john999

When you get a 100% schedular rating the VA is supposed to consider housebound benefits if I read the VBM correctly. That does not mean they have to award them, but they should consider HB. Does your condition keep your housebound? That would be another $295 a month. I know the rule says you have to be 100%+60 but if you condition keeps you housebound you can get it.

You can get a lawyer at the RO level depending on when your claim was filed. Things have changed.

If you can't go home after the C&P exam all the better for your percentage. They won't keep you long. The last time I got put away resulted in an earlier effective date for my TDIU. All they care about is CYA if you tell them you are suicidal. If you stay at the VA State Farm for a few days and then tell them you no longer feel like killing yourself they will cut you loose pretty quick. Do you have a wife with your health care POA? They can release you into her hands as long as you tell them you don't feel like offing yourself anymore.

Have you considered getting a lawyer. That PD diagnosis is standing in your way and I see you are getting frustrated. It would be good to have some objective eyes on this claim, and also a person who knows the VA's tricks and has a strong motive to win your claim (money). If you are not working that means TDIU or 100%. The longer the time between discharge and diagnosis the harder it is to prove things like MST. The only ones who have it easier with PTSD are decorated combat vets. There stressors don't have to be proved.

When you say request for re-evaluation you mean that you asked for an increase? You might also discuss with your doctor to get some tests for you cardiovascular system. Requests for re-evalutions are really requests for an increase as far as I know. Do you have neuropathy in your feet? Have you claimed it? What is used for basis of an increse in disability are service connected primary or secondary conditions and documentation that they have gotten worse. That means you medical records. If you are not still working have you applied for TDIU?

Were you denied on the depresssion claim? I think that it is not an either or for the depression and PTSD claims. You could claim both since depression is a symptom of PTSD. What are you claiming depression for? You can get 100% for depression just as easy as PTSD without having to verify stressors. If you are SC'ed for depression go with that so you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

I would get a copy of the C&P before I do anything like Larry says. The VC doctor might just be letting off steam. He knows he cannot make such a statement about a vet unless he can prove it. What basis does this nut have for saying those things. He sounds like he has a TBI.

Hey, if you were in Nam and have DMII then you will get service connection. The question is the percentage? Do you take insulin?

When the RO denies the remanded CUE hire a lawyer. Let him worry about it. Don't give up, but you will have time before the RO makes the decision. Forget about it until then. I handed my CUE to a lawyer and now he works on it. I don't worry about it. If I win that's fine. If not then I tried my best.

Rockhound I think that is a pretty good rebut to the simple PD diagnsis. If a PD is caused by a blow to the head then it is not a simple PD. It had a service connected cause which makes it not a PD. PD is by definition not service connected. Changes in behavior after a head injury should be viewed as service connected if the injury happened in service. That is my take on it. If you have a brain injury that is not a personality disorder. You are getting closer all the time to getting that PD diagnosis thrown out! I never got mine thrown out, but they just added three or four mental disorders to it.

Yes, if you relie on your private doctor just go along with the VA program. I complained about the side effects of a VA pain med, and they put me through about 6 months having to drive to the VAMC and get my meds in person. Now I don't complain about anything. You could try and get another PCP. I don't know if that will work. My PCP is pretty good, but the pain clinic is awful.

When you go for your C&P exam and the doctor tries to lead you back to your childhood, teenage years, family situation you can bet that he is searching for a way to find reasons to make a PD diangosis. If like a million other guys with mental health problems you admit to using alcohol or drugs that is one more reason the doctor has to come up with (PD) drug dependent personality, or anti-social personality. You only realize these things after you have been screwed. Military doctors used to just slam you with PD and then you get kicked out and have a hell of a time getting compensation.

I agree with all. You need your doctor to spell out the nexus and the doctor should put it in terms of "I have reviewed the vet's SMR's and all other medical records" as Carlie says. A really good medical report can overcome almost all roadblocks if their is evidence in your records of a service connected disability. You need evidence, but the quality of your medical report is crucial.

