john999

The VA in Tampa has been trying to get me into an in-patient pain management program. What it is is that I think the VA has these in-patient programs and no one wants to participate, so they are trying like hell to get vets into these programs to justify they jobs. I don't want to sit in a VA hospital for 19 days, four vets to a room. I have been in the VA in-patient for mental condition and I did not sleep for days due to medication screw-ups and hostile attitude from doctors telling me I should be in jail. If for some reason I ever did go into an in-patient program I would be so sure that my medications would not be suddenly stopped by some idiot. This happened to me. If I really thought the programs would significantly help I would consider it, but I don't believe that.

What you have to do is show the VA you retired due to disability, and that you are now too disabled to continue to work. A doctors's report along with the TDIU form might be all you need. The report must say that you are totally disabled due soley to your SC condition. Everything goes up when you retire. Your insurance gets expensive and, of course, your pension is fully taxed. You are supposed to make it on a 40% pay cut, or get another job if you are able. I wasn't able and I would have starved to death.

Stay with us, Betty. You case is an inspiration to all of us. SC'ed after 44 years is great. What it goes to is your persistence and the VA's many attempts to block you getting what you deserve. Now if Rockhound gets his schizophrenia claim in shape it will be a real display of overcoming the odds. I know it took you a while to agree to get the IMO, Betty. Sometimes it is hard to believe that spending money can get you a big payday when you are broke.

I take clonazepam and percoset or vicodin. If I take the percoset or vicodin by themselves it wakes me up. I have the exact opposite reaction to these narcotics as most people. I take them and I can't sleep and become more awake. I take them in the morning as soon as I get up for pain and to wake up. I am pretty sure I have a jones. If you want to find out if you have a physical dependency on an opiate try stopping for one day.

Betty That was a hell of a letter your doctor did except for no GAF score. That is all that I see lacking, but it must have not mattered since you got it.

Larry If socialism is good enough for AIG, Wall Street, and Freddie Mac then it is good enough for me. I am an anarchist. I want to see the whole system come down except for my IRA, heh, heh. John

Ron I did get a second DRO. The first was a Review and the second was a Personal Hearing. I had one claim that was on its way to the BVA and was yanked back by my lawyer and we had a DRO Hearing on it. It was my CUE which had already been denied twice via a De Novo Review. I think it can be done since you can have a face-to-face hearing at any time in the process so says the VA regs.

I have a master's degree in sociology....which explains my finacial failure in life. So it is possible to get a law degree over the internet in less than ten years? If I got a law degree I would want to practice, but then I would probably lose IU forever. School is good, however. I loved going to college. It was the only thing I was good at being a student. I can't even sit in a classroom because I tried gemology but could not stand sitting for hours in class. Some kind of self paced course work. Those internet classes do tend to be expensive if they are from real schools. I think it is still worthwhile.

You did it, Don!

I was a civil service employee and I took disability retirement after 20 years. Then there was no question about the reason for retirement. It converts to regular retirement anyway. Can you take disability retirement for your SC condition? This would solve your problem. I know that not many can survive on civil service retirement alone. I couln't. I was under FERS. What a joke. 30% of my base pay plus SSA, and my 401-K which is much reduced now. I missed out on many years of contributing to my 401-K since I had to retire, so without TDIU I would be up the creek. You must be CSRS but even that is not much when you consider you don't get SSA except maybe a few bucks.

I got my own SSD records and took them to the VARO, but I understand they will not always take them directly from the vet. It was the same with a certified copy of my DD214 they said they did not have, and I got a copy and carried it to them. I know people who have had such documents rejected by the VA when they were hand delivered by the Vet. I would have waited at least another year for my IU if I had had to wait for the VA to gather all the evidence.

Notice that when the VA sends out a decision or SOC they do not send it certified mail. When they send your TDIU employment verification letter or a C&P exam notice it just goes in the regular mail. They don't think you are worth the cost of certifying the mail. You have no way of proving they sent it or that you did not get it. I have been forced into appeals twice because the VA said they sent me a notice for a C&P and I failed to show when, in fact, they sent nothing. They don't give a shit so they expect we don't give a shit. I give a shit. I certify it or hand deliver it.

This is what I am basing my CUE on because the VA had a doctor's report in their possession that they did not consider. There is no question the report they did not consider was very relevant. I did not know the VA had not considered my doctor's report until years later. My decision in 1973 was just two pieces of paper. I did not get the kind of decision letters we get now. My decision became final because I did not appeal the 10% I got for being unemployable and incapacitated. The only way you can tell if the VA considered your evidence is if they list it. They don't have to list everything but they have to list relevanat evidence they considered. This seems to leave them a loophole because they decide what is relevant. I think a medical report is relevant, but I bet they will fight me on this and force me to the BVA and then the Court. As long as my lawyer holds out and I keep breathing I will fight. If we lose at the VARO where the error occurred then we go up the chain. Many here have had great difficulty getting the VA to consider IMO's and other evidence. As Betty has quoted the VA has to consider all the relevant evidence. How do they get away with this robbery of vets when we are supposed to have competent VSO's at our side I do not know. It does not take Perry Mason to see that all the evidence is considered. It can get buried in your C-File and never see the light of day for thirty years.

