Ricky

Kia - I fully understand your feelings and I think that all of the Hadit members understand your problems with the meds. That is why I am up typing at 12:47 on Hadit even though I have to be up at 5:00 AM to get ready for work NEVER take the advice of a veteran or anyone else who says to lie about your disability! This will only make you feel bad as a person and could land you in jail with a big back payment bill to the VA. As I said things are bad but then life has a way of letting them work out in your favor. Hang in there and keep plugging away on Hadit. What part of Georgia are you in? I am an old Georgia boy myself. Was born and raised in North Georgia then retired from service in Alabama. Georgia does have good state benefits for veterans. Alabama sucks big time. At 100 percent I think they would give me x amount of a percentage off of my first 30,000 of taxes property taxes, then that even has some type of income requirement. Since I work and draw my VA benefits I do not qualify. Bad thing is the entire time I was in service I claimed Georgia as my home of record so I paid state taxes. Felt as though since I grew up there and used the roads etc....... and all of my kin people still live there I should pay taxes. So 25 years of paying taxes there but no benefits - I guess old dogs can learn new things - don't be stupid while on active duty hahahahahahahahaha. Oh well.

Kia - Welcome to Hadit the greatest veterans site on the net. Have you re-applied for I/U since your new rating? I would do so as you may get it this time (just my opinion). Keep up the fight and if you are 100 percent disabled you will win. It just takes a little time. At what point are you in the SSDI claim? As you know and from reading post on this issue it also takes time to come to light. Hang in there and visit Hadit on a regular basis. Ther are some true experts on here such a Six, Berta, Pete, Vike ect.......... They along with the experiences of other veterans on this site will be a great asset to you while processing both VA and SSDI claims.

Wow Six - you were right that needs some thought process while reading it but it is accurate and a good explanation. Although I am usally on the VA like a maggot on you know what, the thing that needs to be remembered here is that with this disability system you can be rated at 70, 80, 90, or even 100 percent disabled, draw the corresponding disability payment and still work a full time job if you are capable. So it is the only disability system that pays you and still allows you to hold a job and make unlimited amounts of income. There is no other disability system like this in the United States so in that sense the math is fair. Just my opinion. An example would be you are rated 100 percent based upon loss of use for both legs, however you could still work for a company in the computer field, security field, management field etc..... and draw a salary of 150,000 per year - that is a pretty good disability system. This statement does not apply if you are rated for mental issues such as PTSD etc.......... There are special condiserations in rating mental issues.

If a medical doctor states "complete loss of functional use" does that equal loss of use for rating purposes?

Vike gave good advise. Make sure you tell them what areas of the body your claim is for. If you don't then they will have a hard time trying to decide your claim because they do not know what areas are affected.

Do you have to pay for full access? This is a great reference for claims as the VA quotes it in their denials all the time.

Yes it is correct. SSI is income based please see www.ssa.gov for indepth information and income levels. No there is no other way to obtain these benefits if you exceed the income levels established by the government. Sorry. There may be some state benefits which might help him so please visit you local state benefits office.

I think both of you are right and it depends on the timing of the appeal. However, the BVA could cause a stall in either direction. If it renders a decision and, lets say, does not provide adequate reasons and bases, the ineffective kangaroo court can only remand it back to the board, who then upon relook decides the RO should have........ see my point. If they wanted to they could really put a stall on the claim. Once on the docket always on the docket at BVA. Not taking up for these fools but the claim remans a stat against them until a final decision is rendered. My question is why can they not just simply unfuddle the damn claim. It would make it so much simpler. They simply fix all of the RO mess ups and make a final decision. I know the DAV filed an action sometime ago with the court which resulted in stopping the board from further developing the claim at their level. I do not know what prompted this but I guess it was appropriate. Anyway I just wish they would fix the claim and make a decision on the dang thing without remanding it.

What came first? If the hypertension was SC'ed then the kidney disease the the kidney should be rated seperatly fairly easy. This is strange as even if one caused the other, both are SC'ed, just lumped together, then one should have been secondary. However, only a doctor would be able to unfuddle it as it all boils down to a medical issue of how one relates to the other.

I have to agree with all below. A heart condition that should be SC'ed should be fought. If the veteran passes from a heart related disease it would be exteremly hard to SC it for DIC purposes at that point. If this was a recent award then I think you should be ok (just my opinion). Was it a solid SC for the mental issue or did you have to appeal in order to obtain SC? Six good to see you again.

