john999

Great! Stick around and help.

If not for IMO's I would be stuck at 30%. Because I had been in psychotherapy for a long time I had met many doctors who steered me in the right direction. However, just by asking for more testing and appealing I got my heart condition increased from 0% to 60%. This was all done at the VA using their resources. Using this I got "S". This was due to BOD. I just collected more evidence than that crappy C&P exam and appealed. The IMO is the most important tool for vets. I did not pay that much for mine. I doubt I paid 300 bucks but I got them from MD's who knew how to write a report. John

If they get enough evidence the VA can say all your problems are genetic and pre-existing. They want us for lab rats.

If the VA knows you are on SSDI that should be enough. However, I was federal employee as well so if they have you disability Form 50 that shows exactly the last day you worked. I submitted my OPM retirement paperwork but it was early in the process. Mine worked almost just like yours. I would say you are batting 1000. John

I suppose you could think of PTSD as a mental injury caused by some horrific event that disorders the emotions and mind for a time or even for ever. The same as if you were shot through the leg and recovered some of your use or maybe not. I received some shocks in Vietnam that were sudden and would not have happened if I had not been there. I recovered from the worst affects but it took years. It was not like being nervous or depressed. It was like having the living crap scared out of you to the extent you never feel safe again.

I have benefited from BOD one time in a pretty big way. I was shocked because I was not looking for BOD at all. 99% of the time BOD was against me except for one time. Always appeal low ball ratings and get more testing. Just the weight of evidence can put you into BOD land.

When I retired on SSD I got more than if I had retired at 62 and less than if I had retired at 66. I waited two years for medicare. Even if through no fault of your own you retire early the SSA wants you to pay a price because of "moral hazard". They would rather sick people work themselves to death and retire with full benefit at 66. If any out there can actually live just on SSA I congratulate them. I can't. John

Pete If you were unable to work in 1992 it is possible the VA should have inferred TDIU. The fact you got 100% for panic all those years after your discharge is pretty amazing to me. I had months of in-patient treatment for depression in the army and all I got was 10%. Stay on it and maybe get a lawyer to review your file and that 1992 DX. These old decisions really stink. John

When dealing with the VA if you want it bad enough you can get it. You may have to fight like hell but you will get there. It is like that with most things in life. If you really want it you can get it. You may have to pay your pound of flesh. John

If your disability is a mental one I think you have an edge with SSA because the doctors can't measure mental ROM or look at a CT scan or MRI and say you are just fine. Of course, being bipolar or having severe PTSD is hell.

I agree with Phil. Would you want triple by-pass done at your local VA hospital with a resident doing it while being supervised by a real doctor? I had surgery on my foot recently at private hospital. The doctor who did the surgery did not leave orders for pain meds during my recovery. The head nurse was able to call him up and get the order no problem. Now I wonder if that could have been done at the VA? My wound had to be dressed and packed each day and this was no joke. I needed a shot of morphine after change of dressing. I was left in a VA hospital for almost three days without seeing a doctor over a weekend. I did not sleep for three days. Nobody even tried to contact a doctor to get me some help. With these staff infections rampent you risk your life any time you get cut on for anything. John

Isn't there some SSA rule that says if both spouses are getting SSA the spouse with the least annuity will have their annuity increased to at least half of the spouse who gets more? My spouse will get SSA at age 62, but she will get just half of what I make now.

The St. Pete Times has a large article about the corruption in the VA guardianship programs where the VA appoints some lawyer to handle an incompetent vet's money for a fee even though this vet has a sister who already handles his money. Carlie will know about this and can post the website. John

Stillhere I do also and I am shocked at how little they know about the rights they have under presumptive AO regs. The VA only takes care of a minority of deserving vets because they don't want to take care of the other 10,000,000 who never have used the system.

Do you have medicare of some other insurance. I had the same operation more or less when I was 54 years old. It may help with ROM and not help with pain but I would not let clowns at VA do it.

Berta I admire your courage, brains and spunk. I told my wife you talk to you about DIC if I croak before she does. I don't know if I was the first to welcome you to Hadit but you are the noted brains along with a few others here that everyone turns to when they are up the creek. John

If I win this might mean that when the VA just decides not to use some of your evidence in a rating decision you have a CUE if it is a final decision. Many of the older decisions are so flawed it is worth looking at them again even if you choak on mothballs. John

I talked to a Korean vet who was there in 67-68 and has DMII. I tried to get him to find out about AO Registry to see if he was in the right part of Korea. I know he was in Northern part of S. Korea because this was after the Pueblo. He was an armed MP and did guard duty behind a machinegun. As usual I got nowhere with this guy. He just cannot believe the VA would ever do anything for him or that he might be entitled to something. I don't know either but he is retiring in a year with no pension just SSA. John

Cool and Bernie I am afraid to have ingrown toenail fixed due to the last staff infection I got. I was on IV anti-biotics in the hospital for three days after surgery on my foot. I was on daily infusions of anti-biotics for 6 weeks. I had a big hole in my foot and they had to pack and unpack it every day by shoving cotton swabs into the hole with long wooden chop sticks. I was usually driping sweat by the time that was over. You could have eye surgery and get a staff infection. Imagine that for a horrible thought. John

My CUE is back at the Court again under John T. King. There are two of my cases listed there. I just got some senior VA appeals lawyer named to represent the VA. This is because my CUE was denied and not dismissed last time because my case was a CUE but the VA maintained it did not make any difference even though the difference is between a 10% rating and 100% rating in our brief. Anyone can go look it up at the Court site. It shows just how hard some of the CUE claims with much retro can be to win.

I got my SSD in about 4 months. It took almost 2 years to get TDIU. I would file for anything I can get because all these programs take time and your time may run out while you wait. John

I got a rating for bipolar of 30%. It depends on if you are working. I was working and had been working for some years. If your bipolar is so bad you can't work then TDIU or 100% is very possible. Getting the PD dx thrown out was your major victory. John

Your PCP can be a big help in these matters. If you have a very good relationship with your PCP they can pull strings. Anything is possible within the VA system if you can get to the right strings to pull. John

Berta In the case where I have a CUE at the Court represented by a lawyer if I were to die next week what should my widow do? I think it is most likely going to be direct SC death or the 10 year P&T DIC, but I would need an autopsy for to prove direct SC (SC heart in place at 60%). Would my wife be better off doing DIC via a VSO in the area or using lawyer who is a 1000 miles away? John

Some pollitician wants his name of that courthouse. The "Joe Blow Veterans Affairs Courthouse" or something like that. Nobody cares what goes on in the courthouse or what happens to the vets who enter the Tiger's Mouth, just so somebody gets credit for building it.