john999

Did you get an IMO? If you did not you should. I had 30% and I got it bumped up to 70% via a good IMO. The VA was just determined to keep me at 30% even though I was unemployed and disabled.

El Train The same thing happened to me. I had a terribly incompetent and biased C&P exam from a VA doctor. I had it overturned due to bias. I got another exam from a doctor who was buddies with the first guy. Of course, he slamed me. This is one more reason I am no fan of the VA. After that I got three IMO's from various doctors in Tampa. I won my TDIU claim but it took a year.

El Train That is really a first class response to the VA's habit of blaming everything on alcohol, smoking or drugs instead of PTSD or TBI or anything else. You did good! You know VA is also incompetent about Agent Orange. They don't even ask us Vietnam vets about AO exposure until you file a claim for it. AO and TBI are probably the biggest coverups the government has denied. There was a vet here who did have a big piece of his skull missing. The VA denied it for years but he got his retro in the tens of thousands eventually. The VA is an atrocious liar about many things.

If you are dependent or addicted to the drugs the VA gave you then they will use that against you, thus blaming you for taking the opiates they gave you. VA will try and use your legal drug use against you blaming all your problems on drugs. They did this to me when I had applied for TDIU 20 years ago. The VA was prescribing me morphine and oxycodone for severe chronic pain. They tried to say all my problems were due to drug use instead of PTSD and Depression. I beat them but it pissed me off and I have been pissed off ever since. Why did you not have an exit physical?

Based on your SSDI you may be able to get an EED on the TDIU claim all the way back to when you were granted SSDI. I did. I also got a claim retro to a hospital admission at the VA. VA uses these dates sometimes on TDIU claims and other claims.

Man, I hope you get every bit of retro the VA owes you. My wife is disabled as well. Between the two of us we just get by with doing the essential chores and paying bills. With both people disabled housework is hard to keep up with these days. I have people do the yardwork and house repairs. Better to pay them than land in the ER because I hurt myself.

You got some really good advice, Jabo. Regarding your depression as secondary to chronic pain that should be a given, but not to the VA. I have chronic pain and it is depressing due to not being able to enjoy life as much as I used to do. My chronic pain also affected my work and did directly lead to my being unable to work. With your current 70% you could probably apply for TDIU if you are unable to work. I had 70% for depression when I filed for TDIU many years ago. If you do get SC'ed for a mental health condition the VA and SSDI have a harder time denying your unemployable claims. No one can look inside your head and say just how your depression is affecting you. With chronic pain and depression one condition will interact with the other and make both worse. I also was taking opiate pain meds which relieved the pain for a while but worsened my depression.

VA caregiver coordinator says no house calls so my claim went in the dust bin. This is BS because if those social workers have not had vaccinations by now they should be out of work. We will see if congressman has any weight. I go to the VA hospital and the place is packed. Why do these caregiver people get a free pass?

If you can get TDIU and SSDI that is enough to live on for most of us. By all means file the appeal. The VA knows that once you get TDIU you will never work again and they will be paying you for the rest of your life. Same goes for SSDI. This is why IMO the VA often stalls on granting TDIU. SSA will force you to get a lawyer and file many appeals before a judge. Then you have to wait 2 years for Medicare. VA higher ups do thing of themselves as guardians of the Fed's money. They like to spend on buildings and land, but not so much to compensate vets.

When I was trying to get TDIU 20 years ago I found a shrink through my lawyer who had previously worked for the VA. She charged me $250 and wrote the best IMO/IME I ever had. It was so good the VA just quoted her word for work in their decision letter granting me TDIU P&T. These doctors are out there but you have to find them. If you have a lawyer who does VA claims or SSDI claims they often know docs who will help you. The IMO is the gold standard for winning mental health claims IMO. A good doc can tie up all the loose ends and use the right words and phrases the VA wants to win a claim.

Really Angry You have a weird case there with LHI wanting your password etc. I would not like some contractor having access to my entire VA file. No one is actually going to read all that junk anyway. When I have gone for C&P exams in the past they barely look at my file. Since the exam lasts 20 minutes and they have the report to the VA out the next day how much reading do they do? These contractors are in it for the money. The more reports they crank out the more they get paid. My last exam with LHI only lasted 15 minutes and the exam doctor was incompetent, but it worked in my favor. You never know how these things will work out.

What do mean "good old days"? I am not talking about the distant past. I know you work for the VA. That is ok but it seems to me you have a bias just like I do as strictly being a claimant. Don't insult me by making me seem like a Neandertal man regarding the VA. The stuff that went on years ago is still going on today. Ask any vet who has had their claim denied and been in appeals for years. We disagree on the VA and that is OK, but don't talk down to me about my experience over many years. I filed a CUE a few years ago and it took 7 years to be finally adjudicated. That is not prehistoric. That is now. I had expert legal representation and it still took almost a decade.