Hoppy - thanks and I understand your points. This was a general question and I have seen it on several occassions. However, what techicalities do you speak of? If a medical specialist conducts standard (medical community approved) tests to acheive a diagnosis, then treats the disease or injury, I do not see any technicalities. Now if you went to a foot doctor who was treating you for a foot issue and issued a statement about a neurological issue then I could see your point. But if you have a neurologist who is treating you for a neurological issue and issues a statement then it is an issue of giving weight to a report. This is what raters do. They weigh the evidence against each other in every claim. Yes my rater vs veteran will not hold much weight under the current system. Although I understand your point - there are many, many new raters who do not have the experience you spoke of however, they have the same power as the old 20 year guy two desks down. Maybe my post is a bad one because it is preceived as one that requires many assumptions - but to me it does not require any assumptions for you see it happening post after post on veteran sites. Veterans are speechless whey they read their denials especially when they have provided their treatment records with a statement by their treating doc and the bases for the denial was the results of a short C&P exam. Now if the VA doc waited and issued his opinion after conducting the required test then you would have a justified difference of opinon between two doctors in which the benefit of the doubt rule should kick in. However, a simple check of the reflexes and 15 min review and question concerning you medical history is not a justified reason to use the opinion of the VA doc to deny a claim. Any way as I said maybe this is a bad post or maybe I am simply not able to articulate my question. And maybe it is an area where I am simply being hard headed - you know I can be that way sometimes hahahahaha. [b]Therefore, I ask Pete or one of the other mods to close and remove this post. This will allow me to ponder the issue in my head for a while and if it is a worth while cause I will post it later.

"Here's the other side of the story; http://p203.ezboard.com/fvetbenefitsfrm73....picID=492.topic VIKE before you jump the gun and try to discredit me I suggest that you know what you are talking about. First my post here was not in reference to my post on VBN. I have asked this question on many sites and believe it or not there are some sites that are more pro-Va than VBN. If I had wanted people to know which site I was speaking of I would have provided it. I do not jump around on the net and try to discredit other sites by name because even though I have my own opinion of the various site I believe that all of the veteran sites have some benefit to all veterans. So to other readers of this post please visit my post on VBN. It was a great post and it did result in some good discussion. Although I do not always agree with crusier he is very knowledgeable of the VA system as he was a senior rater for the VA. Visit and read it. HOWEVER, THIS WAS NOT THE POST I SPOKE OF!~!!!!!!! ALTHOUGH IT DID KINDA FOLLOW MY COMMENTS IN THIS POST IT IS NOWHERE NEAR THE SITE I SPOKE OF. IF I HAVE A BAD OPINION OF A VETERAN SITE I WILL NOT NAME IT FOR I DO NOT WANT TO DISCOURAGE ANY VETERAN FROM VISITING AND USING THAT SITE. IT IS NOT FAIR TO THE SITE NOR THE VETERAN. VIKE - I VALUE YOU OPINIONS, EXPERTISE AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE VA SYSTEM AND I FOLLOW AND USE YOUR ADVISE ALOT IN MY PERSONAL CLAIMS AND WHEN I VOLUNTEER TO ASSIST OTHER VETERANS, HOWEVER, FEEL THAT YOU ARE OUT OF LINE THIS TIME. HOPE YOU DO NOT TAKE THIS THE WRONG WAY AND STOP POSTING REPLYS TO MY POSTS AS I DO NOT MEAN TO DRIVE ANY WEDGES BETWEEN US.

The VA does not lie! It deceives by any means possible. If it results in the death (murder) of a veteran due to negligence then so be it according to the VA. Their thought is the end result always justifies the means!

If Satan (Sec Nicholson) asked for the review you can bet the damn thing is rigged. I bet if you look real good at the fine print, either him or one of his croonies is some where in the chain of command of the oversight body. betcha, betcha, betcha!!!!!!! SEC NICHOLSON (ALSO KNOW BY ME AS SATAN) MUST GO. WRITE YOUR CONGRESS IDIOT TODAY!!!!!!!!!

