john999

John Have you considered a malpractice lawsuit against the VA? What you said about the flag and headstone is true in my opinion. Dead vets just lie there and rot. Most of their spouses get nothing. Best place for really sick vets is the graveyard from an account's viewpoint.

ha,ha, Pete that is the truth. I got in trouble because I did not want to take the cheap morphine or methadone. The first pain doctor said I should get fentenol patches but they were not in the formulary (too expensive). I was bounced back to me Primary and then back to the Pain Management and then cut off all narcotics after 5 years. That was my payback for speaking up about side effects. I am glad you trust the VA, Tayo, but I feel they place cost above all other concerns. Also, they were trying to jam me into an in-patient pain management program and I did not want that so I got paid back for being independent. They want me to spend 19 days in a four person room to get healed. I have to be off all narcotics to participate. Even the out-patient program they are cooking up demands you be off narcotics. Maybe they got it into their heads I wanted to be in these programs even though I told them "NO" over and over again. I would not let the VA operate on my pet frog.

I think it depends on how many claims a VSO has on their desk. The VARO does 5-6 claims a day and makes a decision. If a VSO has 300 active claims how can they do the work they need to do to win a claim that is more complicated than what a 5th grader could understand? I vote for an educated veteran, or just hire a lawyer to do it. No offense but the VSO's I have encountered should be pushing a broom.

The way doctors treat you depends on the VAMC you use. When I told doctor that a certain drug did not work for me, he just stopped trying at all. He wanted me to take a drug for bi-polar and when I took it I got lost. I never tell them I refuse to take something but I point out the negative side effects. Let them be the judge if they want to have you take a drug that could kill you. You don't have to take the drugs even if they prescribe them. If I don't have confidence in the doctor I would not take drugs he prescribes. This is why I say that if you have options use them. Unless you are unfortunate enough to only have the VA for health care you don't have to use them if you don't trust them.

It is easier to hide pot plants than to hide a moonshine still. You know a lot of the old moonshiners now grow pot.

You are the one whose rights have been violated. This VA employee should be waking up in a sweat. Bad people use bluff and BS to try and scare other people into walking away. The VA is to blame for this and they need to take action. The medical records were not secure.

Why do you need pro bono lawyer work when the lawyers can get paid if there is any retro and there has to be if you are at the court? Pro Bono work at the very beginning of the process would be better.

The fact the made your ED the same as your C&P date is wrong. Unless a fact was discovered at the exam that caused the VA to decide you were then and there entitled to a higher rating and not before that exam.

There is a formal appeals process for health care decisions at the VA. The VBM says it starts with the patient advocate. There are two advocates at my VAMC. One is a complete dud and liar. The other seems more serious. I am going to bring my VBM with me if they try and bullshit me. When the pain clinic decided to cut off my opiates that is a decision I intend to appeal.

Wings It is a false sense of security. Those who feel secure have just been lucky so far. The police state is here to protect those who serve it and benefit from it. The rest of us are just in the way. The security state protects the 5% that own 80% of everything.

I think all drugs should be legalized then we could reduce the prison population by half. Whose body is it anyway? Does the State own your body. Should they be able to tell you what you can put into it? Alcohol is legal and we know it destroys lives, but Uncle Sam gets a "healthy" tax from it. Tobacco is legal and it kills but the government gets a big tax. Living in a police state is not all it is cracked up to be. Our founding fathers took opium when their backs hurt. Why not follow in their footsteps. If it is good enough for Jefferson, Franklin and Washington it it good enough for me.

When I was granted TDIU but denied Chapter 35 I filed an NOD for being denied Chapter 35. I was really wanting P&T status, but what the VA specifically denied was Chapter 35. I got it a year later on appeal.

Resperidone is an anti-psychotic drug usually for bi-polar or schizophrenia. It is a powerful drug with lots of side effects. This is a drug for people who are psychotic and trying to deal with hallucinations and delusions.

This makes me think the VA is trying to bump people off TDIU. They can't do it any other way. They know some will be too sick to fight back or contest it.

I did not know HIPPA was so toothless since I have to sign the form every time I see a new doctor which is often. If HIPPA can't or won't be enforced is a violation of the privacy act all you can do. If you get a lawyer you and he will want compensation, but that is what I would do as others have suggested. This is such a gross violation of your medical privacy it calls out for redress by some legal remedy. Bust her chops for this. As soon as you start to take action you will feel better.

I believe you could add this new condition to your claim but it might slow it down some. I would file. Your rep probably does not want to do the extra work. It will interfer with his usuall twelve coffee breaks.