We don't see eye to eye on the VA. I have been dealing with the VA as a claimant for 50 years. I have been thrown so many curve balls I can't count them all. Someone from VA called my wife to set up a video call to process her caregiver claim. She told them we did not have access to video, and they said we cannot process your caregiver claim if you don't have skype or video. How plain can it get? When wife advised me of this I asked my congressman to get involved. The VA has tried this on me before where they want my appointments to be done on video. I reject that option. You say I don't see the whole picture. I see enough of the picture to know I don't like it and I am not going to take it. You are all knowing so maybe you see the big picture. I know plenty about the VA having been screwed by them for 30 years before I got wise.

No way a doctor can give a complete exam over the phone or by video. If we let the VA get away with this it will become SOP for them to save money. To deny my claim because I don't want to use video or skype is just wrong and nothing in the regs supports that.

GB VA tried the same thing with my actual medical appointments saying I must use video or skype. This is absurd since how can doc do a full exam without touching the patient? I know the VA is scared and cheap but I wonder how many patients are BS'ed by these lies? VA wants me to keep track of my glucose readings, my weight, blood pressure and everything else so they don't have to do anything. During Covid I did not get an appointment for one year. When I did I had to go into the hospital due to my DMII being out of control. If I had not insisted on an appointment I probably would have died.

I am pretty sure that if you are over 65 you don't need to submit the TDIU employment verification. I was told this in a letter from VA last year. They did say the VA would be checking IRS records and SSA records to check employment. If you get a W-2 I would worry about making more than poverty wages and getting TDIU. I think that VA assumes if you are over 65 you are not working but when you assume you make an ass out of you and an ass out of me , ha, ha.

Berta I am a Vietnam vet and I have HBP. I am also connected for DMII and Heart disease, the big three. Should I file a claim now for HBP?

What is your current rating? A raise of just 10% usually won't have much impact on a TDIU claim unless it puts you over 60% with one disability of at least 40%. Is the disability on your hand your primary hand? Why were you denied TDIU? Are you unable to work solely due to your SC disability.

I was trying to get caregiver benefits for my wife. I submitted the application. VA called me back for a social worker to talk to me. The VA said that I must use skype or video phone to have the application processed. I told them that I don't have access to smart phone or skype and they refused to continue to process my wife's application. I think and I am sure they are violating my rights once again. There is no reg that says I must use skype or phone video to process a claim. What to do? I have not gotten an official denial yet and I have contacted my congressman about this crap. The VA can't force me to user skype or video instead of face-to-face meetings. I know they are blowing smoke and are just too lazy to come out to my house. Any suggestions?

If your income is not earned income then you have nothing to worry about. You can have investment income, SSA, Pension, rental income etc. and it is nothing to worry you. If you have a job and get a W-2 then you might worry.

I never met a holiday I did not like. I was a postal worker and half the time I had to work the holidays, but I got paid double for them if I had to work them. I remember working Christmas Day. I got paid double time for that one.....yes! However, the taxman killed me. I used to get lots of overtime but I was taxed at the highest rate. It was barely worth it.

A couple of years ago a podiatrist gave me a shot in my foot. It got infected. I thought that some antibiotics would take care of it. Instead I ended up in the hospital having a chuck of my foot cut out due to an infection. I tried to sue the doctor but no one would take the case. I had to be on a "PIC" for two months while antibiotics were pumped into me. It was horrendous since I had to go every day to get the wound cleaned out and more stuff through the IV. I had a simple staff infection and not the bad one.

It does not hurt to have SSDI before you file for TDIU, but I would not wait for that. Your shrink's report really is the deal maker or breaker for PTSD or any mental health issue. Have you filed for SSDI? Does your employer have a disability retirement system? If your VA shrink says your PTSD makes you unemployable then that would help a heap. When I claimed TDIU I had SSDI and disability retirement in the bag. That made is easier but the VA still resisted. They will pick your iMO's and Voc Rehab reports to pieces if they can and turn them against you.

Smokie I got the letter from OWCP telling me I had to make a choice between TDIU and OWCP. After I made the choice OWCP tried to get me to pay them money. I never did and they gave up. The less OWCP knows the better. If I you are getting VA you can also get SSDI and OPM. It will be more than OWCP.

I have DMII and PN in hands and feet. I only got 20% for DMII but got 40% for each limb due to PN. Do you have PN due to your DMII? What does it take to get 40% for DMII. My activities are not officially restricted but in fact they are due to PN.