john999

With filing a CUE vets often stumble into posing questions of judgement or difference of opinion regarding medical evidence. If you are questioning how adequate the reasons and basis of a rating you are getting into judgement calls about existing evidence. Now if there was crucial evidence that the VA had it their posession that they did not consider then I believe you may have a CUE. Regs say the VA must evaluate all the evidence before rendering a decision. So if they don't do that they are violating the regulations. For instance, the VA has your SMR's and they don't bother to use them as evidence in your claim for an in-service injury or illness. They deny your claim without regard to the evidence in your SMR's. Now that to me is CUE. Those records are crucial to your claim, and but for the VA's refulsal to consider them you would have won your claim. That is the level you have to rise to at least. Even in such a case you know the VA is going to fight it because they don't want to award retro back maybe 30 years.

I am 58 and I had to bust my ass to get my pulse up to 130. That is not normal for a resting pulse for anyone. I agree that the "wait and see if he dies" pattern is typical for the VA. If I really do have ischemia why not send me to a VA cardiologist instead of just my PCP giving me some new meds, maybe. If my heart is not functioning normally under stress I want to know what can be done, and what should be done. The VA is most conscious of the budget rather than the health of any one veteran. I do take what the VA tells me with a grain of salt, but I intend to get it checked out by a real doctor. The VA is failing us.

Sorry, your 25% pay raise has been donated to Wall Street to help out the bankers. What is good for AIG and Citigroup is good for us all. Small price to pay to know someone gets to keep their 10 million dollar bonus for running a company into the groud. Trust us it is all for the best.

To put our compensation rates in context a vet who loses a leg below the knee in combat, or for any other reason gets 40% rating. That is 541 dollars I think. Would anyone in their right mind trade their foot for $541 a month? I think it is the same for an eye. Our compensation rates are a joke. I think they could double the rates with no trouble at all and it would still be peanuts.

I don't know how you guard against it but when you have two claims going at the same time the VA is liable to get the evidence mixed up, so if you can indicate exactly which claim each piece of evidence if for it would help. I had two claims going at the same time and the VA mixed the evidence up and made a mess out of it. You might want to look at your C-File to see what is in there before it goes much longer so you can fix anything that is mixed up. If you don't get a VCAA letter that specifically addresses all the issues of your claim you need to find out what is going on because that may mean something is wrong. More errors are made in the VCAA letters than almost anywhere else. The VCAA letter is supposed to be a roadmap to winning your claim. As Rentalguy says, you want to return the portion of the VCAA letter that asks if you have any more evidence to submit. If you don't indicate that and return it to the VA they won't do anything until they get that letter back. They will just sit on it for up to a year. You are going to have to babysit your claim all the way through the system as far as you can. Never take anything they say for granted. If you have doubts about something check on it.

The VA will probably make a decision on both claims at the same time. If they rate them together it may be OK as long as all your evidence is in and you tell them you have no more evidence in either matter. Did you get a VCAA letter on both claims telling you what you needed to win the claims? If you don't get one of those letters then you need to inquire as to what is going on with your claim.

Emelita I would pursue it anyway. Let the VA make the determination that you make too much money. I don't know exactly what the cut off is, but tell me how you live on $637 a month? Do you get medicade and foodstamps and section 8 housing? I bet the VA counts all that as income somehow. I would not trade SSI for the VA widow's pension.

I think I will make an appointment with a cardiologist Monday and get my records from the VAMC in the meantime. They have done three echocardiograms on me and a stress test, but all were of poor quality. I had an EMG done for my PN and it was of poor quality. All the doctors were non-English speakers. How can you trust these jerks for anything? I would not like to have to depend for my life on these clowns. I have DMII and now have HBP and cataracts and VA says there is no connection. After my CUE is decided I will file for all these conditions. The VAMC with its electronic medical records is supposed to be total care for us, and yet they never follow up on anything unless you get down on your knees and beg them.

I know that if you file within one year of discharge it is considered differently than if you wait ten years. I filed for my mental condition within a year of discharge and got 10%. If I had waited I would have been denied. I know that.

If the widow gets SSA she will probably be ineligible for the widow's pension since it is need based. You have to be really poor to get it. I tried to get it for a widown but she made too much money, and was not even eligible due to her husband not even being a vet. He worked in a war industry at home and never even went to basic training during WWII.

If you have other insurance go get an opinion from a hand specialist. Don't wait for the VA to do an exam. Their exams are often of poor quality. You have to be your own advocate with all doctors. You have to push them to get the care you need.

