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jamescripps2

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Everything posted by jamescripps2

  1. After more than 500 post on Hadit and no warnings, why this? Your content will need to be approved by a moderator
  2. Yes Bronco, It is a well known fact that I was the very the first veteran to ever be granted agent orange exposure at a military post or base, inside the Continentntal United States. November 2009. This is a link to that very first win. If you choose to move this to a new, more,"modern thread", please feel free to do so. Before I won that case, the VA and the DoD claimed that Agent Orange had NEVER!, EVER!, been used inside CONUS. PERIOD. Well, they can never, ever, make that statement again. https://www.va.gov/vetapp09/files5/0941553.txt
  3. Ok Sam / Lem, if you can't touch your forfinger to your thumb, then you have lost the grip in that hand and thus, according to the VA regs at 38 CFR 3.350 you have loss of use of a hand.. No matter that you can type in a modified manner. I am rated for loss of use of two hands, but I manage to use my keyboard in a two finger fashon. And no, you are not required to use splints, or anything else, for that matter.
  4. You must be refering to 38 CFR 3.350 (2) ((I). Loss of use of a hand or foot. I suggest that you re read that passage and take note that, first of all there is a big difference in foot drop, and an amputation. Also there is a big difference in wearing an afo and a requiring a prosthedic appliance. Pes Planus is a relatively common foot deformaty., whereas foot drop is loss of the common peroneal nerve. In itself, foot drop and wearing afos is not considered loss of use of feet. It is only at the point that you can show by medical opinion that you have foot drop and permanent loss of the peroneal nerve, so severe, that you would be equqlly well be served by amputation and the fitting of an prosthedic app[iance(artificial leg). Then, and only then would loss of use of a foot be considered and conceeded. Loss of use of two feet is a 100% award and will get you SMC "L".
  5. Bronco, I don't know when your Court fees were paid by the EAJA. I went up to the CAVC in 2021. At one time an attorney was allowed to collect EAJA fees and then the attorney was required to deduct that ammount from what the veteran owed. When I hired CCK to take my case, CCK won a joint motion for remand. I also retained them to take the case back to the Board. I was informed that the law had been changed and an attorney no longer had to deduct the amount EAJA fees from what the veteran was charged. I paid both. $4,700.00 was paid by EAJA funds, Then I had to pay $48,000.00 on top of that for the 20% that I owed. I also paid for the IMO that CCK had fronted. Bottom line, hiring an attorney is very expensive, But worth it in the end if there is a large retro outstanding.
  6. You want to service connect diabetes as due to what event in your military service? If you can't first win a claim for diabetes, how are you going to claim diabetic neuropathy, and then loss of use of two feet secondary to diabetic neuropathy? Loss of use of two feet would get you an SMC "L" award, but only if you can show the loss of use of two feet to be so disabling as to be considered that you would be equally well served by amputations with a phrostesis in place. Aid and attendance might work if you can get a VA form 21-2680 completed by your doctor, showing the need of A&A. A&A pays just a tad more than the "S" that you would be giving up, because you can't draw a "S" and a "L" at the same time. Really, what you would want to end up with down range is two "L" awards as due to two seperate and distinct disabilities. One "L" for loss of use and the other "L" for A&A. That would get you the maximum award of "O" and the A&A would automatically become R-1. There is a whole lot of speculation to make that kind of senario come together.
  7. Your next pay increase would be 100% plus an additional unrelated 60%. The "S" award.
  8. Read what I have written concerning the PCAFC caregiver program and the appealls process at my website
  9. John, I would suspect that your easiest path to the higher award of "L" you would need loss of use of two feet, or loss of use of two hands, or loss of use of one hand and one foot to get you to an L rating. To get there, file for an increase on the hands and feet. Be shure and ask the examiner to check the external popliteal nerve, (common peroneal nerve, causing foot drop. See and understand 38 CFR 3.350 (2) (b). As to the question of would it be worth pursuing? It could mean a substantial raise in compensation, an automobile grant, about $24,000.00 and special adaptive housing grant, about $117,000.00. The granting of the "L" rating for loss of use could eventually be used as a building block to obtain the "O" rating, and maybe the R-1 or R-2 ratings.
  10. You might check on the PCAFC caregiver program. If you need help with ADLs and can find someone who is willing to move in and take care of you, you might qualify. The compensation to your caregiver, room and board for the caregiver, and CHAMP VA would make it tempting.
  11. Five years is not a goal, maybe a hurtle, but not certainaly not a goal in any sence of the word. Ten, or even twenty years are also not goals. So many consider 100% to be the goal. Actually the goal should be when you obtain all of the benefits that you are entitled to. When, and if you get to 100%, then look at the SMC awards. See if you might qualify for a K, or the S award. Then take a look at the L, L-1/2 M, M-1/2 the N the N 1-2 and the O, awards. Then the R-1 , R-2, and the T awards. Check to see if you might qualify for an automobile grant, adaptive equipment, specially adaptive housing, or even a HISA grant, Take a look at the PCAFC caregiver's program and check on the independent living pregram through VR&E. My goal was an R-2 rating, along with level 2 PCAFC caregiver's benefits. I wanted the HISA grant and the Specially Adaptive Housing grant. I wanted the automobil grant with adaptive equipment. I wanted to get into the Independent Living Program. I achieved my goal when I was awarded all of those things to which I was entitled and to which I speak of here. Back in 2005, when I was finally granted my 100%, had I thrown in the towel and told the VA that I wanted no more exams, none of those other benefits would have been possible or realized. Agreed, not everyone can qualify for these mentioned benefits, but educate yourself and be all that you can be.
