john999

You know in Tampa where I live there are two VAMC's within 25 miles of each other. There are doctors in practice who were working for the VA. If you can find these doctors to do IME's you are in like Flynn. It seems to me that one day the lawyers will line up doctors who know how to write IMO's and IME's and claims will start getting approved in a hurry, maybe.

Probably need to get an IME or IMO to rebut this C&P exam. This was obviously an awful and incomplete exam. You can appeal and get another exam but it is probably better and faster to get your own doctor's opinion. Did the C&P doctor order up any tests?

Yes, the RO/BVA/Remand/RO cycle really stinks. We have to break out of that cycle or it could go on forever. I hired a lawyer so he could think about the legal side. He said the error was so obvious that if we did not win he would never do a CUE claim again. Really, I don't give too much of a damn if I win or lose since I got IU already. I would like to get that retro, however. They screwed me so badly back in the day.

My CUE claim was placed on the docket for the BVA. I got the letter today. I will be dead or insane by the time I get a decision. From the time I filed it till I get a decision from BVA will probably be 4 years. Two rejections at the VARO and then a BVA Hearing and now it is on the docket? What was the hearing for I wonder? For crying out loud I thought the BVA judge at the hearing could make a decision. He got the brief and heard my case. I knew the hearning was quick, but I did not think it was just a milestone on the way to a long,long wait for the BVA to rule. I never actually got a personal BVA hearing before.

I got SC'ed for PN for all four limbs secondary to DMII. You need a doctor's statement saying your PN is at least as likely as not due to the DMII. While you are at it you might tell you PCP that your legs hurt. This way you could get a CT scan of your legs. Many with DMII have poor circulation to the legs due to clots. This is a very dangerous and well documented secondary condition of DmII. I found out by accident that I had that problem. If you have serious PN your biggest risk is a wound to the feet that won't heal leading to amputation. I know this is a bummer to think about, but it is true. All these things are secondary to DMII.

Does your spouse work if you have a spouse? If you take IU and your spouse works you would do even better. If you die without being 100%, or IU you family will be much worse off than if you take IU or 100% and live another 30 years. Your spouse gets DIC that way. Otherwise, your spouse may get nothing unless you die from SC condition. You could stay at home and take care of the kids and spouse could work. You would be getting decent money for VA and SSD and spouse would be earning. If spouse is not there or can't work it would still be about the same if you take into account what Pete and Larry have said. I make more now on SSD and 100% than I did when I worked at the Post Office. It is all tax free. You figure 30% of your gross goes to taxes and SSA and medicare payments.

What helps with P&T is to get a doctor to say you are P&T. I got it within one year of getting IU by just asking my doctor to write a statement saying I was P&T and why. I did it as an appeal of denial of Chapter 35. This way it goes back to the date you got IU.

Are you working? The closer you get to 100% for more than one rating the harder it gets to make the actual 100%. I am 90% but I am IU. Are you trying to get 100% and work at the same time?

Bronco Your post is probably the way it should be, but TestVet is probably right about a janitor doing a C&P exam will trump a medical doctor who is treating you. I recently had a PA do a C&P exam for a heart condition. The VA took the PA's opinion over a cardiologist. I had to get more testing and more opinions to get the proper rating. That really got me mad as the PA's exam was a joke. The PA was using my exam to train someone even less qualified to do exams. The PA just made wild guesses about my condition and it was accepted as gospel by the VARO.

Well, a married disabled vet over 30% does get extra money paid for the spouse and dependents. I don't know if both or just one of you would get paid extra. If one or the other of you is not able to work you should file for TDIU. If you are 70% and not working then you would probably be about to get TDIU. I don't know if a vet can get DIC and compenstion at the same time.

Billy My mother was born in Portadown, and I have some cousins left alive in the north and south. My Uncle Terence came to Canada and just died recently. I had a cousin named Billy who came to stay with us for a few months while he got work in the USA. He ended up staying for years. What does it cost these days to fly to Ireland? I can't stand to fly 8 hours in coach. I did it once and saw my Uncle Dennis while he was living. I want to see a family reunion between the Catholic and Protestant members of the family. That should be a gas unless someone has too much to drink.

I notice that now that I have given up hope everything is better.

If you are 100% there is a five year protection that is not as stong as the others but it is there. What it means is the VA can't just reduce you on one C&P exam.

