john999

I see the real corruption issue at the VA as the systematic denial and low balling of many thousands of good claims over the last 40 years or longer. The poor trusting vet walks into the VBA system with a claim for benefits not knowing he/she is walking into the lion's den. The C&P doctor's and all other VA doctors and officials should have to read you your rights against self incrimination each time they talk to you. Does the average vet know that the off hand remark he makes to a doctor can often be used to deny a claim? The VA can and will go on a fishing expedition ignoring tons of medical information that would support a claim or increase to spotlight one phrase that they use to deny. This is the real corruption. For instance, I responded to a leading question about ever having a scuffle in high school form a C&P doctor years ago. I said "yes, I did get into a fight in high school" and the doctor used that remark to say I was a personality disorder. The VA has gone back to that simple statement time and again to try and deny my claims for increase to bona fide mental condition. It did not work but costs me money to get IMO's to fight the issue. This is a type of corrupt practice since I am sure the prostitute C&P doctor was asking such questions on behalf of the VBA.

A C&P exam is to determine extent and/or existence of a service connected disability. It is not for payment purposes. I know the VA holds onto report results if it is done by outside contractors. The VAMC where you had it done may be able to give it to you from Medical Information Release dept.

If the VARO refused to date stamp my material I would be pissed as well. I would probably do just what others have done and demand it. I would ask to see a counselor if the desk person would not do it. If the desk guy refused to let me see the counselor I probably would get escorted off the premises then straight to my congressman. You don't want to raise your voice or threaten them because it gives them the excuse to call security. How difficult is it for a VA employee to make copies of documents and stamp them? Some of these people are lazy jerks, no doubt.

Dick To win a claim for chemical exposure you will need something from a doctor much more specific than "vet has headaches because of chemical exposure in military". The doctor needs to explain where, why, how, background etc. You need to prove the exposure, and there needs to be some medical science to explain how this specific chemical cocktail causes headaches and/or other symptoms. Is the chemical exposure you are talking about presumptive for headaches to the extent of a permanent disability? I was exposed to agent orange. If I go to a neurologist and he says my headaches are due to AO exposure 99% likely I will lose that claim because the science is not there to prove it. The VA is reluctant to grant chemical exposure claims because it opens the door to thousands of other claims. The VA is still arguing about agent orange 40 years after the fact.

How does eliminating the VCAA help a veteran? The VCAA is your roadmap to winning your claim. Now you are trying to navigate the VBA without a map. When is the last time the VA did something out of a motivation to really help vets rather than helping themselves to keep their jobs? This pilot program is just an effort to take the heat off the VA at the vet's expense. Since many will have to appeal it seems to me you are being asked to give up basic rights to get a fast decision. Fast does not mean good. I would like to know how Berta feels about elimination of the VCAA since she is pretty expert at it applications?

Don and Pete My VAMC is in the dark ages so they don't do cutting edge treatments.

Not getting a VCAA letter could be a problem. It seems to me the VA wants to do a rush job while short changing the vet on his rights. It all sounds great until you get the denial. You will still have to appeal. No C&P exam and no VCAA seems like the VA gets off cheap and it may hurt the vet. Do vets get any say in this matter?

It sounds good. Did you have endoscopy? Acid reflux left untreated is a risk for cancer. The treatment is more important than gettting SC'ed for this thing unless this is going to top you off for IU or 100%.

The doctor says I should know in about a week if it worked. It is a lot better than the standard surgery which can take a year to really heal. It can be used to treat nerve pain in the feet. Those with PN due to DMII could use it. If you have PN due to DMII you probably don't want surgery if you can help it due to healing problems.

If you claim chronic pain disorder, depression and/or anxiety due to your back problems all those claims make sense to me. I think you could get SC'ed for all and they all fall in the psychiatric category. Pain from a fusion seems pretty objective to me, but the VA insists in order to get rated for the pain it has to be a mental health claim. Any disability that puts significant limits on your acitivites could cause depression.

Lyrica is the same type of drug as neurontin. It is an anti-convulsant which is used for many other things including chronic pain. The only thing I don't like about it is that it may slow you down even more than the klonopin. You may have weight gain. I think it is pretty harmless as opposed to many other drugs. It has to build up in your system. I am already slowed down by pain meds and anti-anxiety drugs. If I get any slower I will just stop. All the drugs you take interact with all the rest. No one has really studied all the possible interaction combinations over a long period. We are the lab rats in these human experiments.