The stress test I had at the VA indicated ischemia. My C&P exam skipped the stress test and made a diagnosis of no heart disease. I told my PCP and she got a stress test for me. Now I have a bad feeling about the care I have been getting from all my doctors. My private doctor said no need for a stress test unless I had symptoms and I don't have symptoms. I have not gotten my rating for heart disease secondary to DMII yet, but I know from the C&P exam it will be 0% or denied due to an inadequate exam. This really pisses me off, and I want to know what to do about it. The VA did not respond to my request for a new C&P exam. They are going to wait until I get the rating and force me to NOD it. Now I have evidence of active heart disease. I had artery disease in my legs and that is why I wanted an exam for my heart because the two often go together. I am currently 0% for arteriscelorotic heart disease. I am not really happy about this, but it shows how poor and inadequate our C&P exams are and how they skip steps to save a buck. I don't want to wait until I get a rating to head off a denial. I only got a echocardiogram and the C&P PA ignored it and just asked me if I ever had chest pains. The exam worksheet requires a stress test, but I did not get one before the exam. This is malpractice I think, but I know that the c&p PA was just doing the VA's dirty work. I wonder if I should just go to the VA and get the records and go to a private cardiologist. The VA will let me die while they discuss what cheap medication they can give me. You cannot trust a c&p exam to diagnose your problems. I got the results from the stress test in the mail today from my PCP at the VA. She is concerned but she is the only one. Any suggestions?

Obama is putting some people on the short list for the VA Secretary who have revoluntionary ideas about granting all disability claims and then perhaps sorting them out later. I am just wondering if their is a Catch 22 in there some place. To fix the VA something revolutionary is needed as it is a complete failure as is. Billions are being spent to deny veterans disability claims. What is wrong with that picture.

When you claim a secondary condition you need a medical opinion that states the nexus to the primary condition. The VARO won't make the leap just based on common sense. I went for a secondary condition of diabetic neuropathy. The VA contested it saying I had the condition before I was officially diagnosed with DMII.

The VA is the easiest place to get a job if you are a disabled vet. Like Pete says you will have to start at the bottom probably as a part timer. That is what I did about 25 years ago before I transferred to the Post Office. I never could get a decent job at the VA ,and although I had a degree I never got out of the lowest level job, so I went for a job at the Post Office where I took a test and was hired. If you have a severe disability you won't get hired at the Post Office. In some sense the Feds have to hire a certain number of vets, but they do not have to keep you. At the USPS they will hire a vet with a disability and then start trying to fire him so they can replace him with someone's girlfriend.

I like to do them on the official VA Statement in Support of Claim as a cover page at least. Getting proof of date of submission is probably the most important thing, so the VA can't lead you on a merry chase.

I know that if the VA does reduce a 100% rating they should consider TDIU. In other words, a vet with 100% PTSD who gets a proposed reduction to 70% should then be considered for TDIU before a reduction in compensation.

I read from Jim Strickland that the raters do about 6 claims a day. That is even worse since there is no way they can adequately review 6 claims a day. That is why we get these hafl-ass decisions in which you know they did not read you evidence or even read your claim. They just stamp it "denied" and that is a work product success.

Purple After having dealings with VA mental health for 37 years I have no faith in them at all. I see my VA shrink four times a year. Do you think that is enough to actually get something done? I know it is a joke and so does my VA doctor. Do you have private insurance or medicare. If I had just stayed with the VA system I would be homeless or dead by now. It is just a sham where VA doctors pretend to care for the mental health needs of the veteran population. I hope you can get out of that system and get some real help.

I had a nerve block in my back a few weeks ago. So far it has done nothing to help me, yet the pain doctor says to keep getting them. I think he is getting well paid for his lame advice. I sometimes wonder if there is anything that can treat back pain successfully. I take percoset for my back. My back hurts if I exercise, or if I do nothing. It hurts when I get up in the morning, and when I go to bed at night. I have found that walking gives the most relief while sitting makes it worse. It is bad because my feet hurt like hell as well. This chronic pain has turned my life to shit.

Did you get your tax break on your house? Often T&P vets get major tax benefit on property tax. In Florida you get zero property tax if you are T&P.

You got lucky. Ask some vets who have been waiting for 10 years just to get service connected.

Is the 5 year rule for vets who are 100% or TDIU? I thought it applied to only that group. The VA must show clear evidence of improvement after reviewing the vet's entire file. The VBM says it is almost like showing CUE for VA to do this. This is to protect every vet who has 100% from being dragged in for exam and being reduced at will on a single exam. Some think that SC can be severed by CUE, but after ten years you can't be severed except due to fraud. This according to VBM.

Jack Your wife's claim for DIC would be a slam/dunk because you have been TDIU for over ten years. You either have to be 100%(TDIU) for ten years or die from a service connected condition.

Berta You should write a book on DIC and the problems widows have with the VA. I know my wife could not handle the stress you have gone through on her own. I just want to live long enough so that it is a slam/dunk for her. John