  12. The VHA's homemaker care pays a contracted company to come in and do chores for you, that include, but not limited to cooking, cleaning, shoping, and caring for your basic needs in the home and is limited to a predetermined number of hours per week. The A&A through the DVA pays you, the veteran. You can then use the money to pay for the services that you need, but the DVA does not tell you how to spend the money. There are three levels of A&A, The lowest 2024 rate is an L rating, paying $4,651.06 for a veteran alone. The next higher rating is A&A at the R-1 rate, paying $9,326.07 for the veteran alone. The R-2 and T ratings pay the lone veteran $10,697.23.
  13. I used the court precedent Akles v Derwinski to substantiate and recover ten years retro pay at the R-1 rate.
  14. No matter that you like your outside doctor, you need a VA primare care doctor. You can have both. Ask your VA primaru doctor to schedule you for a toxic exposures enviornmental exam. The results of that exam may help you prove your claim. It takes evidence and a paper trail to win claims. By using outside doctors, the paper trail is spotty at best as it is up to you to supply the VA with the outside records. True, you can sign a VA form 21-4142 and ask the VA to go after the records as due to their duty to assist. but it may take them a year or so to get the records, if indeed they are successful in getting them at all.
  15. Go to my website. Copy the Nexud letter explination and the example of a nexus letter, (two pages. Take those to your doctor and ask him/her for a letter, or in the alternative, to note in your medical record the diagnosis and likleyhood of exposure causing the diagnosed condition.
  16. Go to my website. Copy the Nexus letter explination and the example of a nexus letter, (two pages). Take those to your doctor and ask him/her for a letter, or in the alternative, to note in your medical record the diagnosis and likleyhood of exposure causing that diagnosed condition.
  17. It is purely a coincidence, but the topic to be discussed on the 10/11/2024 Exposed Vet radio podcast is exactly pertaining to your question that you have posed in this thread about what does your wife do, and what will she need upon the occasion of your demise. To listen in, about two minutes before 6:00 PM Central time, dial (515) 605-9764. you will be able to listen to the show. If you have a question or a comment, press 1 at any time and you will be able to communicate with the host, John Stacey and co host Ray Cobb. I suggest inviting your wife to listen in and be prepared to take some notes.
  18. You might find what you are looking for at the link below. Make shure that your wife has a certified copy of your DD-214. A certified copy has the seal embossed in it that can be felt with your fingers. You might provide her with at least three copies. https://www.va.gov/disability/dependency-indemnity-compensation/
  19. Namvet has a point there. When you get any decision, it is noted, on the first page of that decision, who your POA is, and the fact that your POA was CCed a copy of that decision.
  20. I might as well throw my two cents in. The Pact Act would only go back to May 2022. Nehmer only applies in boots on the ground agent orange claims, so no help there. I wouuld agree that the stressor for any PTSD claim would go back to the date of the event, but I never heard of a Vietnam Veteran winning a PTSD claim back to the in country stressor event. That is due to the VA's rule on the earliest effective date being the date of the claim or the date of diagnosis, whichever is latter. Not to discourage, but to realistically look at the situation, I would say that the time would be better spent applying for an increase, over and over again and looking for secondaries that can be claimed. To go from a PTSD rating at 30% to a 100% PTSD rating could take many years, or even a lifetime, if it ever even happened at all. As far as getting an attorney involved, the monetary incentive might be there, but the posibility of ever winning might put a damper on any pro bono posibility. I have never heard of but one truly frivolous claim. That would be trying to claim a non service connected pension, when the veteran's dates of service did not include at least one day during a period of war. Second to that, there was a Army veteram who claimed that he was exposed to agent orange while serving as a Game Warden stationed at Fort Gordon Georgia, when the DOD and the VA swore that agent orange had never been used in the Continental United States, PERIOD. Well that one made me a millionaire, twice over! Next in line is the case being debated and commented on in this thread. All I can say is good luck, and be as tenacious as that Georgia Game Warden.
  21. Generally, we do not fear a C&P exam, as that C&P exam can actually be in your favor and give favorable weight to your claim. You are right in that the lack of a diagnosis is your stumbling block. You need to get that diagnosis wherever you can and from whomever you can get it from. By law, your claim cannot be granted without a present day diagnosis. Geterdone!
  22. You are going to need a nexus. A well written and convincing note in your VA medical record is the next best thing, and can even be considered by a rater as a nexus. If, in addition, you can get a DBQ completed, that would be helpful and might even nix the need for a C&P to be ordered. but the DBQ, in itself, won't fill the void of no nexus.
  23. In my own case, beyond the 2680 that I submitted for A&A, no C&P exam was ordered and, the claim was granted. That is not the usual practice. Generally, there will be a C&P ordered upon the VA receiving a 2680 claiming a need for A&A. not the usual practice. generally, when the VA receives a 2680 claiming the need for A&A, a C&P is ordered. As far as getting an effective date back to 1989, I think that your 1989 date predates the statute that required the VA to consider A&A/HB, so it would not apply. consider A&A upon the granting of a new 100% award. Your case will be considered in light of whatever law was in effect at the time of your grant of 100%. The following Court precedant might help See Akles v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. See Akles v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 118 (1991)
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