john999

I think cataract surgery is outpatient. Many clinics or surgery centers do it.

I think the VA would pay for cataracts, but they have a high threshold for doing it. I would not let a VA doctor operate on my eyes. There are lots of very good eye doctors who take medicare and speak English in the bargain.

I think taking all those narcotics will cause depression over time. I have chronic pain and morphine is hell. I think you have a great claim for a mental health condition secondary to the physical injuries. Also, the aircraft incident would be good as a PTSD claim since you were badly injured. What happened in the hospital I am not sure about as far as a PTSD claim. Usually, things like accidents where you are severely injured are a easily verifiable stressor. I have never heard of a surgery being seen as a stressor. You have a lot of claims to make. Make all of them. Make sure all these things are documented before you get discharged.

Yes, you can appeal any denial of benefits. Get some new braces if that is the reason they denied you. I think their may be other reasons. They are just throwing out the old braces as a red herring. I know the VA has very specific regs on loss of use for SMC.

I am pretty sure you have the right to all your medical records no matter if they are mental health records or not. However, the VA will stall on handing them over unless you do it like Pete says. Physical and mental illness are supposed to be treated just the same. We are supposed to get parity of treatments as well from insurance companies. If you can get 30 visits for PT you should get 30 visits for a mental health condition. The insurance companies (BC/BS) are already using every trick to get around the law. My shrink says they are insisting on preauthorization for mental health treatments. They never did that before this law came out recently. I use workers compensation for my private mental health so I am not affected by this yet.

You know I have a buddy who was on SSD for ten years for his SC disability which the VA rated 50%. It was not until he filed for IU and sent in two IMO's that they gave him 100%. The VA knew he was on SSD, but just ignored the fact he could not work in his rating. He never claimed IU but it was clearly inferred from him being on SSD. The VA did not apologise to him. They first accused him of doctor shopping to the the 100%. He had panic and PTSD so bad he took his family to the wilderness to live to get away from people. Maybe he should ask for EED.

I got a copy of a C&P exam for CAD from my VAMC. On the exam it said "Do Not Give a Copy of This Exam to the Veteran". The records clerk gave it to me anyway. I know they are weird about giving mental health C&P exams to vets. The VAMC insists on mailing them to me. That goes for mental health notes from my VA shrink. I love the consistency between VARO's. Each is its own little kingdom.

Disable the firewall. The firewall is there to protect your computer. These firewalls often interact with anti-virus programs, and you can't even get your email. If you have a good anti-virus program that should be enough. When I enable my firewall and virus protection I can't get anything from the internet. Windows has a firewall and many virus programs include a firewall. I remember a program called "black ice". It protected my computer from intruderes. It also raised hell with my email and my anti-virus protection. I am not a geek, but you do need a router for the laptop.

Berta Yes, if this was an intentional overdose by a nurse it would be a PTSD incident. That I can see. MDB19 would be the victim of attempted murder.

I think a claim for depression due to a major medical condition and chronic pain would fly better. If you had a horrible accident that resulted in the surgery then that would seem to be more in line with a PTSD claim. The incident you are talking about is surgery and a reaction to medication. I don't know if that is considered a life threatening event of the PTSD variety. I think these VSO's are going hog wild with PTSD diagnosis. What kind of mental health medications do you take now? You have to prove a stressor. What in your case is the stressor? I guess it would be nearly dying from a drug overdose the hospital gave you. I guess that is PTSD, but if you are taking pain meds and depression meds that would be just right for a depression claim due to medical condition. Your operation was for a service connected condition correct? Others may feel that you do have a strong PTSD claim. I would like to hear their reasoning. I am playing devil's advocate a little to make sure you are not going down some blind alley.

I think the fault here lies with your DAV guy. You always have to supply the name and address of your doctor that you want the VA to contact for information. Papa, if you are a RVN vet I don't think this thing should take long if you have current diagnosis of DMII. It took me about 9 months from the time I filed until the time I was awarded SC for DMII. If you claimed DMII all you need is to go for a C&P exam. Do you have any current VA medical records that DX DMII? Your DAV VSO dropped the ball. I would drop him/her. DMII for RVN vets is just a slam/dunk if you have the diagnosis. The only question would be your rating. Be sure to include any secondary conditions from the DMII. Even the DAV should not be able to blow a RVN DMII rating.

