john999

I would ask my PCP for an opinion and ask for any tests that indicate hbp. You might also get an IMO to rebutt this absurd C&P exam. The VA has hit a new low with this exam. I had a heart exam done by a PA and a PA trainee. It was just as awful. The PA did not follow the schedule for the exam at all. I got tests via my PCP that proved my claim. Get as much medical evidence as you can to submit to the VARO to show your true condition.

The question in this claim no matter how bizzare was asking if the vet's depression was secondary to a SC knee injury. There is so much information about past history and suicide attempts, sex change, and unnecessary stuff that the water is so muddied the question is lost. The vet may have been depressed about the knee injury, but it is impossible to separate that from all the past and post history of two months of service. This is a vet who can't keep his/her mouth shut. She/he needed a lawyer or VSO immediately after discharge to pursue the case. I don't think this claim can be saved. You know if a vet falls down at the reception station and break his leg in three places he is SC. If he is depressed about having a bum leg then that is secondary. If he sticks to those facts he can win. If he drags in a bunch of other issues about childhood injury to the leg or childhood depression he loses most like.

If you are not working apply for TDIU. That is going to be a big factor in your rating. Other than that it could be from 30% to 70%. There is just no way to know until you get the rating. I think you will get service connection which the the most important factor in your long term struggle.

I think it is too late to appeal you OTH discharge to BCMR. You need to get VA to make determination on your eligibility for benefits. You have 15 years to appeal OTH discharge. This is what regulations say. Maybe there is a loop hole. You will most definitely need a lawyer.

I think the VA will SC the first three conditions as secondary to number 4. No idea about percentages.

If you don't have to prove a stressor that is a very big deal. As it is only those who can prove stressors or have combat awards have a shot at PTSD claim. If you drove a truck in a convoy every day in Iraq or Vietnam in deadly fear of being blown up that could cause a lot of stress, but unless you actually came under attack and could prove it no dice for your PTSD claim. I think PTSD should be presumptive for combat vets, and vets who serve in combat zone should not have to prove stressors. If they have PTSD then unless there is some other reason for it combat duty is obvious cause. Nobody wants symptoms of PTSD. Failed marriages and failed lives due to PTSD is not worth $2600 bucks a month.

Is this fubar confined only to St. Louis or are other VAMC's under the stink eye? I am going to the VA dentist next week in Tampa. If any vets get HIV due to this someone should go to prison.

I don't think I would volunteer information about IHD running in your family. I know it does not matter about other AO presumptives but this IHD thing I am not sure you want to volunteer that your family has such a history. I would not lie, but you don't have to volunteer either.

If you have PTSD and Agoraphobia then I think that is the kind of condition that might make you eligible for HB. What the VA is going to do is bump you up to 100% if they grant HB. A pal had IU and filed for HB. He had agoraphobia so they bumped him up to 100% schedular and granted the HB. I know there is talk about getting HB with TDIU but I am not sure that is common at all.

You have DX of TBI, GAD and depression. You don't need PTSD to get a 100% rating. The personality disorder may or may not be a factor in your GAF. If the doctors agree that your GAD and depression are service connected you don't need to prove PTSD. PTSD is another kind of anxiety disorder as is GAD. If you have TBI, depresson and GAD that is plenty. Its does point to PTSD, but it is not necessary to chock on that DX. TBI may explain your personality disorders.

The question Berta asked about if the vet had a lawyer represent him at the CAVA is key since the lawyer would be the one to question about waiting for result of remands or starting over. The lawyer invests time and money in these claims so he surely wants to win so he can collect. I would think the lawyer would not have taken the case unless he thought he could win.

I am dumbfounded by the HIV scare at the various VAMC's. I did get a serious staff infection from a private doctor. When you go to the dentist, or for a colonoscopy you trust that the hospital and doctors are at least using sterile procedures. It is incredibly easy to get infections at hospitals under the best conditions. For us patients at the VA we are often like monkies in a computer factory. You learn the system by using it. I must admit I would not go to my VAMC for any major surgery. I did not even go when my foot got severely infected. A delay or brush off could have cost me my foot. That is terrible since many vets have only the VA. The VA should be the Gold Standard of care if the government means what it says. I tend to agree that I trust certain doctors at the VA but the system overall is not user friendly. 7 hours yesterday just to do a lab and get a script had me and my wife biting nails. This was a scheduled appointment.

You can get a schedule of how the VA does rating exams for heart conditions. If they don't follow the schedule you have an appeal and you can also ask your PCP to schedule more tests. My C&P for heart disease was done by a PA who was training another PA. It was a joke. The PA just made guesses about ejection fractions etc. No tests. As soon as I got the exam results I started asking my PCP for more tests. I went from 0% to 60%. Don't get mad, get even. Maybe you will have a real cardiologist do the exam, but I would not bet on it.

Stryker The way to get your ratings increased is to file an NOD on your rating decision and gather new evidence to show your conditions are worse. That means medical evidence the VA cannot just ignore. You have to appeal these low ball decisions. The VA usually low balls a vet the first time. The ones who get decent ratings are the ones who persist with appeals and gathering new evidence. You can even hire a lawyer after you file your notice of disagreement.

Have you asked for a DRO Hearing? A DRO can do anything the BVA can do if they want to do it.

If you can find some other disability at least 10% then you can apply for the VA life insurance. If you are 58 and are totally disabled it may be hard to get inexpensive life insurance. They will probably want to do a physical on you. I got 250,000 of life insurance when I was 30% but I had to get a physical. I was 49 years old and still working. There are brokers who will try and find some kind of life insurance (term). It gets very expensive the older you get.

What about congestive heart failure? I knew the VA would parse the IHD presumptive. This means to me that every vet who dies from heart condition should get autopsy. Not a pleasent thought but you want proof.

If the VA awards TDIU without Chapter 35 (P&T) you can appeal that denial and if you win it will be retro to your IU date. It takes them months to grant or deny Chapter 35 on appeal so you can get new evidence that the condition is permanent. You should have a letter from your doctor saying you are P&T. You don't want to leave the decision up to just VA evidence.

You are probably fed up with the VA, but keep going for basic appointments, so you can document your continuing your 100%. You should probably file for SMC as well.

That would be a good law if it passes.

The VA will have the most advanced time wasting machine in history. You know if they are incompetent it will show up no matter what method they use. They have a combination of bad faith and incompetence. They could do the claims at NASA and still foul them up by hiring dummies to run the computers. I spent 6 hours today trying to get a pain script today at my VAMC. They have some very advanced medical devices and treatments, but the doctor violate some rule about my script and the pharmacy would not fill it and this went on for hours. I wanted to jump over the desk and murder someone.

This is the place where it's at.

You can have some condition that is ok in civilian world but gets much worse in the military like during combat tour. You can't just quit when you feel stress building. Back in the day the military attitude towards emotional disorders was to use the hammer. That is sure to make such a condition worse.

I just talked to Kelly and Halos on the chat. That is a good idea.

I'm going for 40 years of retro. I will probably be 85 by the time I get it, heh, heh.