john999

Wdroberson If you want to show off your legal knowledge about VA law please discuss the concept of "reasonable minds" regarding CUE claims. I would be grateful for your insight. Don't just quote the law. Discuss the "original intent" with me.

I think under the guise of liberalizing the PTSD stressor rules the VA manipulated the law to increase the burden on vets who have PTSD. I think they knew what they were doing. All that has to happen now is for the word to go out that "we don't want all these PTSD DX'es. Let's say they have Adjustment Disorder", then that is what happens. This is putting the fox in charge of the hen house. This is the law however. The VA gets to decide who has PTSD and who does not have it. This should be changed. They turned a good rule change into a weapon to deny benefits. They saw a mountain of PTSD claims coming at them and reacted in their slimy, rat way.

What you want to do is to rule out alcoholism as the reason you can't work. This is what Carlie is driving at I think. If you are in recovery from the alcohol then the VA can't blame that for your being IU. I went through that with drugs I was taking for chronic pain. The VA said that it was due to the drugs that I was IU. I did get an IMO to prove otherwise, but I had the doctors and money to do it at the time.

If you can get life insurance via some of these big brokers like "Select Quote" you will get a much better deal. When I was 49 years old I got $250,000 of life insurance via Select Quote for less than $800 bucks a year. My rate was for 15 years. I had all sorts of disabilites. 10-20 thousands bucks worth of insurance via the VA is just enough to bury you and pay off your second hand car.

What is sad is that you learn to horde your drugs because the VA is often late in sending them to you, and you will run out 5 days before you get your refill. If you complain too much then the VA may say that "If you could go five days without your pain meds then maybe you don't need them." If you admit to hording them for emergencies then you violate the contract. If you were to take a cough medication the night before the exam that contained alcohol you may have a problem. Now all they will do is kick you out of the opiate program if you violate it. You don't go to jail. However, they also tell you that if you were to have an accident due to being high on the drugs they prescribe to you then you are on your own. I have been on opiates ten years and a few months ago VA pain clinic told me they made a mistake by prescribing them to me. Is that malpractice? They swore that if I took Cymbalta all my pain would be fixed. I took it and I still hurt, of course. I just hope private pain doctors will step in and fill the void. Most in my state are in great fear of DEA and only the crooks will prescribe what you may need. This is a pitiful situation.

If the VA denies your claims because they cannot find your SMR's that seems to me an ultimate case of failure to provide due process. I am thinking from legalistic point of view. If the VA has your DD214 they must admit you served. Why should you not have benefit of doubt about your claims if they cannot provide evidence to the contrary? Your SMR's would contain evidence that your disabilites are/are not service connected. It seems to me that the ball is in their court. I think I might hire a lawyer on this one if the VA or you are not able to find your SMR's. It is not possible for you to get due process without the SMR's.

Your claims were denied due to the VA's inability to find your SMR's. This does not pass the smell test.

If you want narcotic pain meds via the opiate program you have to sign a contract at my VAMC. If you want to get narcotic meds via private doctor be sure you can get what you need before you decide to reject VA agreement. Florida pain clinics got such a bad reputation that now the state is cracking down and making it harder. Quite a few pharmacies won't even dispense oxycodone, oxycontin or any of the other drugs that hit the news. My last experience with the VA sending my pain meds 7 days late is pushing me towards private market, but I have experience with private pain clinics and I was not happy with them. 10% of people who use pain meds make it hard on the 90% who use them for proper purpose. I have been using them for 10 years and I have been accused of "drug seeking" behavior and addiction by both private and VA circles. I have never abused them once.

I have the Fentanyl patch via the VA pain clinic. They don't work that well. They are supposed to send the drug out at a constant rate over three days. That never happens. The first day you get most of the benefit. The patches fall off. They leave marks on your skin that look bad. If you take anything like xanax or clonazepam they won't want to prescribe it. Fentanyl is supposed to be for people who have been on opiates for the long term. What about oxycontin? The VA fears Fentanyl because of high OD rate. Methadone is also high on the OD rate but it is cheaper. Fentanyl is more expensive. Morphine is cheap.