When QTC does the exam you usually have to go through the VARO. When the VA does the exam you can usually get it from the records dept.

When the BVA remands a decision back to the VARO add another year to your claim at least. Often the VA will again make a bad decision which finds itself back at the BVA and may get remanded again. This is called the VARO/BVA/VARO cycle of birth and rebirth sort of like reincarnation.

I can't believe a back injury or condition that affects both legs could be mild or moderate. Who did the MRI and was the neurologist your own private doctor or the VA's? I have what they refer to as mild arthritic changes and bulging disc and it hurts like hell. You know for sure that if it is affecting your legs a nerve is being compressed.

I think the words Veterans Administration and Misconduct are one and the same. They have a record of at least 60 years of misconduct involving cheating vets out of money.

I don't think that is a good enough reason to join the American Legion. You can join AARP and probably get the same deal or AAA. I don't think they do a good job of representing vets.

You know if a vet served in a desert or tropical environment I think skin cancers should be presumptive. In RVN we all worked with our shirts off around the base filing sandbags and stringing wire. Many new guys got burned to a crisp the first few days before they either got brown or put their shirts back on. The exposure to the tropical sun is dangerous. I have little pre-cancerous spots that have been removed over the last 15 years. I don't like the sun and I stay out of it, and yet I have these spots. I did not work outdoors for the last 25 years.

Good point Broncovet. The VA does not even keep track of the number of denials of claims. I think they only do all these checks when the vet gets a load of money. You know it is an adversarial system. Vets ought to be battering down the doors of the VA to get justice. Can you imagine the quality of claims coming out of the VA now that we have almost 1 million back logged claims? The last claim I filed got a decision that appeared to have been done by a 10 year old foreign student doing an English essay. Cheating vets on effective dates is just one of the many outrages we suffer. Watchdog is doing a series on taking the VA apart brick by brick. If this is how the VA treats "heros" how do they treat average soldiers who just did their best?

SL If you can't work due to your disability then I would go see a SSD lawyer to get off on the right foot. Your doctor needs to say that you are unable to do any sort of work for at least one year. That is the standard for SSD. The lawyer may know doctors who will work with you and who know how to write a report. You have to be unemployed for at least 6 months before you can collect from SSD.

You would be better off making a claim for depression as secondary to your accepted back and knee claims. You want to phrase it probably as depression due to chronic pain and disability due to a SC condition. Your doctor has to spell that out and explain the nexus between your current depression and your chronic medical conditions. You should have a psychiatrist do that.

If you have medical proofs that your condition is permanent in nature send it in, and ask to be made P&T. Why wait? I did not wait. I appealed my denial of P&T as soon as I got TDIU. My P&T went back to my original date of IU. The VA should handle it like a claim. It is a claim for benefits you have been denied meaning Chapter 35. I think you time for an appeal has run out so you have to send in your claim for P&T as a claim for an increase. If you wait for the C&P in 2010 and you don't get it then it is going to take another year to get it. That means 2011 and beyond.

You are better off on SSI since you can get food stamps, housing, medicade and other benefits. It is better to be really poor on SSI than to be just poor on SSD and miserable war pension. The war widow's pension is a joke.

That is good news because if I win my CUE it will go back to 1971. I was awarded 10% in 1971 when the facts are more in the 70% range.

I worked for years full of pain killers. In the end it brings you down. Most have a subtle effect on your judgement. You may feel fine but the opiods do work on your mind in ways you don't experience except when your judgement sufferes. Mine took a dip and a lood-de-loop.

I really think it depends on your age and your disability. If you are 25 years old and have some disability that does not affect your thinking then it does make sense to try to work. If you are 50 years old with a severe emotional disorder it makes no sense at all. Not many people will have a fixed income of over 2500 bucks a month tax free in the future. They will have their tiny IRA's and 201-K's to live on for 20 years. Maybe people will just work until they drop like in the 19th Century.