john999

I was able to recover dental costs in a situation Phil describes.

Pete I saw a doctor at the VA in 1972. I went back in 2007 and he was still there. He was middle aged in 72. He must be 90 years old and he still examines vets.

The only downside if if you have to have surgery what are they going to give you on top of what you are getting to kill the pain? Actually, I envy you. I really wish my doctor would do something for me, but in Florida now it is cash and carry. The pain doctors accept cash only for drugs. It is going to end up screwing us all even VA patients.

Thing about dilaudid is that it is for post op pain like morphine pushed into your arm by IV.

Why do VSO's and vets accept any co-pay demand? I know it is the law but it is an unjust law. That is what we fought a revolution about was unjust laws. Skinning vets for co-pays is an insult to every vet.

Consider that Dole and McCaine are, or are very powerful and well known persons who were in congress. You as an unknown 100% vet may not get the same consideration. Max Cleland was triple amputee. He now suffers from PTSD and admits it. If any part of his 100% involved PTSD he might never have become head of the VA. I tell you that people with major physical combat related disabilites get a very sympathetic review by the VA. People with mental health conditions are lucky to not be called names and accused of fraud. It is not better to lose a foot than to have severe and chronic PTSD but the VA and employers will be more sympathetic becasue they can see it.

You know there are a lot of really smart and persistent people here at hadit. I am inpressed. Get it while you can!

All things being equal age is a factor. A guy 58 years old has a beter chance than someone 30 years old for SSD. Let's be real. SSA faces maybe 30 years of payments for the 58 year old. They face 55 years with the 30 year old including medicare.

If you have current DX of PTSD and the VA conceded stessor then it should only be a matter of rating effective date and %. Just hang in there and keep jumping throught hoops.

Yes, I think it is the RO's job to assign a rating and a effective date.

I would also be interested to see regs where vet can choos sex of their DRO. I would like a female DRO I think. When I had my Discharge Board Review I had the women weeping. I was pathetic, so I think they had more mercy on me as I looked like a motherless duckling.

While the VA dithers vets die from AO. This is the plan. Wait for the Army, Navy, AF, Marines and even Coast Guard to die. What about merchant marines and contractors?

I wish I had your pain doctor.

Phil is right. Send in that IU form, yesterday.

Larry I thought Yulooking was trying to ask if he had a case agaisnt his VSO because they screwed him up. Yes, he needs help in the form of a VSO or a lawyer. I was telling him if he did not like his VSO then he did not actually need one to work his claim. If I can misunderstand him I can imagine what the VA did with his claim. I think if he wants to do a CUE he needs the most expert help he can get.

It is good to check with the VA every month on a claim that is either new or on appeal. The VA held up my DMII AO claim for the simple reason they did not have a certified copy of my DD214. They did not tell me this. I asked about my claim and they told me they were waiting for a copy. I got one of my own certified copies and brought it to them. I wonder how much time I saved? Maybe years! They did have a copy of my DD214. It was right in my C-File but they were too lazy to look, so they asked for one. I have been SC for almost 40 years, but no DD214.....come on.

If your writing in your claims to the VA resembles your posting here then you are in trouble. If your claim is still open then you should pursue it. You don't need your VSO to do that. Try to speak English when you post. It is hard to understand what the heck you are saying.

I would get a medical opinion to refute the NSC crap and to say you need A&A for basic chores of living. MD opinions carry weight where the vet's pointing out that you were never treated for the knee carrys no weight.

The thing is if a person committed a real crime under Ambien would they be held responsible for it? I say they would be. If you are poor and the crime were serious your ass would be in a wringer. If your memory is completely blank how can you help in your own defense?

This Veterans Bulletin should be renamed "How the VA saves money at the veteran's expense". One thing that gets me is the part that says all claims must be in writing. How then is an inferred claim executed, and what would be the effective date? Inferred claims are made by the VA. The vet does not write up an inferred claim. What is the point of AO exam? Unless the vet knows that conditions identified are related to AO no claim is filed unless he does it in writing. The VA wants the vet to self DX himself as having a SC condition even if he reads at 5th grade level. If a ship were docked in Da Nang did the Navy ever give shore leave? Does the vet have to prove that? If they were docked at Vung Tao I can't believe sailors never got to go ashore. I guess the VA does not believe that wind could carry AO spray to a ship in a harbor in Vietnam. They can't be that dumb, but they can be that unjust. Cheating vets out of potential compensation is just SOP.

Rough childhood + PTSD claim = personality disorder DX or pre-existing condition.

I got an EED based on a hospitalization for IU. However, I had to appeal the original TDIU date I got based on when the VA got my request for IU. At first I tried to use the date I was considered disabled by SSA. The VA did not buy that but the dates of SSD and the hospitalization are the same date. When you get to inferred claims the VA is going to fight. You have to prove to them that the claim should have been inferred. That is not how it is supposed to work. They are supposed to look at the facts and infer the claim. I don't think I have ever heard of them doing it. For instance, you are rated 30% and have SSD. The VA knows this. They don't infer a claim for IU until you get 70%. This is wrong by their own regs. Any documented indication that you may not be able to work is supposed to trigger an inferred IU claim according to VBM. It never happens. I think this happens all the time during C&P exams. The doctor finds problems that should be inferred as secondary to a primary SC condition, but no inferred claim results. You have to file a claim and try to get the VA to accept the facts revealed in the c&p as being the effective date of an inferred claim. This is absurd.

If you feel tears coming let them come!!!!

If you have paperwork put it in the hands of the VA yourself and get date stamped copies and then give copies to your DAV guy. If DAV misplaces your paperwork and request for not severing your hip SC your claim will die. Two weeks is too short a time for screw ups to happen.

If you take ambien you may wake up at 7/11 or Lil' General in your underwear, and not know how got there. That stuff causes amnesia like you would not believe. People have committed crimes on ambien and had total amnesia for the event. I take it sometimes, but I think there should be a blackbox warning on the box.