shubaobao2008us

Hey all, sorry for the long absence, been working 2.5 jobs.
Anyway, we just had a team meeting & I heard something that is going to make life interesting re claims. The VA judges have ruled that in addition to the change of all claims being put on the Form 526 EZ (whether it's FDC or not), that if a veteran does not SPELL OUT that claimed conditions are due to service, they can be denied. In other words, say you claim a back condition. Your service records indicate you had some treatment for you back, & you were in service about 10 yrs or more ago. You put down "back problems" on the form, nothing else. You do not submit medical evidence, or u might have some VA Med. Ctr treatment but neither the doc nor u ever said it was due to service. If there is nowhere in those records or ON THE CLAIMS FORM that you have had back problems SINCE SERVICE, we do not order an exam for u & it can be denied.
If you are filing a new claim, PLEASE write in there somewhere that your condition is since service...those 2 little magic words may mean the difference between getting service connected or not!

In order to show your doctors faxed the medical records to the fax number listed in the letter, you could try to get copies of the fax confirmation sheets at your doctor's offices. The confirmation sheets should serve as proof the faxed medical records were received at the location where the 844 number is located. You could provide copies of the confirmation sheets to your DAV rep to provide to the RO or mail copies to the address on the letter which directed your doctors to fax the records to the 844 number.

However, I believe hand delivering the records to your RO, as I indicated in my previous post, is the best way to prove the VA received the records. Your RO can forward the records to where ever they need to go.

In the future, always gather your own medical records. Do not depend on the VA obtaining the records. This will slow your claim down as you have experienced. You also need to have a copy of everything that goes to the VA for your records. JMO

GP

I would go to your doctors offices and get copies of the records. Make a copy of all the records for yourself. Hand deliver the two sets of records to your RO or your DAV rep if he is in the same building as your RO. Personally I would hand deliver the records to your RO and have them date stamp your copies of the records so you can prove they received the records. JMO

Good luck.

GP