I think the VA is playing "Crack the Whip". I think it is a witch hunt. Some people at the VA and higher up believe too many vets are getting TDIU. They just want to catch you falsifying documents if you say you are not able to work and you are working. Then they can charge you with a crime. The law is not blind, nor deaf. It sees and hears the clink of money and politcal influence very well.

Mc The VA would rather save a dime and let a vet die a miserable death as long as they don't have to pay for the malpractice. No question in my mind that money trumps veteran's health and welfare every time. They are cheap bastards, and I am trhying to be nice. My VAMC always looks dirty. I don't even think the doctors wash their hands after using the toilet. I can imagine having my gut opened up by one of those clowns. They had to close the operating rooms down recently due to flies buzzing around. I am really angry with these people today and would like to see a few of them hanged right out front for all vets to see. Hang the staff and the doctors. Hang em high!

How far are you from the VARO? I would hand carry the employment document right to the VA and get a hand stamped and dated copy. This could happen to anyone. Next year download the form off the net and send it in on your own. I did that when I did not get my Form to verify my TDIU employment status at the usual time. This is just a sly way for the VA to bump some vets off the rolls. They know that some just won't respond and "Presto" they get reduced.

What gripes me as a Vietnam vet is the flags I see draped out on every flagpole at my VAMC saying "welcome back OIF/OEF vets". Even the phone greeting at the VAMC says " Welcome back returning combat vets from Iraq and Afghanistan". I remember the welcome back I got. I was the invisible man and I am beginning to feel that way again. It is the fault of congress and the administration. They are playing with the lives of 20 million vets. Now I believe they are trying to push older vets out of the system to make room for the younger guys. They must be planning on a very long war. I felt very pressured to go along with some jackass program at pain clinic yesterday. I know they don't have my welfare at heart. It must be some way to get rid of us chronic pain cases to open the door for the poly trauma unit guys from Iraq. That literature is posted all over the walls at the pain clinic about the effects of IED's. Nothing about the effects of old injuries on old vets. Most of the guys I saw at the clinic were older and had big mobility problems. My doc jus told me to sit up straight and rub some cream on my feet and back and I would be cured. Do they talk like that to younger vets who have pain, or is this treatment reserved for the old guys who would be better off dead in VA eyes? Yes, I hate them, but I am going to get my pound of flesh from the VA.

I was thinking you are being stalked to an extent. This person has inserted herself into your most private life. If she looked into your records she might have your SSA number and other most private information. She knows where you live. She is a psycho so a complaint to the highest authority and a CC: to your congressman about what is going on might be an idea. Have you talked to the patient advocate? Workers at IRS who did this got fired and punished beyond that I believe.

Purple What you are saying is true. When the wars OIF/OEF die down these vets will be put on the shelf also. It is a publicity stunt from our great leaders.

I told the docs I did not want to take the damned morphine and because of that I am being taken off all my pain killers. The VA has a way of getting back at you if you don't go along with their dumb ideas. The scripts they give you just throw them in the toilet if they don't work. If you complain too much then the trouble starts. I thought for just a little while they worked like regulare medical providers where if one things does not work they try another....wrong. They retaliate. They are only good for beefing up a compensation claim in my opinion.

It is at least a violation of HIPPA. Go forward with your lawyer and see what he thinks the best course is to take. Maybe you can be compensated for this violation of medical ethics.

Ruby who do you see for pain management. I have seen two doctors in Tampa Dr. Flynn and Dr Raskin. Both are sort of stingy on pain meds. I am fed up with the VA. This nurse at the pain clinic just tells me to sit up straight and rub some cream on my back. I would like to rub some cream on her head. I think it is just an excuse to force us patients into their in-patient or out-patient program where we have to practically live at the VA. I am not driving out there twice a week. I don't even get gas money. I don't like being pushed out of a program designed for people like me, but I don't like dealing with people who think they are God. This is to make room for more Iraq and Afghanistan vets. I see the "Welcome home OIF and OEF vets" signs at my VAMC. No welcome for old Vietnam vets or vets from other wars. Now I will see the podiatrist at the VA today. I have been unimpressed with these student doctors. I will see my primary care doctor, but if that starts to go wrong I won't go back there either. The only one I will continue to see is my shrink. If he retires and they give me a knew doctor who starts to tell me how much better I am I will say goodbye to him also. I really believe we are being driven out of the system by this neglect and the attitude of these doctors and staff. The care I receive is third rate at the VA, I pay for good insurance and I don't need this except to document disabilities and I don't believe I need this as I am TDIU P&T, and they will have to prove I can work which they can't. I guess the only people left at the VA will be the charity cases and those who live a mile away and can live there.