

I have not seen it on initial claims for SC, only on request for an increase. I recently read on in which the veteran asked for an increase from 0 percent on his back to 20 percent. This was Jan 05. He was given a C&P in July 05 from which they approved an increase to 10 percent in an January 06 rating decision. Problem is they made the effective date January 06 the same date the rating decision was issued. I understand that crap happens sometimes as many claims are processed by the VA. However, when it is the same type of crap happening time and time again one has to begin to wonder. You know, those things in life that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmm. We have always be able to get them striaght but each incident has required a look by the BVA as the response to the NOD and DRO review was even more stupid than the original rating decision. It is the Montgomery RO.

Vike - thanks. I have seen several claims from my RO in which they attempted to begin the effective date the date of the C&P exam because there was no medical documentation showing the increase until the C&P. I fully understand the need for medical evidence but do not feel it is the vets fault if the VA can not offer a C&P until 12,24 30 months etc......after the receipt of the claim. If it were my claim I would see my own doctor to get the increase medically documented but some vets can not afford to do so.

Heck who knows it may end up being one of the best C&P exam write ups that I have ever received! Thats why I put this in my post. As stated the VAMC guys were good. It was not a bad C&P overall it was just kinda of funny. I went by the release office and asked for a copy of the ER treatment records and the C&P's. Hopefully they will send them. I will let you guys know what they say when I get them. PS - will they send the Physc eval or will I have to do something else to get it?

Vike - I am a little confused. Lets say a vet has SC for a back issue rated at 10 percent (forward flexion problem). On Jan 15 2004 he/she tries to tie their shoe but can not bend over that far without extereme pain so they petition the VA for a higher rating due to their current inability to tie their shoe. Request for increase is received by the RO on 30 Jan 2004. With the backlog the RO finally gets to the claim in June 2005 (18 months later). A C&P is scheduled and happens in Sep 2005. At the C&P the doc determines that flexion is limited to a percentage that qualifies the veteran for a 40 percent rating. The RO issues the rating decision in Dec 2005. What will/should the effective date be? The date the VA received the request for increase with the vets statement describing/claiming the increase - the date of the C&P exam or the date of the rating decision? Thanks Ricky

Drove 8 hours roundtrip for a C&P exam today. Items covered were a Physc Eval (don't know why), IBS, Sleep Apnea and PN Right side. I have seen many complaints on Hadit about exams and thought you guys would get a kick out of my experience. Hope the post is not to long - -Staff very friendly -Physc exam: Doc - why are you here today? Me: For a C&P but I do not know why and was hoping you could tell me. Doc: I have reviewed your file and it is not clear why the exam was requested. Me: Did you contact Montgomery and ask why? Doc: Yes but the person I spoke to did not know. Doc: Since you claimed IBS I assume that is what it is for because it is a new syndrome which sometimes has a physc cause. However, we will do a complete work up. 27 mins later we had gone through my entire 52 year life from my relationship with my family, my 25 years in the Army to do I see and speak to people that others can not see. Now I am no doc but I honestly can not see how an exam like this could last any less than 3-4 hours. General Exam: Doc: Why do you think you have PN? Me: Neurologist conducted EMG which said so. Doc: Why do you think it progressed so quickly since your DMII only began in 1999? Me: I don't think anything. I am only going by the EMG results. Although I was officially diagnosed with DMII in 1999 my blood sugar tests since 1989 has been in the 150 to 210 area. Doc: What type of pain do you have and which hurts worse arm/hand and leg/foot? Me: Burning pain - hand -foot. Doc: When did your IBS begin? Me: 2003 Doc: Since that was after your service why do you think it should be service connected? Me: I served in Strom/Shield, no doctor has been able to tell me why I have it and it is on the list of presumptive conditions for Storm/Shield service members. Doc: Is your pain/uncomfortable feeling constant. Me: Yes Doc: That will be all sir, have a good day. Me: What about the exam for Sleep Apnea? Doc: The Physc Doc covered that. Me: The Physc Doc said she was covering IBS. Doc: That is impossible. We do not do Physc evals for IBS. Me: Then you need to tell her and I need to see her again before I leave. Doc: If Montgomery needs anything else sir they will have you come in again. Have a good day. In 11 mins the doc covered my claim that I have been waiting on for 23 months and then told me I may have to wait longer and travel again because neither the VAMC or the RO has a clue as to what is going on. That is ok, I love traveling 8 hour round trips. AIN'T THIS GAME WE PLAY JUST THE FUNNEST DAMN THING YOU GUYS HAVE EVER DONE!!!!!!! I SURE THINK IT IS. PS - I am not picking on the VAMC guys and gals. They were all wonderful and very respectful. Heck who knows it may end up being one of the best C&P exam write ups that I have ever received! When I reported for the first exam my BP was sky high 232/135 and they immediately carted me off to the ER for treatment. After that they rearranged the schedule to insure that I received both exams and we were only there about one hour after my little ER trip so they were no less than fantastic about every thing. Just after it was all over with and I had 4 hours to cool off I thought it was pretty funny and thought you guys might see the humor also. The Physc doc provided that this was not the first time the RO was unclear about what type of exam and what it was for, nor was it the first time she had contacted them to clarify their request prior to the exam and they had no ideal. Maybe the RO uses a spinning dart board to determine who gets what type of exam for their claim hahahahahahahaha.

