john999

Berta if they pick on us we will give them PTSD.

Just be very sure all are on the same page and everyone in VA land knows you have moved your claim to Vegas. If you have the slightest doubt make sure your whole C-File is at Vegas RO. If VSO's don't want to pick up on your claim hire a lawyer. Your c-file is just paper. It can get lost. That scares me.

Your social worker can provide home services. When you talk to your social worker be sure to tell them if you can't work or are having a hard time. The social worker can note barriers to employment and this can be an inferred claim for IU. Tell the social worker about all your mobility problems and problems getting around. If you social worker is coming by to see you just be sure you are not out in the yard chopping weeds. If it was me I would complain my head off to the SW about any problem I have.

I would ask for an increase in the cervical strain issue. I have the same problems. You know the drill. Next thing will be an injection into your neck. I have stenosis C-5,C-6 and pressure on BP like you. I have pain under my shoulder blade and then running down my arm on the left side. I have had this for over ten years. Surgery is the very last resort and not by some intern at the VA either.

Yes I would file.

The best way to rebutt a C&P exam is to get your own IOM/IME. For many years I depended (stupidly) on C&P exams to get increases. I have many C&P exams over the years. They are full of mistakes, prejudicial statements, lies, and pure BS. When I got real medical reports from IMO doctors who knew how to write a report I jumped from 30% to 70% within a year. I had been at 10% for 20 years even with much evidence of symptoms that supported a 30-50% rating. When I got 30% I should have got 50%. When I got 70% I should have gotten 100%. The VA consistently low balled me. Now I have 90% TDIU. It only took 30 years.

Red What you will need is a medical statement from a MD that states it is at least as likely as not that you got Hep C from the transfusion. You need the negative type evidence that rules out alternative causes of Hep C and you need positive evidence to show how you got the Hep C. You want a medical statement from someone like Dr. Bash that knows exactly what the VA wants in a nexus letter. Unless you fit exactly the requirements for an AO presumptive diagnosis you again must prove it. If it was me I would try and hire a VA lawyer. If they won't take the case then you know you have a ways to go.

Red Listen to what Hoppy is saying! There are no NO-Brainers in the VA system unless it is presumptive and then there is debate about percentage of disability.

Get into treatment immediately and file everything within the first year. Pete and Hedgey have told you good info. Stay in treatment. You want all your records from the military and you want to build on that through the VA for the rest of your life.

Winter Remember, the VA's main motivation is that they just don't want to pay unless they have to pay. They don't care about you as a person or victim. It is just money going out the door in their eyes. It is not personal.

The immunization gun thing is interesting. If a vet has tatoos then the VA will blame that for the hep C. The immunization process the army used at Ft Benning when I was there was just horrendous. It was a bloody mess. They used the guns and there was so much dripping blood. Many went around with festering infections after the shots.

I think I might appeal the denial of migranes since that might lead to SMC one day.

You can only be rated for one mental disorder. Wait until you get an official letter before you start spending the money. I wish you the best but be cautious on this until you get it in writing.

Who told you you are getting retro to 1990? Do you have something in writing?

Who told you you are getting 673,000 bucks? Did you recently re-file for mental condition? I am missing something. Who told you the VA is adjudicating the original 1990 claim?

I think what Phil is saying covers it. Even if any of those situations are true you will still need help I think. The VA is going to fight it. They will lie and squirm and try not to pay. My opinion!

I have a CUE claim that involves a claim that goes back to 1971. If I was you I would hire a lawyer for this claim of yours since the VA is going to be hostile to paying you 100% or IU back to 1990. If you claim was never adjudicated and is still open I still think you need a real pro on your side. There is just so much money at stake the VA is going to drag you to the BVA and beyond. What kind of discharge did you get? If you filed in 1990 for schizophrenia do you have a copy of the claim you filed? Is it in your C-file. I would concentrate for now on getting TDIU for schizophrenia/PTSD and then worry about the effective date. You must show that the VA did not deny your claim and that it fell through the cracks. It can happen. Scan the decision to this board if you can like Phil and others say so we can look at it.

Plus you would have to prove that the VA or St Louis intentionally lost your records. Most of the VA and St louis losing stuff is just incompetence or laziness I think. A lot of laziness as the VA won't even crack your C-File unless at the point of a legal gun.

Plus, Hadit is not a debating society. The idea is to help vets and thus help ourselves. By trying to help others here I have been helped much more.

That's right Papa, no interest on that award! Does the vet get an award that is staged on rates current in 1994 through the present? I bet he does not get current rate of 100% since 1994. I could be wrong since I never figured it out by the numbers. This is 17 years at 100% retro. It seems like a fortune, but this will just about take care of his spouse if something happens to him. He can't get proper amount of life insurance. His spouse will get DIC and whatever other survivor benefits he might have.

Allan If you can hand off all your claims to your lawyers I would do it. Why fool around with clowns? We have some good people here who would fight for you but they are hard to find.

Capt That is fantastic news. You say the retro looks like a phone number,ha,ha. Just put it in the bank and get yourself a good financial planner that works on a fee basis. Now you have an estate to manage.

Dean I read the Maine VARO letter you posted. Did you ever consider that the letter is just the RO covering their asses. You believe everything the VA tells you? You are going to have a very hard road to travel. If the VA decides to halt work on every claim, but Nehmer claims that is wrong and is unfair. That is the VA's fault. That is the fault of congress. No Nehmer vets demanded that all work on other claims stop until their claims are decided. This is the VA trying to cover their asses due to years and years of neglect of the AO class of vets. They must be facing sanctions in order to do what you say they are doing. You would do better to post your IMO's and SSD award here so we could look at them for problems. If your claim has been on appeal for 4-5 years there may be something missing that we can fix. Allan had his claim stuck in VA hell for ten years and is just now getting some action. Many vets here have been in appeals for years. I have been in appeals for five years with no end in sight. It is not due to Nehmer, but due to the VA's reluctance to pay retro.

What it means is the claim is going forward through the BVA adjudication process. It does not mean the vet has won or lost. The vet now has to wait a year or two to get a decision. Is he asking for a hearing?

Get a lawyer would be my suggestion to take some of this stress off you. When did you get your actual denial in writing for PTSD? You have one year to file a notice of disagreement. The military broke so many rules I don't know where to start. They obviously treated you as a criminal instead of a victim.