I took the LSAT once long ago and could have gone to some law school but was warned that there were just too many lawyers out there already sort of like a school of sharks that would eventually start to eat each other. Maybe I was given bad advice since I ended up an overeducated laborer with a bad back and aching feet. What a waste. However, whatever moves you forward is good.

I went to the "seminar" and it was a brief tour of the VA system and some questions and answers. The lawyers seems like a nice guy who is looking for business. Everyone here knows as much as we were able to discuss at the meeting. His name is T. Spinks and his web address is www.spinkslawfirm.com. I would consider him if I needed a lawyer for a VA claim and/VA malpracatice claim. There were about 6 people there. Mostly people who had done considerable time in the service. I was the only guy/gal who had done less than 10 years. The lawyer is a disabled vet himself and was denied the first time by St. Pete VARO. This is what got him interested in VA law since if he, as a lawyer, could get denied then how are regular vets going to win? John

Skunk Get a lawyer to do your claim. The retro will entice him to accept the claim and you will win it. You don't need this aggravation. The lawyer will be aggravted for you.

When the VA sends you a notice to show up for a C&P exam that is crucial to your claim they just use regular mail. That shows they could care less about your claim or your welfare. I have had two claims initially denied because the VA did not send me a notice to appear for an exam and I can't prove otherwise. That is why they scoff at certified mail.

Ron If it was me and I had not had a personal hearing with a DRO I would ask for a personal hearing before I let them ship my claim off to the BVA. Chances are the BVA is going to remand the claim back to the VARO. This will take two years. If they make a decision and deny you then you should go to the Court of Vet Appeals, but at that point no new evidence is allowed. I don't know how long that takes but it must be at least a year. The BVA is not the end of the line. The VARO can do anything the BVA can do. I would move heaven and earth to try and get the claim resolved at the VARO rather than deploy on a three year wait while the claim goes through the BVA-Remand-VARO or BVA-Court trip. Just about anyway you look at it it will take 2-3 years to get a better result from the BVA trip. I will probably be in the same boat myself, but it gripes me no end to think of the time involved. If your claim is as good as it can be then send it to the BVA. You can still send in new evidence to the BVA, but the wait is even longer if you get a personal hearing there. The teleconference is the fastest way but then you don't have human contact. They just see you on a screen. That is different to me than seeing someone in the flesh.

Yes, but you have to have a diagnosis besides just "pain". For instance, if you back is SC'ed and gives you pain you could get more compensation for chronic pain disorder due to the back perhaps.

You can get 100% for bi-polar if it is SC'ed and you don't need to prove PTSD or anything else. I am SC'ed for schizophrenia, bi-polar, panic, ptsd and a host of other things but it is all rated under schizoprhenia because that is the label the VA hung around my neck in the beginning 37 years ago, and who cares as long as you get your 100% or TDIU. Just as long as it is SC'ed and it completely disables you then you are entitled to total.

I went through the same deal. I got 70% and was denied TDIU. I had to get another IMO to get the TDIU. What was their reason for denial of TDIU?

My brother-in-law was killed my a noncombat death in Vietnam. He was getting on a helicopter to go on a mission and a defective grenade fell off his belt and exploded. His death was listed as "accidental self-destruction". The Marines blame him. He was a Marine in a Recon unit and was a good Marine. He died a needless and useless death. He is on the Wall...Larry Freeman Faulkner. Others were hurt in the incident.

In Florida at least you have to see your pain doctor at least once a month for refills. No more scripts for pain meds with 4 refills. I don't think they can kick you out of the pain program for missing just one appointment but they do get very unhappy and let you know about it. With the nurse at the pain clinic I talked to she said that the pain meds were aggravating my psychiatric condition so she was taking me off the pain meds. I know the pain meds aggravate my condition, but so does chronic pain. She told me just to improve my posture and rub some ben gay on my back. She was supposed to get me some PT close to my home and did nothing. That kind of attitude is what scares me about the VA. They actually have people working with vets who have chronic pain who have no pity in their hearts. I will never go back to that clinic. I have already found a private pain doctor. What the VA really wants is for vets to sign up for the 19 day in-patient program. I am not spending 19 days in a VA hospital with four people per room.

Skunk I filed for IU and I had 30% at the time. You need medical evidence in the form of a report that states you cannot work due solely to your SC conditions. A good IMO can make or break a claim. If you get a lawyer he/she should be able to direct you to doctors who can write the report. They get 20% of your retro but it is worth it. Where do you live? There should be someone in your area who knows how to help you and if not you can get any lawyer in the USA who does vet claims to represent you. File the TDIU form yesterday. John

Just be careful that any evidence for IU you give the VA is for service connected medical conditions. If you mention any other NSC conditions in your doctor's report the VA may very well try and say that is the real reason you are IU and not the SC condition. They did this to me. If you give them SSD records make sure it contains just SC conditions.