john999

I would get a discrimination lawyer. They exist. Your boss has stepped all over your rights. I would say you are working in a hostile environment. If you use the standard EEOC route without a lawyer it will take a long time and chances are you will lose. The EEOC is just like the Water Department. Lots of paperwork and in the end your street still floods and you water bill is too high. You can probably consult for free. I am pretty sure your Boss has violated HIPPA and a few score of other laws by his actions. You must obey every rule and keep a record of every word your boss says to you. You can't give your company any legitimate reason to fire you. I have been down this road myself. I filed many EEOC complaints when I worked for the Feds. It is different when you work for private industry. John

No.

You should file for TDIU and SSD if you have not already.

I don't think I would be giving my DNA to anybody. Who knows where it might end up? Some corporation is probably going to make money off your DNA or genetic coding. You know there was a poor black woman who donated some cells 50 years ago. Multinational corporations are still growing her cells and experimenting on them and her heirs never got a penny and the corporations have earned billions. There is a book about it.

My advice is go to your C&P exams. Don't try and reschedule them. These exams are so important to your claim that I would walk barefoot to the exam if I had to get there. If you miss and exam for any reason the VA will deny your claim. They are so dumb that even if they agree to cancel and reschedule your exam they may just make a decision and say you missed your appointment. Twice the VA has canceled exam appointments on me at the last minute and then while I was waiting for them to reschedule they denied my claim saying I was AWOL from the exam. This is what you are dealing with so don't miss or try to reschedule an exam. Just get there if you have to walk on water to get there.

Wow, a GAF of 25 means they should not have let you out of the hospital. If your symptoms match up with the GAF you should have gotten 100%. They are not supposed to use the GAF anymore. However, to get a GAF that low you need to have psychotic symptoms according to the GAF scale. My father in-law had a TBI during WWII. That TBI affected him the rest of his life. He developed seizures and was totally insane for a while after the explosion according to family lore. He spent months in a military hospital. He did not have a scratch on him from the blast. Have you spoken to a private neurologist?

My private shrink has a daughter who is a neurologist. She worked for the VA, and even gave me a C&P exam once. She did not know her father was my doctor, and I did not realize she was his daughter. She quit the VA because she finally got tired of having her scripts overruled by the pharmacy, and her recommendations for patients shot down by some committee. She really wanted to work for the VA because her husband has some kind of self employment. She would have the benefits and he could take risks, but she said she was not allowed to practice neurology at the VA. They just wanted someone who would save money for the VA. Same thing happened to my pain doctor. He tried to practice pain medicine and the VA got rid of him. John

Berta I told my wife to never give out information like that over the phone again because it could come back at us. I think she was in shock and just blabbed, but that would be very underhanded of a government agency to pretend to be a PI. Maybe IRS hires PI's to do this type of work. If her EX had an IRS debt how could they collect from their daughters? It is very odd. I got my staff infection from a private doctor, but I wonder about VA dentists as well. When they scrape your gums or clean your death with some metal instrument it better be sterile or we could get Hep C or even HIV. Also, vets with DMII go to podiatrists to get their toe nails trimmed. Dangerous indeed if they break the skin or use dirty clippers. There are plenty of people working in the bowels of the VAMC who just don't give a damn and might even want to contaminate people. I worked in the medical supply dept. of the VA hospital about 30 years ago and there were some very nutty people working their besides myself. When you sue a doctor for malpractice in the real world the weight on the scales of justice is: Doctors (ten pounds) Patient (one ounce). People think it is easy to sue doctors. You are not suing them. You are suing their insurance company which has billions of bucks. I did win a malpractice lawsuit against a nursing home. I had a very high class lawyer. This guy could sue any nursing home under any condition and win.

What do you expect to gain if you get OSA service connected? You won't get any more money. You will have to pay Bash 2000-3000 bucks. I know how you feel because I would like to get my OSA SC'ed as well, but what do I stand to gain. I am in your boat as well. I got TDIU plus "S". SC for OSA would make me 100% scheduler but is it worth it now?

Berta Simmons........The VA's worst nightmare. Here is a tip about staff infections. Don't let doctors do in-office procedures. That is how I got a staff infection from a podiatrist. He did a very minor operation on my foot in the office with a local. I think I was infected almost immediately. The tiny wound never healed and I ended up in the hospital getting my foot cut open and dead tissue cut out of my foot. I filed a lawsuit but lost. I did not have MRSA. I almost lost my foot and had to get anti-biotic infusions every day for six weeks. Four years later my foot still hurts where the scar is on the bottom of my heal. All hospitals, doctor's offices and any other medical facilities are dangerous places. If the doctor or hospital gives you a staff infection I think it is very hard to win a lawsuit. I sure should have won mine, but other podiatrists lined up behind the jerk to swear that it was "Act of God" and unavoidable bad luck on my part. Even the Pod my lawyer hired to review the record said No Case. I went to the doctor's office and went home with a staff infection but it was all just a random act of God. John

I used spouse letter and a letter from my brother when I filed for TDIU. The VA listed it as evidence and quoted the evidence in the record. What the letters spoke to was my behavior and what they saw me do and what they observed about me. They did not try and DX me.

