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The idea that the C&P should not be recorded is a breach of trust. What should they need to protect here? An examination of my personal body is my business, and unless the integrity of the examiner is a problem, there should be no issue at all in recording the event. What exactly motivated the US Government Department of Veterans Affairs to defend this type of behavior from being recorded? It removes my right to protect myself in the event that an error is made. These people are effectively government employee's, or under contract by the government for a specific purpose. Nothing should be hidden. They have no right to privacy, we do.

The new system is be electronic, no more paper C Files. The EBenefits site accepts uploads of every document you have. If you cant upload it, your VSO can, and its free, no postage involved. Entire claims are contained in digital format, and can be accessed from multiple locations at the same time. They are processing every claim file into digital format as we speak, so it wont be long before everyone's CFlie is digitized. Unfortunately, the oldest files, the biggest files, take the longest, but this has been an ongoing process for a few years now and that is good news. The old rules are ineffective. They need to allow new claim processing separate from appeals and DRO's. As long as the new claims are not related to the existing appeal, there should be no reason nor rhyme to deny Vets the right to claim what is lawfully due to them. Decentralizing the VBA claims and putting them at VAMC locations would also help.

They could actually establish a non adversarial VBA office and represent the VBA at local VHA facilities. If they had rating officials at VHA locations, there could be a much more effective system in place to process benefit claims. This should make them more effective, as they would be able to sit down, face to face with a disabled veteran, and insure the accuracy and completeness of the claim on the spot. If any medical diagnosis were in question, the VHA at that location could resolve the issue and allow the claim to effectively be processed and prevent appeals, which are granted over 75% of the time. This would save the VA lots of money. edit; You gotta figure that under the current system, employee's who do this job and make mistakes 75+% of the jobs that they do would not be tolerated in any other job...if I were a mechanic and 75% of my work came back because I didn't do it right, I would not be a mechanic with a job for long! Change might hurt, but the current system that denies benefits to those who earned them is far worse.

I have the IMO. It was scanned into the vista system. They didn't use it to put the info on the record. I will bring this up next meeting. I understand the advocate system is not so great. According to the VHA handbook, they are supposed to do specific tasks which they don't. I find this common in informed consent as well. It is a systemic issue, the failure to follow regulation really disrupts the system and makes it ineffective.

The retrolisthesis is spinal instability. This happens when the disc's allow for movement between the vertebra, so that one vertebra slides back over the top of the lower one. It is the direct opposite of spondylolisthesis, retro is 2.5mm or greater movement so you are grade 1 at 3mm, not real bad but it can get worse... grade 5 is where the entire vertebra is moved completely off the lower, like completely severed. DDD is normal, aging process, and lumbar strain can cause DDD to advance quicker than normal. DDD can be directly tied to retrolisthesis. Level of degeneration of the disc can tie the injury to the military record, ecspecially if you are younger. Mine was bone on bone, 30 years down the road, the disc was gone, evidence of an old injury existed. Both of these issues can cause stenosis, in the spine or the foraminal area's. Stenosis is where the nerves are compressing/pinching in and/or as they exit the spine. Raduculpathy is caused by Stenosis, the worse it gets, the more it affects legs/feet/weakness/dropfoot...etc. So the whole thing can be tied together without a doubt. The key to your success is to find a good spine surgeon that will review your medical history, and because it is already a part of the service records, would give you an opinion that the conditions you currently have are secondary to what is contained in the service records. You already have opinions that these are not, so to get a good opinion for you is important.

They sent me to phy therapy and the PT had me doing the wrong excercises. Up to that point my back pain was manageable, I knew I needed proper evaluation, they refused to send me to see ORTHO or give me xrays. After PT, my legs started getting weak and I had foot drop. They want to play like they had nothing to do with causing it. You are right on the button, they try every angle to evade responsibility, even to the point that they violate strict guidelines governing how they handle incidents/events when someone gets hurt. I pulled up VHA handbooks on the subject and they act like the handbooks don't even exist.

I seems like every point I get to, the VA is trying to hide the fact that I got hurt. They don't want to do a report that events occur. They don't want to place any notes in my medical file that something they did caused or aggravated my condition. They send me to specialists who put false and misleading information in my medical file. I am getting really fed up with this business.

I would think that when they put their hands on you without your permission and injure you it would be assault. I cant find any C&P documentation about it, but I would question the validity of any training that instructs a medical practitioner to put hands on a patient without permission and force a ROM movement beyond a patients voluntary effort.