John - I think you will be ok. Your interpertation of the law is correct in that after 20 years the rating is locked in except for fraud. They may have simply wrote the denial in this way to possibly cause you to stop with the claim. Not saying they were trying to scare you but to just show you the previous rater "could have" interperted the medical information in a different way which would have actually resutlte in a lower rating etc.... jmho You know these rating are exteremly subjective. What one guy/gal sees may not be the way another one sees it. I understand the reason for interpertation but some times they take it way too far. For instance when they have treatment records and a supporting IMO which says a veteran has a certain disability or it is more likely than not the disability was caused by service there is no need for interpertation. However, my supporting RO will take such documents and spin them any way they want to and then when questioned they simply say "it was the interpertation of the rater".

Vike thanks. In the case where the RO fails to list the evidence and the form 9 is pending, I wonder if the vet can submit a statement in support of the claim and waive RO jurisdiction/need to review? Kinda like when you submit evidence directly to the BVA during an appeal. Maybe you could word it something like: "although the following evidence (list evidence) has been previously submitted in support of this claim, XXX RO failed to use such evidence to decide this claim. Therefore, I waive any right to have the XXX RO review this evidence. Based upon my request and waiver I ask that the BVA accept jurisdiction over my claim and use the listed evidence in their rating decision. something like that anyway.

Vike - does this mean that if new evidence is submitted during the local appeals actions and is not addressed by the DRO then the BVA does NOT have jurisdiction over the issues on appeal? Boy if that is the case a claim could be drug through the mud for many years by the local RO. In this case does one respond to the SOC and notify the RO that such evidence was submitted but not discussed/considereded or do you go ahead and file the form 9? The reason that I ask is I have an appeal with a docket number in which the RO did not list any of the new medical evidence submitted with the NOD nor any that was submitted during the processing of the NOD. Based upon your comment the docketing of the claim and preparing it for the BVA is useless as it appears they will simply decide no jurisdiction and return to the RO.

Windy Take a look at my post again. I am on your side on this one. However, I now understand where Rick is coming from. If the loss of use is due to foot drop then exercise, surgery etc.... will not help. Therefore his comment is 100 percent on track. I am assuming that your loss of use is based upon Loss of use of a hand or a foot will be held to exist when no effective function remains other than that which would be equally well served by an amputation stump at the site of election below elbow or knee with use of a suitable prosthetic appliance. The determination will be made on the basis of the actual remaining function, whether the acts of grasping, manipulation, etc., in the case of the hand, or of balance, propulsion, etc., in the case of the foot, could be accomplished equally well by an amputation stump with prosthesis; for example:( a ) Extremely unfavorable complete ankylosis of the knee, or complete ankylosis of two major joints of an extremity, or shortening of the lower extremity of 31/2inches or more, will constitute loss of use of the hand or foot involved. If so then I understand an attempt at exercise to correct the problem.

