john999

Get TDIU and then go after retro and filing a CUE.

Captain The CAVC discovered the BVA used the wrong rating chart for my CUE. This cost me a year's wait while that dumb mistake was corrected.

High blood pressure is also being considered as presumptive. How long is this going to take. I sure can't wait 20 years for presumption. I wonder how the IOM pick control groups for their studies? They use statistics so they need some group to compare RVN vets to their control group. The VA does not do their own studies for AO. When the very last RVN vet is on his/her death bed the IOM/VA will decide that AO is the cause of all RVN vet's deaths. John

About 655,000 RVN vets have done the exam and got on the registry. I found out that ALS for any vet is SC'ed. This is one SC you don't want. Also, Parkinson,s disease is presumptive. I often wonder why skin cancer is not presumptive for RVN vets since most received sunburns and severe sun exposure during their tour.

If you have DMII and you can get the VA to do a CT scan of your legs it will probably show some hardening of the arteries. You can file for this as aterioscelorotic (spelling ??) heart disease secondary to DMII. I got it that way. You may not get 100% for this but I got 60%. I had the VA do a CT scan of a lump on my leg and they discovered the hardening of the arteries. DMII is secondary to so many other problems it is good to keep up on it. The VA may identify the condition but they won't make the DMII connection. John

Due process for us vets means that the VA has to consider each and every piece of evidence in the vet's file before they can make a decision. At least until the last ten years the VA often did not list or consider all the evidence in a vet's file. Even crucial evidence like IMO's and private medical records were ignored. Evidence was changed and altered. Phil Cushman's case in federal court established that the vet had a property right that required due process when filing a claim. The VA is supposed to do a SSOC every time you send them evidence while your claim is in the appeals process. They have never done this for me. I send new evidence right up to the last day if I think it is important. What about submitting new evidence at a DRO Hearing? Does this mean your claim goes to the bottom of the pile again? I think from my experience that if you have evidence you should try and get that in your record by any and all means while your claim is waiting for a decision. John

I used VA home health care. The VA just contracted out my care to a very undependable group. I was supposed to get PT. I would make an appointment and the PT guy would show up three hours late. This went on and on until I just told him "don't come back". If it works for you, Pete, let me know. Johh

Where common law marriage is accepted I see it as OK. Where it is not accepted it can be hell for older spouse and children. Divorce and marriage laws have huge history of precedents and accepted practice. Lawyers and judges know very well what is acceptable divisions of property, pensions, child issues etc. When people who are not in legal common law marriage separate it is anyone's guess how property will be divided. For an older common law couple where one partner is sick or in need and the other is not the less able partner is apt to end up sitting on the curb. Marriage is important because it is a legal and moral vow. It should not be easy to walk away from it. John

Did you receive a VCAA letter yet?

When I took the exam the doctor identified three AO conditions. Of course, I had to file claims on all these conditions and go to C&P exams.

My mothers died while waiting for A&A. The county VSO told me the VA does this all the time. My mother was in a nursing home and she could have used the extra money for P&T etc. My grandmother did not get A%A because my grandfather's military records could not be located since he served before WWI. The only one who got A%A was my aunt who got DIC for about 50 years off and on. John

Congrats!

I think gays and straights should have exactly the same rights for marriage and spousal benefits. When I was a child I grew up in the south. Blacks could not eat with me as a white, sleep with me as a white, go to school or even go to the toilet with me. We see this now as barbaric. We will see discrimination against gays the same way in a few years. My marriage is not threatened by what other people do. The straight person who lives with someone, and has five children with that person, but never gets married is flouting a system designed to protect all parties. John

New evidence in the form of a IMO for depression would help since you were treated for and DX'ed for depresssion in service.

I tried the full face mask and it did not work for me. I am getting a SECOP from the VA.

I find the VA respects MD type doctors the most. If you spend to get an IMO get it done by a psychiatrist.

I think you will be OK because PTSD is Axis one and your C&P looks good to me. These conditions bleed into each other. To separate depression, anxiety disorder, sleep disorder and PTSD is just not possible unless their is a physical reason in the brain.

Yes, the VA will leap on the brain tumors as the cause of your total disability. If you can soft peddle the brain tumors, or just exclude the SSDI information all together. You have enough to get TDIU without SSDI. Giving the VA any optional reason for your TDIU besides a service-connected one is to give them a string to pull on. It happened to me from a doctor's report that mentioned a NSC problem I had. The VA denied my TDIU even though I was 70%. You don't want to give them any ammunition to use against you at all. John

Yes, it may help if the congressman is your brother-in-law. Other than that it probably won't help since your congressman or senator has other things to do like raising money from bank lobby in D.C.

Yes, the doctor should list and discuss each event and how it contributed to your present disability. He is going to have to explain how a series of events during a year were the cause of your stenosis and DDD. 1991-92 is over 20 years ago. Do you have SMR's that show injuries in-service to your neck and back? The doctor needs to show the progression of these chronic conditions over 20 years and how it all started in 91-92 while you were in the service. Have you been in treatment since the military? I am just trying to see like the VA might see it. John

I get the impression from visits to the CAVC website that my lawyer, Karl Kazmierczak, is specializing in CUE claims. Many of his other clients besides me are doing CUE's and he is representing them. I think he learned a lot about CUE's doing mine. John

The OIG is assuming all these temp. 100% ratings will be lowered if they are re-evaluated. Is every rating of 100% that is not P&T considered temporary?

You could have the consult just for information. I think you are right to be skeptical of surgery. There is no minor or riskless surgery. I had "minor" foot surgery and ended up with awful staff infection that laid me up for a month. Many here have had back surgery. I had wrist and shoulder surgery. Both failed. If you just have a single disc that is bad maybe it is an option that is good. John

DAV tried to discourage me from filing an appeal for TDIU that was denied. Using DAV as my POA I got 70%. I got the IMO's and filed the TDIU forms. I got information from Hadit. DAV just took the credit from my 70%. I stopped using them after I sent in NOD/DRO Hearing request for my TDIU. VFW once appealed my claim stating my real problem was I was a personality disorder....I lost, of course. This was way before Hadit. American Legion was OK at paper holding, but no strategic thinking or planning to win my claim. You give them what you have and they run or crawl with it. What a vet needs as a POA is someone who understands where the vet wants to go and helps them devise a plan to get there. It is like a chess match. Your POA should help you set up the board and make the moves to checkmate the VA.

I got the USPS to change my hours from 6pm - 2:30 am, to 7am to 3:30 pm due to on the job injury. My doctor told them, and OWCP told them to accommodate me in this, otherwise pay me to stay at home. If you have an OWCP injury the feds will usually accommodate you within reason. If it means paying you to stay home they will turn back flips to try and keep you working at something. John