john999

He is going to want to see your C-File. He is doing my CUE. I hope we both win.

If you take topiramate you need to get your eyes checked frequently.

I believe if you have combat action ribbon the VA must accept your stressor letter if it is all plausable. If you say it happened they should presume it did happen since you have combat medal. However, I would still do as Berta says. What is really hard is for the truck driver who gets shot at or sees horrible sights and has no combat awards. He is stuck trying to verify the stressor. I don't believe you have that problem.

Just having a human being look at your evidence for 5 minutes can make all the difference. I think our claims are usually handled like widgets in a factory. They just stash them and slash them. They hardly look the first few times you are up for consideration. After two years you finally get a DRO to look at the evidence you then have a chance. It is the damn waiting for a half-decent review that kills us. When you original decision is so full of errors such as not even getting the basics right there is no excuse for this. The VA knows that most vets don't even appeal their decisions. Why not just deny them all? You cut out 50% of compensation awards.

I would say just bring yourself, and be pro-active about talking about your symptoms. If any part of the exam hurts tell them to stop whatever they are doing. For instance, to check ROM they may move your arms or legs or tell you to bend over. If it hurt stop and tell them you cannot move beyond this point without pain.

Yes, VA is notorius for doing "cut and paste" De Novo Reviews. You need to go eyeball to eyeball with the DRO.

You need to ask for a personal hearing with the DRO. Where was your claim at since 2000? Was it on appeal all that time? Was it denied and then new evidence presented? If the claim was continually on appeal since 2000 your effective date should be 2000 if you win on appeal unless you submitted new evidence.

Me, you and Rockhound have similar cases. Back in the 60's and 70's the VA rating decisions were a joke. I got a two page decision as well with no appeal rights or even a C&P exam. They just rated me on my military record and my two week stay in a VA hospital in 1972. I think some organization filed on my behalf while I was in the nuthouse. I don't remember. I had also filed for a discharge upgrade. I was kicked out for being a PD and then the VA decided I was schizophrenic, but only 10% even though I could not work at the time. I spent two months in a military hospital after Vietnam for observation and drug abuse. I was not a drug addict at that time, but I was acting pretty crazy. I took drugs to self medicate. I just felt like a ping pong ball. I was being batted around and I was batting myself around and did not know how to stop it.

How long had you been out of the service when you filed your 1971 claim. If the VA said schizophrenia then there is no way it can be due to misconduct. This seems ripe for a possible CUE. It is like saying you have a broken back, but also alcohol abuse so no SC for your back. You could have had alcohol abuse and drug abuse but that is superimposed on schizophrenia. Were you ever hospitalized in service for mental problems? I would try and find a lawyer to see if he/she would run with this. If you filed your original claim within one year of discharge you were severely screwed.

I bet there is wheeling and dealing especially with vets who might appeal a decision. If the DRO, for example, rates a vet with the tacit understanding that the vet won't make a further appeal this is where the VSO's might be the facilitator of such deals. I made such a deal with the DRO though a VSO regarding my PN in upper extremities. It was understood I would not appeal if the DRO granted SC for this condition. That was all I was really asking for so I did not appeal it. It was done with a wink and a nod.

Ask for an increase in disability rating. You should get a C&P exam for this request.

Do tankers get a special badge for being in combat? If so that will provide a verifiable stressor much like the CIB for infantry. Being blown up by a mine and flinging dead bodies into ditches is a stressor. The fact you are troubled by the memory of this is a sign of PTSD. Since this memory intrudes into your present life it is a criteria of PTSD.

I would like a class about the lessor known aspects of winning claims and to the fine print in the regs. You can know the general aspects of the claims process, but that is not where the real meat is at. They don't tell you how important your IMO is, or how to avoid pitfalls.

Betty Set your lawyer loose on this and don't worry about it. He should have a copy of your c-file. They won't reduce you, but will probably be forced to give you an EED. The percentage rating sequence you got makes no sense. If you were disabled in 1983 to the extent you could not work then the 10% rating, and the graduation to P&T over all those years does not make sense since your condition in 1983 is the same as 2008. Nothing changed except you found records to prove service connection that they should have had at the VA. They paid you a big retro, but they owe you twice as much. If I get my retro back to 1971 you will hear about it. Since you have SC back to 1992 your SC cannot be severed.

If vets don't blow their own horns nothing will change. Waiting for Uncle Sam to do the right thing is fruitless. Personally, as long as I get my check they can all be damned. No matter what happened to you the best you can hope for is a check every month. In regards to the check size does matter.

Just an aside: If your lawyer requests a copy of your C-File isn't the VA required to provide it? I had to send my lawyer my copy of my C-File for him to represent me at my DRO. The VA had 6 months to provide my lawyer a copy but they didn't do it. The file was a mess, of course, and the lawyer roundly cursed the VA for presenting the file in such a state. The VA is circumventing my lawyer and sending me all decisions and statements of when and where hearings or appeals should happen. They have made a point of trying to go around him.

I think the results of a C&P exam are legal in a certain sense. The RO does not have to abide by the results of a C&P but it is heavy evidence for him to ignore. It is part of your request for benefits so it is part of a legal process.

I would google PTSD and look at the symptoms. If you have a verifiable stressor then what you need is to exhibit the classic syptoms of PTSD. Just tell it like it is and hold nothing back. Describe what you feel like on your worst day. If the shrink asks you how you are doing don't say "fine". Talk about your symptoms. Don't dress us like for a job interview. Just keep it real.

I wonder if you should consult with a lawyer who does these types of claims? They have the means to determine if there was negligence or malpractice. When my mother died in a nursing home the lawyer I hired was just all over them. He held them up to scrutiny like you would not believe. I would not put it past the VA to change records or delete things, so maybe it is best to get records first. The lawyers have people who will review the records, and you can believe if there is anything that is not up to snuff they will expose it if there is a decent recovery for them.

Rich It is very informal, but a recording of the hearing should be made by the DRO. If you are by yourself the DRO will probably just start the hearing on the record, and ask you some questions. At some point you would probably want to make your case. I would write something I could read from because it goes into the record. If you have a VSO he could read the statement. Just dress normally. If you have a spouse that can verify what you say about symptomology she can testify as a witness. It is not adversarial at least not at the hearing. The DRO won't make a decision on the spot. He will take the evidence and make some kind of decision later. You should get a copy of the hearing from the DRO a few days later.

Betty Will your lawyer fight this for an EED? If the NSC pension was for the same things as the SC TDIU is for I don't understand how they gave you a 2005 date for TDIU. Well, I do understand because they don't want to pay you for all that retro unless they have to do it.

The VA did that? You know they told me I had ischemia and that I was in bad shape. Another test showed everything was just fine. They prescribed heart meds for me. Is it malpractice when they just scare you to death?

The VA should have given you a stress test along with the echo. They didn't so it is their fault and their error. Let them live with it since they half-assed your C&P. Big difference between EF of 40 and EF of 70. The error is usually to your disadvantage. This time you win.

If you are a civilian federal worker and get disability retirement, and also get SSD then your retirement is offset by 60% of your SSD. They don't want any disabled people to get rich. You get to keep VA compensation with no offset.

I got one also and some of the information was wrong.