john999

Waiting one year for a DRO is not a long time. What you want to be sure of it that you are indeed in line for a DRO Review or Hearing. You cannot just trust them. I would verify it if I had to go down to the VARO on foot. They should have sent you a letter saying they acknowledge that you are going the DRO route in lieu of a BVA appeal. If you change your mind in the middle of the process watch out!

My VARO has been losing my evidence for the last ten years. That is why I hand deliver it to them and get date stamped copies. They get 10,000 pieces of mail a day. Imagine some semi-retarded mailroom clerk sorting your letters to the VA." Duh....maybe the letter goes in this box, or maybe I just ought to throw it away"

It is tricky. I know that people on federal workers compensation file for unemployment if their employer tells them there is not work they are fit to do. The worst thing is you might have to pay them back. You might run this by a SSD lawyer. You don't want to commit fraud. You are probably swearing you are ready and able to work to get unemployment.

You're in good hands with the VA Man! You just got to have a little trust. Just because we throw your evidence away, and stall on your claim until you are homeless you got to show a little tenderness. The VA system as it is is broken beyond fixing. Throw it out and start over, but first grant every claim in the system.

My podiatrist told me today the only hope for my feet is a surgery to release the main heel cord in my feet. I can hardly walk as it is. I have the pes cavus and this puts too much pressure on the plantar fascia. This is really the last resort for me. I am always telling people not to let anyone operate on their feet and now I am considering it. I am not letting the VA do it if I do it. You have to wear a boot for some weeks. I need it on both feet. If it fails this will be the third failed surgery I have had on various joints. I could get better odds on a heart transplant.

800 number people told me once I had a big award retro coming. It turned out to be a denial. They are just guessing.

Gregg Use your own insurance and get an opinion from a real doctor. Your collsion with the VA is why vets often hate the place. I wonder if your doctor was a medical student or resident.

Don't worry. The VBA already suspects all vets of just trying to get money out of them. Evidence is what you need. Evidence trumps suspicions and bias and all the rest. Every vet who files a claim wants money. That is why they have a VBA.

Be damn sure that your DRO is going to happen. When you start to change things the VA gets confused. They may be actually waiting to certify your claim to the BVA. I would double check this. It happened to me. I asked for a DRO Hearing and the VA was in the process of certifying my claim to the BVA when I stopped them.

Well, at least you were treated for your feet in service. I was not. I often think about cutting them off they hurt so bad. I have the high arch problem also. I know one thing is that every pound you gain in weight makes it worse. I don't know what makes it better. I can see who it would lead to back problems and all sorts of other problems because you can't walk without pain.

When watching the file of the guys driving down the road I want to yell out to them to watch the road. Stop the chatter. They are sitting ducks for an RPG, an ambush etc. Everytime you go around a corner you might be driving into an ambush. When driving out to some hamlet in RVN to take the civic action officer we security guys riding in the back of the truck were thinking we are going to get ambushed or hit a mine and we are all going to die so that offiers can claim to be winning hearts and minds. We get to the hamlet and it has been attacked the night before. They went after the civilian defense forces because that is the weak link. We are also sitting ducks. We know if something happens they are all going to run away and leave us there to die. Some things never change except feeling naked in badit country. I sometimes feel my command was trying to kill me.

Color films of WWII make it seem real. I was thinking that people today think of Tet 1968 the way we thought of 1928 when we were 20 years old. It was ancient history. WWI is like the Civil War even though there are lots of films on it. Most of the films show little people running in jerky motion and shells exploding. If it was in color it would seem real instead of something from the 19th century. You know there are thousands of war journals of WWI and WWII. Many are not even in print. One of the best I ever read was called "The Fortress" about the Anzio battle. It was done by a 20 year old English 2nd LT. It is ghastly and yet the Lt is just a boy doing a man's work. I would like to see color films of that.

I really doubt the VA is doing comprehensive testing for TBI. That cost money and takes time. I think they are letting vets languish because they do not have the experts to do the proper exams. Another reason to just give us a card equal to medicare and let us find our own doctors.