I was accused of malingering at a C&P exam just because I had a college degree in psychology. I eventually got my P&T. I always go outside the VA for IMO's. I have exams that say I have a personality disorder and all sorts of bad stuff. You get a good IMO and you can defeat all that negative VA crapola. The way to attack these bad exams is to get your own exam to directly rebutt these VA conclusions. If you depend just on VA evidence it does put you at a disadvantage. What credible evidence does the VA have you are a malingerer? VA does assume we are all faking it to make it. They assume every vet who gets pain meds is a drug addict or drug dealer, so that is their opinion of us.

According to the VBM if the VA did reduce you to 70% then they should consider TDIU if you can't work.

Oh, yeah, if you piss off the C&P exam doctor they will screw you to the wall. They are in it for the money and could care less about you. They need to give negative exams results to a certain percentage of vets so if they don't like you then you get the prize.

I had cellulitis in my foot. I had to have surgery. I still have pain. If you still have painful scars in your knee or anywhere else that limits your abilites then you probably have a claim. Did the military put you on IV anti-biotics?

I bet you get a rating letter pretty soon that says you are entitled to Chapter 35. That means P&T.

I don't think I would discuss my future plans for education with a VA shrink because that may go into your medical records and you don't want to look like you are improving for the sake of your rating. When the VA reviews you for any sort of re-evaluation they look at your medical records. You don't want to show something they might think was a better disability picture. Next time you see your doctor tell him you are just too disabled for a MA or PH.D course. Take classes if you like but don't talk about it to the VA medical staff. I would try and keep a low profile with the VA. No harm done.

Keep waiting because your SSD is good proof that you are unemployable for TDIU purpose.

When you filed for SSD did you include a medical report saying you were totally disabled for at least a year? Did SSD send you for an exam? I think your VA claim is in the bag if the QTC doctor does what she says.

If they want to pay you for something why not go and find out? You are a success for them so they want to pass you around the system.

It might be good to file a claim for the PN even if you get rejected. The VA moves slowly but ten years from now PN may be presumptive on its own for the chronic type. Hell, we may all be dead by then but you might get an extra 20%.

I think you could counter the VA and say that keeping your mind active helps with depression and social isolation that many vets suffer from if they can't work. Going to school is not working 8 hours a day. For young vets I think going to school is good because even if they are TDIU they might be able to learn how to do something that might help them overcome a disability. You know the best thing a disabled person can do is to find some kind of self-employment and school might help prepare a person for that.

My chances of dying from an AO disease are getting better and better. This is very encouraging.

It is not against the rules to take classes. If you are P&T it is probably harder to get the VA to pay for it. Usually, if you are P&T you have been on a long road toward being permanently disabled. If you want to pay for classes and maybe use the quality of life program to pay for it then it might work for you. When the VA makes you P&T they consider you a write-off. They don't want to invest in you because you are permanently disabled and unemployable according to their and your problems. The next thing the VBA thinks is in line for you is DIC for your spouse and the cost of throwing dirt on you. You know if you are not TDIU or 100% for a mental condition you can go to school or work if you want.

You can spend thousands of dollars if you get a few implants and crowns. I got fee base to pay for some of my dental work a few years ago. It took me months and months. You do have to be persistent. I think they are just lazy and cheap. I have paid out of my pocket for an implant and even a crown and filling because the VA was dragging their feet. My private dentist said some of the VA work was substandard. My peridontist said the same thing.

Nobody can tell you when! Notification does not mean approval. Wait until you get the letter.

As lawyers get more experience at the VARO and BVA levels I think it will force the VSO's to up their game. My belief is that money talks. I think that the biggest thing the lawyers will have to offer is giving vets a strategy to win including knowing which doctors will work with vets to write IMO's. VSO's just told me to file a claim and trust the VA to do the right thing. Oh, yeah, and check back in 18 months.