I agree with Betrayed - after serving a little over 25 years on active duty it is very hard to swallow the fact that the VA is coming out of this smelling like a rose by screwing up the system pushing the 400 thousand that had alread filed claims to the bottom of the bag and placing these guys and gals at the top. This was only done with one thing in mind and that was to present a picture to America that the VA was a top notch organization. At this point no matter how loud we old guys scream the desired result has already happen. In general the public thinks the VA is a God send to veterans. It is only those new veterans who just started having problems with the VA that now knows this is a crock of crap. NO one cares - congress, white house, senate, public etc.......... out of site out of mind. You will only see a small out cry from a congress idiot if he/she thinks it will provide them with a press story which will help their re-election. Out side of that the country remains silent. Just look at what has happened over the years and no body has done a damn thing. We were treated worse than criminals, illegal aliens and communists by being denied legal reps to assist us; we were given a f#####ed up court that is really not a court. It has no power to award a claim, its legal opinions are only binding on the VA is the Sec of VA says they are; The regulations that implement U.S. LAW allow the developer (the VA) to do so with out any real over sight; Yes, yes, yes they did develop an IG to provide oversight but have you called the IG lately to voice a complaint? I have and the answers I got from them was "we don't hanlde that sir," ok what about..........? "sorry sir we don't handle that," the called ended up in me say "well could you please just give me a hint of what the hell the VAOIG does investigate?" So you see the system was designed to be a big PROPAGANDA outfit from the begining!!!!! You hear " the white house failed to budget in all of the cost associated with the war". No it did not! they fully understood the total cost of the war. They knew that the care of the veterans of the war would far exceed any war budget they made public. They simply allowed for a few million for the VA to treat and give quick compensation to the first few thousand guys and gals which was use to say "hey see we knew the cost and allowed for it, ole Johnny here just got his missing legs fixed up and the VA approved his claim within 30 days." When the American public bought off on this bull crap the VA went into NORMAL mode - denials of compensation and health care - business as usual. If you don't believe this just read some of the storys about guys and gals missing limbs who were denied compensation because the VA could not find or get a hold of their medical reords in order to prove service connection. YEAH RIGHT...... the veteran is sitting there in a state of numbness thinking.....YEAH RIGHT.... I was in Iraq, got my leg blown off during a mission, was medivaced to Walter Reed, treated for 6 months and then release into the care of the VA. Nah just joking Mr. VA, I was never really in Iraq and I just sit down one day and took a saw and sawed my leg off!!!!!!! what the hell was the VA thinking -----A veteran sent to them from Walter Reed with a missing limb and they deny the claim!!!!! see business as usual. Sorry betrayed but I just wanted to rant a bit - bottom line is I AGREE with you on this issue. Many from other sites will read this and post on there sites that we are creating a conspirsy theory and laugh-----but they appear to be unable to see reality. This stuff is not made up --- it happens on a daily basis and has been happening for many many years.....

I asked this question on another site and when I headed off all of the standard pro VA zombies and demanded straight forward answers I got beat up for being anti-VA it kinda just went to the wayside so I will try it here for I know I will get some well rounded responses: In weighing medical evidence what gives a VA non-medically trained rater, in other words a LAY PERSON, the right to take a one time 15 min C&P exam for an in-depth medical issue, lets say a neurological condition, and use it to over ride the treatment records and opinions of a neurologist who has treated a veteran for 3 years and deny a claim? I know, I know the damn regulations do, but, but, but......... Should we not be able to get this changed? By doing so the regulations promote a double standard. By this I mean a non-medically trained veteran is a LAY PERSON and his opinions concerning a diagnosis of his/her disability is worthless, but the same regulation allows a non-medically trained rater, a LAY PERSON, to look at evidence and make a determination about a diagnosis. On the other site I was beat to death due to the fact that the C&P examiner had made the determination. As I said his determination, a non-speciality trained doctor, was made during a 15 min reviwew and exam of the veteran. When looked at by the rater he decided to use that determination alone to out weight the treatment records and opinions of a medical specialist who had examined the veteran multiple times and provided dedicated treatment for the condition for over 3 years. Therefore, the rater in fact did make a diagnosis and sided with the C&P doctor. I understand if the medical evidence provided was consistent with a medical opinion received by doctor shopping - for the right amount of money you can find any doctor in these new walk in any time clinics popping up in the community on a daily basis that will say and write anything. However, if the medical evidence is from a dedicated treating specialist there is no way this would hold up in court. Well it would not hold up in a REAL COURT. In our kangroo court established for us the only thing they can do is issue an opinion which is only binding on the VA if the sec of VA says it is or remand a case back to the board and tell them what to fix in order to make their decision pass muster in the kangaroo va legal system. This is our problem - we need to work on getting the kangaroo court out of the way so we can go directly to a real court. Even if we can hire attorneys they will be bound and hog-tied by the bogus VA legal system and we MUST remember it is not really a true legal system - the sec of VA can decide what he/she wants to adhere to.