Chuck75 The first indication I might have some CAD problems was a CT scan I got of my legs. I had a lump on my shin. The CT scan showed clacification in my arteries, or some such symptom of arterioscelorsis(spelling). This alarmed me. I filed for this as secondary to DMII. I was first awarded 0%. I filed an appeal and got more tests. I had a C&P exam done by an idiot PA. She just BS'ed her way through the exam. I asked for a DRO and got 60% rating. I found out about the connection between artery disease and DmII from the VBM. The tests I got from the VAMC were just awful. I had a treadmill stress test. That showed ischemia. I got a chemical stress test that showed nothing. Somehow I got a 60% rating. I never sat down with a cardiologist for a C&P exam or any consultation. I got that on my own. I have a familiy history of early heart disease . The VA knew all this. They did no follow-up. You go to the VA with obvious history and symptoms of cardio problems don't expect follow-up. You have to insist. If I thought I was having acute heart problems the last place I would go would be the VA. The VA says they want to own my medical care for the rest of my life. If they own my care I may have a short life. They have medical records online and all sorts of high tech stuff, but the review of your history is not done because that takes a few minutes and they PCP's don't have time. It is malpractice to just look at the first page of your latest history, and ignore the flashing danger signs from six months ago.

Why should spouses have to become Sherlock Homes to win a claim of DIC or win one for their disabled spouse? It is really remarkable what you all have done with your detective work. If you keep digging you will win. The factor that works on you is time. No one at the VA is worried about time. People live, and die but the VA just goes on its merry way.

Yes, the VA tip toes around the cancers and all the other AO presumptive diseases to just admit something but to actually use the regs to deny many. Like you say Berta, it is about money. They had us. They used us. Now they want to pay out as little as possible. Better to bail out banks and insurance companies than to take care of vets. AO deaths are not even considered war deaths. Just an unhappy coincidence. You were in Vietnam. You got exposed to AO and now you are dead. Too bad, so sad, no money.

How about a CT scan? The main thing is to get a private specialist to do an exam. You want someone who is not getting their paychecks from the VA. A C&P exam is evidence but IMO's from your own specialists can tip the balance toward winning your claim. The ding dongs who did your C&P exams are probably right off the bottom of the barrel. Those who do these kinds of things for the VA are not leaders in their fields. They are the ones who whore themselves out for doing as many exams as possible in a single day.

Pete Maybe your raters were not up on the fact that BVA decision don't set precedents. As long as you won that is all that counts. Winning is not the main thing, it is the only thing. You probably just drowned them in evidence.

Given the agoraphobia if you get 100% you should ask for housebound SMC. Agoraphobia is the definition of housebound. I have that in my records also as a SC condition, but because I have TDIU I have been reluctant to wake up that dog. Unless you are working from home agoraphobia should net a vet 100% since you can't do a lot if you can't leave your house except with fear and trembling.

My understanding is if the VA were to exclude evidence form a rating that might be a CUE. The resolution of the CUE would be to force the VA to reweigh all the evidence and come to a new decision. You could very will still lose based on a new reweighing of evidence . If that were to happen could you go forward with an appeal of this new decison? I have a CUE claim based on exclusion of evidence that my lawyer believes would have resulted in a much higher rating. If the VA grants the CUE the VA will have to reweigh the evidence and come to a new decision. I am worried because I think the VA will just come up with the same rating, so what do I do then? Get me? It is going to the BVA. If we fail at the BVA then I guess it is the court if the lawyer wants to pursue it which he probably won't. My claim is not based on reweighing evidence. It is based on exclusion of evidence that would likely have resulted in a different decision.

The army dentist falisifed my record by not entering a DX in my record. He told me I had TMJ, but that is was incurable. He said they would have to put bolts in my jaw and I would look like Frankenstein. In the record he only wrote "examination". He lied to me because he knew I was on a levy for Vietnam. Treatment would have delayed me getting to Nam on time. I was 19 and believed that doctors would not lie. How wrong could I be?

And the band plays on!

I filed a claim for TMJ. My service records were "silent" on the subject. I did not get the benefit of doubt since there was no evidence to say I did or did not have TMJ. Should I have been awared SC for this? I think so because the army dentist falsified my records, but I can't prove that 40 years later.

VYNC Do you expect doctors to work for free? If you have any kind of insurance it will pay something towards the IMO, usually. Just remember you need a copy of your C-File and your SMR's when you ask for the IMO doctor to look over your claim and do a report. He does not have to read it all, but you have to at least have the material, so he can say he "reviewed it". Now is not the time to be a penny pincher with an IMO. You don't need to spend $5000, but you need to spend the money to get a good IMO. You will be paid back the first year if your IMO puts you over the top. If you depend on the VA to do your medical report it can go wrong for you, and it goes right into your record. You don't have control of what a VA doctor writes. Would you go to court with a lawyer who wanted to save money by not getting the best experts to help you? You are the lawyer, and the VA is your adversary.

I would get the IMO if the case is even close. Waiting two years for a decision and then getting denied is a bummer. You want to just cream them. You want to crush them with evidence. You don't want any doubt. If the turnaround for a denied claim was 60 days until you got a new decision on new evidence it would be one thing, but you end up waiting another couple of years because you claim was weak. Why take a chance?