Socialism is good as long as it is for the rich. Welfare is bad unless it is corporate welfare. We are so far from socialism it is a joke. We have an elite class of financial wizards who have run the economy into the ditch. Now they approve in every way of socialism as long as the working people pay it, and they get it. Heaven forbid a poor man gets socialism. The poor have to suck it up, and the rich get to ride.

DON'T PANIC! Life sucks and then you die! I had a lousey childhood; a crummy adulthood and old age really stinks. Why should I worry about economic collapse.

I don't think you can get compensated for a PD under any circumstance. If you have some organic service connected reason for changes in personality that is not a PD. A PD is something that you are either born with or that is a developmental disorder. Personality changes are not a PD. Someone who gets a head injury and then starts to act strange is not a personality disorder case. The VA might try to say it is a PD, but it is not a PD. Back in the day, the VA used to say cases of PTSD were PD's and they also said people that had TBI's were PD's. If the VA carried the day on the PD issue the vet gets no compensation. You can have a PD and have a mental disorder superimposed on the PD.

If the VA does not compute the bilateral factor correctly what course of action do you take if the decision has become final? Is there a chart that computes bilateral factor? If you believe the VA did not compute your bilateral factor correctly do you have to file another claim?

Rockhound I was diagnosed with residual schizophrenia in 1973. I only got 10%, but it lead to TDIU years later. I filed a CUE based on the fact that VA had my private medical records that said I was unemployable due to residual schizophrenia and the VA ignored this report. The VA said I had a personality disorder but DSM (9205) as well. You got screwed. You should have been diagnosed with (9205).

TestVet This proves that if you live long enough you can get your compensation. I remember when you did not think you would even get compensated for PTSD. I know you were fighting the battle in 2002 when I first started to post. Persistence is the key, but what a long, strange trip it has been.

I believe it is a claim for increased disability due to medical treatment at VA. In other words, it the VA made you worse or caused another disability due to their treatment you have a claim for increased benefit. Berta is the one that knows all the particulars. It is not the same as malpractice claim. Purple I got 60% for SC cardio after I got IU. It is worth going for since it may be the reason you check out and you want someone to get DIC.

You may end up getting a much higher rating as depression secondary to a SC disorder than the disorder itself! Everyone with chronic pain is depressed just about I think.

I read in VBM that a vet who has a foot problem that creates a foul smell even if he is only 20% could be considered IU if the foot smell makes it impossible for him to get employment. The VA always falls back on the percentages when they want to deny an IU claim even if the vet has proof he can't work. Then they turn around and tell a 90% vet that he can't get IU because he does not have indisputable evidence that he can't work. The whole thrust of the IU regs is that if you can't work due to SC condition you are entitled to IU. That is why IU regs were created to help the vets who are not 100% but because of their disabilies can't work.

Sharon I am dealing with the same issue. I have a doctor's report that states I was unemployable due to SC condition in 1971 but the VA never included that in their decision making process even though they had it in the record. I don't think the basic concept of TDIU has changed since 1971. If you can't work due to your SC condition you are entitled to TDIU. However, the VA has gotten around this by interpreting the regs so that unless you have at least 60% rating you can't get TDIU. So if you are rated 30% and can't work the VA will not consider TDIU. They don't deny it but they don't even consider it. This is what happened in my case. This makes a mockery of their own regulations.

The good thing about lawyers and CUE claims is that you know that you will be able to hire a lawyer because there is a 99% chance your CUE will be denied and then you can hire the lawyer for the appeals. I mean if you CUE involves significant money you will be denied. It is like reflexsive response from the VA. Claim thirty years of retro and you can bet the farm you will be denied by your VARO if that is where the CUE occurred. If you read the requirements for CUE it has always been difficult to say the least. If any aspects of judgement creep in you are done. This is how I read it.

Berta When did you find out and how did you find out about the rating? It makes you wonder why they fight you for years and then just roll over and award something. Is it because they just refuse to read your evidence. Now can you get money for funeral expense. You should be able to recover that to the tune of $2000. They owe it to you.