You have to wonder what the doctor who refused a witness is afraid of the witness seeing or hearing? If the doctor is on the up and up why refuse the spouse to be in the room? I smell a rat.

When the VA schedules you for a C&P exam it is best to just go to it. They are apt to take any questions or requests for changes as an excuse to just rate you without the exam and you have a good chance of a denial. Twice the VA has denied claims for me due to their own changes in a scheduled C&P exam. It is as if they are looking for a chance to say you did not cooperate with the exam.

I had the cyrosurgery today on my left foot. Not a big deal. If it helps me I will recommend it to others here with foot problems. They basically freeze the nerves and tissues in your foot which is supposed to radically bring down inflammation and even kill the nerves that are irritated. It is an alternative to more invasive procedures and is done for PF and PN. I know quite a few here have those problems.

You can get more done in 5 minutes at a face-to-face hearing than you can waiting five years for a decision from some faceless robot at the BVA or VARO. I vote for a personal hearing everytime if your claim is stalled.

I know there is a regulation that says the VA must consider and review all evidence in a vet's claim before making a decision. If you have important evidence that is in the hands of the VA and they make a decision without listing or referring to your evidence how can you know they reviewed it. This would mean the VA could just pick and choose which evidence they decide to consider based on whim or bias. That would be violating due process. I filed a CUE claim on a final decision in which the VA did not consider crucial evidence in my original claim. It was a medical report that said I was 100% disabled. The VA did not consider it and gave me 10%. It took forty years but my lawyer and I filed the CUE. We will see how this breaks because the BVA is going to decide it. If the VA can get away with just ignoring evidence then every claim is just like the lottery.

7 months is really not a long time to wait for a C&P exam depending on your VARO. It is a long time when you are the one who is not able to pay his/her bills. According to the VA they should already have made a decision in your claim, but this is all wishful thinking. They take as long as they take and unless you are on your deathbed there probably is little you can do to speed it up. Even if you are dying I doubt they will speed up the process.

For those out there with severe foot pain I am getting cryosurgery done on my feet on Wednesday. The podiatrist freezes a nerve in your foot with the idea that this will stop the pain. This is a better option than making deep and large incision in your foot. I wish a doctor would do that with my shoulder/neck pain. The doctors do something called "ablation therapy" where they cook the nerves to kill them. If you have some chronic pain the theory is that you kill the nerves to stop the pain. We will see if it helps me. There are many new procedures out there but you will not find them at the VA. You have to go afield and keep trying with alternative treatments. I have noticed that at the VA they are about 10 years the cutting edge in most areas of treatments for many conditions. Cryrosurgery for prostate cancer in common, but I don't think my VA does it. They insist on using the old techniques because they want to use the vet as a teaching tool for medical students. We are that expendable and held in such low esteem. They might use vets as crash dummies next.

Grass roots action by vets is the only thing that is going to make a radical change in the dysfunctional VA claims process.

Yes, I think the VA secretary now realizes that justice for 2.5 million RVN vets is expensive if it has been denied for 40 years. The government put all the RVN vets at grave risk and did it without a second thought. I wonder what sorts of risks the current group of vets will suffer? Ten years from now we will find that there was some environmental poison the OIF/OEF vets were exposed to and the cost will be billions.

I never thought I would live to see the VA make any sort of heart disease presumptive for AO. Maybe the VA will drag out the actual implemation of the award so slow most of us old dudes will be dead. I am sure they are thinking about this.

It could be a decade or longer before the class action suits are finished. I was in one with the feds that lasted 12 years before I got paid. It was a good one, but the lawyers got the money and we got a few bucks. It was a big con job. These class action suits make lawyers rich.

I would make surgery the last resort. I had a problem with my right shoulder. I did PT and it fixed it. The left shoulder I got surgery and it made it worse. The docs usually will give you shot in the shoulder first. If that does not work then PT. Finally, you get the surgery and hope for the best.

BVA does not do DRO hearings. DRO is at your VARO. BVA is separate. You got to get your terms and venues straight.

Ruby I think this is a new tactic the VA is using to shoot down IMO's. If the claim is already established and you are just asking for an increase why would your doctor need the entire claims file? Is this a original claim or an increase on an existing claim? If the VA is claiming there c&p doctors read the vet's claim files that would be absurd. You are lucky if they even read your SMR's. I know the VA will shoot down an IMO if the doctor does not refer to the SMR's. This is the kind of crap that turns people into VA warriors.