If you bring a recorder they don't have to examine you. If you get what you consider a bad exam you can ask for another exam. That does not mean the VA has to give you one. If the exam is used to deny a benefit you can appeal. I sent in an appeal because the C&P doctor indicated he believed I was faking. This after being SC for 25 years. I waited two years for the new exam. The new exam doctor knew the other exam doctor. He did everything possible to squash my rating increase but he was careful and did not make dumb suggestions that I was faking because I had a college degree like the other dork. I got me a couple of strong IME's from civilian doctors and my civilian treating doctor. I got my increase, but it took a few years. To depend on a VA C&P exam for a decent rating is really rolling the dice. I bought three IME's. Without those IME's the VA would have been able to screw me to this day. I agree with all that these exam doctors are mostly from the bottom of the barrel. Those are the kinds of doctors who do that sort of work. Successful doctors making a few million a year robbing medicare don't have to do C&P exams to pick up loose change.

I had a night and day study of my OSA recently. If I don't take my Provigil I will get sleepy during the day and end up sleeping for two hours. The VA would not prescribe Provigil for me, but my private insurance would do it. I found that by using mail order program I could get 90 days of Provigil for $10. If you buy it retail it would be a couple of hundred dollars. I think that when I was in the army the dx of OSA did not even exist.

Complain to your congressman. They are the ones who tell the VA they are spending too much on compensating vets. *&^% rolls down hill and it rolls all the way from congress. If congress gave the VA the word that then needed to give vets real benefit of doubt and treat them all with compassion it would happen. Behind the smiles and BS those very same congress critters are thinking who they have to cut to maintain bennies for their big money supporters. This is how it works in the USA.

Yes, a whole bunch of SSD lawyers jumped on the VA bandwagon to expand their practice because they thought VA claims were easy money. There are some in my town who no longer represent vets. They found out how long they would have to wait to get their money. Lawyers tend to think that basic principles of law can be used at the VA. Just because VA hides evidence or violates common ideas about due process is not always a good claim. The paternalistic VA awards undeserving claims at times, and denies good claims at a whim. The system needs to be busted open but I won't be alive to see that unless Putin kicks off WWIII, and we have a couple of 100 million new vets. John

I used IRIS to point out my claim was not a "new claim" but a claim for an increase in my DMII. They never addressed that, but gave me a bunch of BS about how hard they were working on backlog. I bet they are hard at work screwing up my simple claim.

My basic training SMR's also disappeared from my records. I remember going to sick call about my knees and feet. The medic called me a liar because nothing showed on x-ray. I also remember I was required to pack up my stuff before I was allowed to go on sick call in case I did not come back. I am pretty mad about this because I know have permanent foot problems but no record in SMR's. Now this is a long time ago. I got most of my SMR's and was outraged to see the entries these army medics, doctors and dentists made in the record. They were so careful not to make any DX. They just spoke in very general terms. One dentist just entered "exam" when I went for an exam for my TMJ. He did not make a DX so VA says my records are silent on this issue. I went to a army shrink about anxiety and he wrote in "personality disorder". He put me on anti-psychotic drug for a PD. That make sense?

If this FDC is going to take 14 months why bother using Ebenefits? I think FDC system is so backlogged they are no better than regular process. Maybe at first it was better but now that all want to use this system I am sure it is broken down. I know it is broken down with the FDC claim I filed.

The VVA lawyer works for the VVA and not you. You are not paying them. The VVA is paying them, and if VVA decides to cut their losses regarding your claim their lawyer will back off. When you have your own lawyer they get 20% of your retro. This induces them to work harder on a claim if they think they can win. Most of the VSO's are losers. John

I would not trust "Peggy" to put in request to re-open a claim. You should do that via paperwork you send to your VARO yourself via Certified mail/return receipt. I trust claims that are in writing. The FDC thing has not worked for me at all. When you send evidence, NOD's, appeals etc. you must have evidence of submission in your hand. The VA cannot find their own ass with both hands. John

Mine has been at Gathering Evidence state for 10 months. All the evidence is at the VA hospital 20 miles from the VARO. I don't believe a thing the VA says until I get a letter in the mail. John

Your PCP should know about your problems since the computer generates a "problems list". With your PCP's attitude maybe you ought to try and get a new one. Your PCP runs your medical care at the VA. A bad PCP is a millstone around your neck.

You say you requested TDIU based on which particular disability? You have a high enough percentage to get TDIU now. You just need to have a doctor say you can't work due solely to a particular disability. This is a new twist the VA threw in for TDIU claims. Are you on SSDI? That would help because you could use the SSDI disability as your TDIU disability. I see that somehow the VA feels justified in asking for records of your IHD claim. You should try and get the records from your IHD doctors so you can screen them and then supply them yourself. If the VA does it it could take months if not years. If you listed all your disabilities as being the cause of your TDIU then the VA is going to request all the records for those disabilities and probably schedule C&P exams. I think your TDIU claim will be a winner but it may take longer. I asked for an increase in my DMII rating. All my records are at the VA. That was 10 months ago and I am still at gathering evidence stage. You want to keep claims focused and don't give these idiots reasons to go on a fishing trip. I think asking them to drop the increase for IHD may complicate the whole thing. They are so dumb they may drop you entire claim for TDIU because they may believe your IHD is part of your TDIU claim. I know how you feel about distrust of VA.

Get your own lawyer. The VVA lawyer is not your lawyer.

You should tie your depression to your pain and medical condition every chance you get. If you file a claim for depression secondary to your medical conditions you need a psychiatrist to write a letter in IME style and say that your depression is secondary to your SC conditions. The VA won't put it together for you. You must present them with the whole predigested rational and DX and nexus. If it were me I would see the VA shrink for maybe 6 months to a year and keep pounding the connection between your pain and disability and your depression.