john999

I am still recovering from a non-MRSA staff infection five months later. You get a bad staff infection and you have a big problem. My foot is still healing after the surgery. They thought my infection was MRSA because it looked so bad. One month on a pick line with daily infusions of antibiotics. Now I am having to go back to the doctor because the brace I am using is not helping that much and my heel feels funny and swells up every time I walk. If I knew these infections were so common I would not let any doctor operate on me unless I was dying. If you go to a hospital or doctor and come away with a staff infection is that malpractice? I would like to murder the doctor who gave me the infection and then denied it.

I was rated 0% for heart disease before I got rated 60%. With that 60% I got HB. I wonder if Nehmer might effect my HB rating and back date it? My rating was secondary to DMII due to AO. Is a 0% rating in any way similar to a denial?

Your mission.....Live long and prosper and fish.

DSG If you are 70% and on SSDI I think you can work but only below poverty line. You can expect SSA to question you about working. I think there is a pretty strick limit on how much you can earn and be on SSDI. If you get IU or 100% from VA for the depression forget it. I know just how you feel, but now I don't think there is too much I could do. I might be able to buy and sell, but being on IU that is all out of the question if it is earned income. How old are you? If you are over 50 you better just stay on SSDI and try and get IU. You are effectively unemployable just due to your age. Really, all us older people are just unemployable due to prejudice against older workers. That is not a reason for IU with the VA but it is a reality. If you can do volunteer work that would be better. If you work and get any sort of unemployability benefits you will always be questioned by anyone who knows about it. People have a rotten attitude about the disabled. Not being able to work increases the isolation of disabled people. We have a stigma and are isolated on top of it. When I see old people working I envy them there ability to work. They probably envy me.

Chuck I agree with what you are saying. I think the VA just feels it is their duty to get every dime out of any vet who uses the system even if they are 100% and on their death bed. I even got charged for a C&P exam through my insurance. They are cost shifting to my private insurance thus helping to drive up rates for the whole group.

If you are 100% for a mental health condition you better not let the VA know you are working. If it is for a physical thing then you can work. The main way the VA evaluates vets on percentage for MH disabilites is "can you work?". If you have PTSD and are working full time above poverty level you are not going to get 100% for PTSD, or any other emotional disorder. Also, consider that most vets who are 100% are also on SSDI.

Carlie I hope you feel better. With VA regs it is like pulling on a string. You never know where it might go.

Phil That's good to know. In light of Bradley would this be true of those who get total rating due to IU?

What all this shows is that if you don't claim it you will never get it from the VA. I have never known them to infer anything in my case.

No, only earned income, but she has to pay tax on the winnings perhaps. If she was on a VA death pension it would affect her, but if she gets DIC it will not affect her.

You know the VA is supposed to consider Housebound when a vet gets 100% schedular, but how often does the decision say "We considered and denied "S" due to the fact the vet is not housebound"? I think the VA usually just says nothing unless the vet claims HB and then they will come back and say they considered and rejected it. If you get 100% and the VA never says they considered HB how can you prove they did or didn't consider it? The VA does the same thing with evidence.

These DRO hearings are very informal. They are not adversarial. Just relax and present your evidence.

You could claim that you cannot concentrate due to depression and due to the morphine and percosets. You have a long way to go I think, but if you get the depression and/or pain disorder jacked up to 50% then you could in the door. You have to get SC'ed for those conditions. Is the adjustment disorder in lieu of PTSD.

Kelly If the VA did not mention evidence in your rating decision I think you have a good shot at the appeal. Did the VA exclude the evidence and would the evidence have made a significant difference in the outcome of the decision? Contrary to what some think if the VA does not reference the evidence in the decision the BVA will probably say that there is no reason to believe the VA considered it. If it was me I would try and get more evidence while you wait. Just bury them in evidence if you can and if it means money.

Bronco What was your rating when you applied for IU? If you had been awarded IU would you have had an extra 60% above and beyond IU at some point?

In a NOD I think all you have to do is say you disagree with such and such decision dated xx/xx/xxx. I could be wrong but I don't think you have to be more specific. It is good if you are more specific.

I would throw the whole kitchen sink at them as long as it is important evidence that is going to make a difference. You don't want to have to file an appeal. You want them to take the evidence you give them and make the right decision the first time. Now that might not happen, but throw it all at them.

Topomax and a glass of warm milk.

The pain clinic doctor I saw yesterday said it was a mistake to have kept me on opiates for the last 5 years. So is the VA admitting malpractice? When I first went to the pain clinic I asked for celebrex and they said I should be on morphine. Now they say that was a big, fat mistake.

I think it is $295 a month for "S". I don't agree that it will bring down a host of C&P exams. Go for it! If you don't get it someone else will.

Yes, you have a chance for sure. Hide the exercise bike and if the house is a mess all the better. The worse you appear the better off you are for purpose of IU and voc rehab. Meet the couselor in your bathrobe and flip flops. I am kidding, but not that much. I used a negative Voc Rehab report in my IU claim as well. St. Pete is tough. I use them and they are looking for reasons to say "NO" so don't give them a reason. You want to appeal helpless and disorganized. You may have a chance at some sort of extra care of assistance if you appear to be a basket case. We are talking about appearances and I am not trying to insult you. You don't want to be in the yard digging up weeds when the VA shows up.

The VA and IOM need to hurry up or all Vietnam Vets will be dead. I read the obits every day and another RVN vet bites the dust.

That's right! You have to have the evidence to win the claim. Well put together claims do get denied sometimes. You just have a much better chance of winning if you got your ducks in a row. If you do get denied your good claim has a much better chance of winning on appeal. Where the VSO's fail I think is not showing the vet how to get maximum benefits. They often just take the facts you give them and run with it. There is nobody there to tell you that you need this or that type of evidence. They don't tell you to get an IMO. Before the internet how would the average vet know where to start? They would go to the DAV and trust that these guys know what they are doing.....not! I had a claim that was put on ice because the VA said they did not have a copy of my DD214. It was right there in the file and they were too lazy to look. I had to get a copy and take in by hand to them to get my claim going. This kind of crap is just too much.

When you file for IU you want your medical evidence to say you are permanently and totally disabled. This is what the VA wants to hear for P&T. If you get IU, but are denied Chapter 35 (P&T) you can file an appeal and ask for it. This is what I did. You need evidence to show you are P&T unless you want to wait for the VA to make that determination. You can grow old and die waiting for the VA to do what they are supposed to do.

Abean You know a hospital stay can be seen as an informal claim for benefits or an increase. It can be used as an effective date for an increase or a claim, but you have to claim it.