Well, I actually read the case that Pete cited. I don't know where I stand now. I don't know if I have a CUE or not. The evidence the VA excluded would have affected the rating decision. I did not appeal the rating. However, if I did not get appeal rights does that mean the 1973 case is still open? Will the VA remand my claim and say my case is not ripe for CUE? I would not have filed an appeal anyway since I was too far gone at the time. If the VA not only excluded crucial evidence but failed also to provide appeal rights where does that leave me? If the VA just looked at the evidence under the less stringent standard of open claim I wonder if they can drag in evidence from future time frames? Maybe we should not have raised the "no appeal rights issue". When the VA violates every rule in the book when do you know to holler and when to be silent? Our original idea was that the VA made an error if they excluded the evidence and made an error if they did include it since they did not follow the rating schedule criteria. This is why I hired a lawyer. Very complicated. The VA doctor they relied on never DX'ed me. Only my doctor made a DX with supporting evidence. The VA claims examiner threw everything into the mix and came up with his own DX thus practicing medicene without a license.

This is interesting to me since I don't believe I got appeal rights on my original rating decision back in 1973. I asked for my C-File and got what I thought was the file. At my BVA hearing the judge had a file three times as thick as the file I got. Maybe I did get my appeal rights, but how the heck would I know since they were not in the the C-file copy I got. I raised that as another CUE issue (my lawyer raised it). If they exclude your evidence, and don't give you appeal rights that leaves the vet in total ignorance of his rights. Also, how can you get a fair hearing when you don't have the same evidence as the VA. They have complete C-file and you have incomplete file. How many times can they violate your due process rights? I would bet many old decisions did not include appeal rights or explain one year right to file NOD.

Bill The 40,000 dollar question is "are you working"? If not you should be 100% with that GAF. At least IU!

Treat them like they are small, confused children and you will get better result. Speak slowly and clearly. Ask the VA employee how their day is going. They are all miserable so shock them and be nice. Their bosses treat them like dirt, and the only place they could find to work was the VA. Pity them.

Pete Is the VA still screwing up your mail order drugs? I have got mine on time so far, but am worried as they put me in a new pain clinic and it is just a mess. I have a bad feeling my oxycodone is going to be late. When you see a Chinese fire drill in progress you know it won't come out well for you. Next time I see my PCP I will tell her "Just give me the dope. Don't try to help or cure me. When you try to help me, you hurt me."

It is ten years for SC protection according to the VBM. 20 years to protect a rating.

If the VA can exclude evidence at will there is no due process. It is just a basic legal principal that you can't pick and choose what evidence you consider. If they don't list or refer to the evidence in the decision there is no way you can tell if they read it. That makes due process impossible. I think it is CUE to do this in a final claim. I am betting on it.

If the person is in a veteran's home they are probably broke. I bet the home glomed onto any money the vet got from the VA. Who had the vet's durable POA? The POA can do just about anythng with the money as long as the vet is not being abused. I believe any person with an interest in the estate can ask for an accounting if the estate has not been closed. I did my mother's estate and my sister drove me crazy with requests for accountings. If a person dies intestate the state has a will of sorts for that person to disperse the estate. If it is down to brothers and sisters you probably should have a lawyer look into it if you have an legal interest in the estate. If the estate is closed you are out of luck. When a person dies without a will it can be a real mess. Did the vet have any assets like a house,car, bank account, insurance etc? The POA could buy or sell any of that.

I think if someone at VA had some strong evidence that fraud was going on then someone in the federal government might investigate. I would not lose sleep over it. I have been getting compensation for 40 years. I have been overpayed, and underpayed and not paid at all. No one ever gave a damn until I yelled about it. Now I got worker's compensation at one point and they would spy on you using the postal inspection service as their goon squad. If you claim to be confined to a wheelchair and you are on the news as running into a burning building to save someone's cat then you might have a problem. I am paranoid but it is those damn space aliens shooting rays into my head that bother me.

If the VA gives you a survey related to your PTSD claim I would sure as heck take the opportunity to fill it out. They are giving you a chance to rate your symptoms. Guess how you should answer? The VA is initiating this so blast away. Why would you not fill it out? They are asking to be hit on the chin. The rattlesnake is giving you a hoe to chop it with and now is the time.

I am sure hoping I die from an SC condition. This is something my wife is really looking forward to. Every time she gets out the credit card I almost have a heart attack. I think she knows this. If I can time it so I die from SC condition,and before age 65 we (she) gets big insurance payout. I feel like a winner already. She says she will pray for me and light a candle every day. I am a lucky man.

Start saving for the day you file for IU! Get at least 6 months of living expense in the bank before you file for IU. The day is coming so be ready. If you get big retro I would bank that money for the day you file for IU.