Jay I noticed from your profile that you have to deal with the Montgomery VARO. Their definition of expeditiously is sometimes in the far, far future. I have dealt with them for over 7 years now and I am still looking for one of them that can read, speak and write. A one word summary for them would be "incompentent". As for the letters, I finally sent then a letter and told them to quit wasting their time, my time and all of Alabama veteran's time by sending out such nonsense. That was two years ago and I have not seen one since then (guess they took me off their spam list for snail mail). Up until that point I had received one about every 60 days. The problem I have with such letters they are simply stated by you generic pieces of crap that does not do anyone any good to include the VA. As you said they need to concentrate on training their personnel and processing claims. Some may not think that this is such a big deal but if you count all of the man hours and funds spent (paper, ink mailing cost etc....) it becomes a big deal. Lets see, 600,000 claims pending, 90 percent of them will be pending over 2 years..... Wow thats a lot of wasted manhours and money spent if they do in fact send out one of them buggers every 60 days.

He was probably a phone guy with the public contact team (1-800 guys) hahahahahahahahahahahaha

Loss of use does not = can't walk! There are medical devices which allow you to walk. If you have loss of use of the ole organ and receive SMC K and they give you viagra does that mean you should not be getting SMC K? Just trying to see what you based your statement on.

"when the claimant submits Form 9 and the claim has been docketed. Once this is done, I believe the claimant has 90 days after that to submit any additional evidence before the BVA will noty accept any more." The 90 day rule does not go into effect until the claimant has been notified that their file has been certified and forwarded to the board. When this happens you will know because you will get a letter from the VARO stating that this has occured. If the letter of the law is followed your claim receives a docket number as soon as you submit the form 9. After that it could sit at the VARO for another 2 years before being certified to the board. Certification does not occur until you have your BVA hearing, if one is requested. At that point the BVA request your complete CFile and they start the rating/review process.. Up until you have been notified that your file/claim has been certified to the board you can submit all the evidence you want to regardless of the assignment of a docket number.

Come on Pete this is the VA they don't have to weasle out they will simply thumb their nose at the thing as they do with all laws and regulations and just keep on marching to their own little drum beat.

Welcome to Alabama BigPapa. I sure hope your claim is compelte and our VARO here does not have to do anything with it. They are worthless idiots who would vanish from the face of the earth if someone did not tell them to breathe.

Their assumption is made on an older vet who has left service and held a post service job successfully and retired from that job, then filed for I/U at age 55 or 60 vs a younger vet who receives the same amount of disability payment for total disability and was not able to persue and maintain such post service employment. Kinda makes sense in a way, however, I agree that they will use it and anything else they find to split groups of veterans. Also could be used to attack I/U again if you began drawing I/U at a late age. Now if you had to quit your job because of a service connected disability that would be ok but if you retired from a post service job and then applied for I/U hmmmmmmm..........

Forgot to ask - should I take all of my sleep study and PN records with me to the C&P?

Congratulations! Stick around and see if your new found knowledge of the VA might be able to help another veteran.

As Pete said you will just have to wait and see the decision. It could also mean that you were granted a rating just not what you asked for. If multiple issues were appealed then maybe some were granted and some denied. There is just no telling.

My VARO just told me that my file had been sent to Birmingham VAMC for exams on PN and Sleep Apnea. The evidence submitted with this claim included nerve conduction studies and the sleep studies along with the doctor reports and doctor opinions. So I wonder what they need to examine? I guess this puts off a decision for another six months (waiting on exams and return of file back to VARO. Any comments will be appreciated.

congratulations. I am sure you will be able to work out the correct effective date.

I think the court would view as an informal claim.

Signature of next of kin should do it as long as you are listed so in the VA medical world. However, to save time and avoid any problems I would go ahead and send a copy of the executor status - you know the VA they can be picky at times. If all treatment was received at a VAMC the eventually all records end up in one place and that being the veterans medical record file. If the doc was working for the VA and treatment was received in a VAMC all records should be in one place.

Vike, sorry to hear about your hosptial ordeal. I am glad you are back also for you provide straight forward well grounded advice. Maybe not what I or others want to hear but it is very sound. Once again welcome back.