I had a De Novo review which was the same as the one Berta received -sameo, sameo. I had to file my Form 9 due to the time line. I raised so much hell about the improper SOC issued they now have it under review by another DRO and gave me a DRO hearing. So I guess you can have a double DRO review. The only thing that I can think of to support such an action is CFR 38 Part 3 which provides that the vet can have a hearing at anytime during the claims process. The only thing that would keep you from having a hearing at the VARO is if you have a form 9 pending and the VARO has already transfered you file to the board. At that point the hearing would be held by BVA personnel rather than the VARO.

What if you were given anthrax but there is no record of it? How would you get the proof?

Any rating issued below 100 percent will not indicate P&T. As Berta stated they and and do sometimes will call you in for a reeval just to check you status. Even if they rate you as 100 percent P&T they can still reevaluate your disability. As full as their hands are now I would not expect such an action to be done. However, once and if they ever, get caught up they may just do so.

I think about giving myself a bonus every day when I wake up but then I realize heck, I ain't go no money.

Robert is right. P&T with no future exams scheduled means just that - none scheduled. However, the VA does have the duty to keep a good eye on the taxpayer's money so they can recall to update your status. Now with their hands full that may never happen but it could.

Vike may be on to something here. When in 2000 did you leave active duty? During your out processing what location did you tell them you were returning to? Although I do not know if what Vike is looking at applies to you because you were active duty - no records found; then you joined reserves - tour overseas then records appeared. The cases refered to below stem from those in the NG or reserves who were called to active duty, became disabled, filed their claim, was rated/denied then their unit sent in additional records which either increased their rating or provided evidence of Service Connection. Anyway just listen to Vike and he will steer you correctly.

Based upon what you posted below I do not see a CUE. Could you be a little more specific as to what you are claiming CUE on. Remember - it has to be a question of law/legal reason. The fact that VA did not have your records, or the fact they denied you PTSD etc.... can be chalked up to reasons other than their violation of a law, regulation etc... Cue is an exteremly high standard and must be based upon the evidence on hand at the time.

I think their intent is to develop a pool of attorney's who are either worthless or VA friendly just as they have done with the service organizations. Just wait and see before you know it the VA will be providing all kinds os bennies to attorneys who handle VA claims such as extra tax breaks, credit for pro bono required time, a general office space within the VARO (for all attorneys to use) etc. etc. etc...... This reg provided that inorder to carry out congress' intent to allow veterans the right to legal counsel the VA must develop a written test....... HORSE HOCKEY!!!!!! Congress' intent was to allow veterans the right to seek and hire counsel of their choice. The only written test that this requires is a Bar Exam!!!!! Who the hell are they trying to fool. It is just like the kangaroo court they gave us. This is the only federal level court that I know of that does not have any power. They can not award benefits like the other courts. They can not force their opinions onto the Department. The only thing they can do is DENY CLAIMs or remand them back to the board and with the remand they tell the board specifically what to change so when it comes back to the court the next time it will be right and result in an opinion that upholds the actions of the BVA. What damn legal system in the world is set up like that? The only ones that I know of are those in communist countrys. So my only comment which I am sure will be laughed at is inorder to perserve the good order and standing of state bar associations and to reduce the likelyhood of fraud and other criminal acts which always tend to appear when the government tries to control a private enity the VA should have no authority to regulate the hiring of any attorney's. Ha just had a thought - you know sometimes when selling or buying a house you run into an agent who represents both the seller and the buyer? Would it not be something if the VA tried to offer/force veterans to accept representation by their staff attorneys! hahahahahhahaha Yep that would be darn funny Ethel, but I would not put it past them at all. Just think the fees charged to us could be used to offset their govt salaries. Holy Batman I gotta go to be cause I am thinking just like a VA manager - Where is my bonus!!!!!!

Hmmmmmm........ Sledge may be on to something here! I bet if I agree to fib for the VA I could be put in charge of the whole program. Jez I do not even have to test this thing for I know it will be a success - Where's my bonus?