I think that's what is going to happen in my SC Claim. I put the whole thing into the SC basket so to speak, using all of the new symptoms as secondary to the SC condition.

After reading 4e, on combining 1151 ratings with SC, I see it says "as if the former(1151) were SC". For the purpose of pyramiding, if a SC rating is for back problem with sciatica, and the 1151 is for sciatica, as they aggravated the condition making it worse, that would be prohibited then no?

Ok, that's a great tip. (thank you!) 1151 claims are not pyramiding over SC then? I have not thought the FTCA would be much of a case though, the aggravation of an existing injury like mine, it would be hard to show that the condition would not have progressed on its own. The PT just pushed me over the edge of a cliff I was already standing perilously upon. Had they prescribed the correct exercise, this would never have happened this year, that's for sure. The proper exercise could have put it of 5 or 10 more years, if not indefinitely. I've got so many handbooks and guides on this and on SC on my hard drive its just amazing that they don't follow the rules. Simple search for topical information gets me directly where I need to go in all the regulation normally, takes about 20 seconds. I was in Admin in the US Army for 5 years, and had the regulations almost memorized and we didn't have computers then. When these folks do nothing but VA Claims, there is no excuse for mistakes like I read about here and other forums for Vets.

I have a VA Claim in for SC on my back now. 4 events in SMR, to include an ambulance ride to Rein Main AFB. My PCP did not give me any exam prior to the PT, even though she stated that she did, and none is recorded in my VA bluebutton report from MyEvet. Informed consent is also an issue, nothing ever was disclosed about potential harm in PT, or any alternate treatment options, and there is nothing in my medical record that even mentions anything close to informed consent. The only actual documentation I have is the condition I was in prior to PT, when the therapist examined my ROM and the degree of my existing back problem. There is nothing recorded about gait problems, sciatica, leg weakness, only moderate ROM and pain when I bend to the right. After PT, my diagnoses included everything. The first time I was actually given a clinical examination for my back problem by a Dr. was 2 months after PT when I walked into the VA Clinic for help. One of the surgeons were VA paid. The second was my own, and also provided me with a solid IMO/IME for my SC Claim that's already submitted. He also told me point blank that the exercise they gave me was contraindicated for my condition.. I am working with the 3rd surgeon now, he is a VA Doc. The extent of my back problem has not been determined, we are doing EMG/NCV testing now. Its been 4 months since they began treating me. I think now, if my SC goes through, the 1151 would be duplicative of the issue. Only 1 rating will be allowed for my thoracolumbar spine. Thanks for your reply!

Hi Im new here. Thanks for having me. I was set up with the VAMC Apr 14. First time since I left the Army in 84 that I had any real heal care. Back problem from service still is an issue, first time out, brought to the attention of my PCP. She gave me a tube of "stuff" to rub on my back, and that's all. Fast forward, 6 months, notified her on that next visit that the back problem is still there. She didn't say anything, no physical contact, no exam nada. Next thing I know, appointment for Phys Therapy comes in the mail so off I go. PT gives me the going over, tells me that hyperextension of my back will help me. OK, Im game. First trip back, a week later, I have tingling down my left leg. I tell PT, who instructs me to go farther back, extend all the way back like a push up, but keep my pelvis on the ground. I trusted the PT knew what was going on, so I did. Next trip another week after, twitching in my leg and foot started, reported to PT. PT said keep hyperextension exercises up, and put a rolled up towel behind my low back when I sleep, and a pillow under my knees. Next visit, I found out my PCP left town. The PT fed me a line, asked me if its good as its gonna get, I said aye, it is. Discharged me, with my tingling leg and twitching foot. Told me keep doing this exercise for the rest of your life. I said ok, but really felt like I was dumped. Fast forward, the symptoms in my left leg got worse over the next month, foot drop, weakness, new pain central back, so I stopped the hyperextension, see if it would heal. But it got worse, 60 days later, Im a walk in at the clinic. They sent me to xray, and got me an MRI. I also got a prosthesis for foot drop. Turns out Ive had advanced arthritis in my facet joints for a while. The hyperextension jammed them, now I have 3 discs herniated and stenosis. Not sure how far the disc problem was all along, but nothing in the world outside of a crystal ball could tell anyone. Needless to say, it was probably an existing condition. The question; Does this classify as a valid aggravation of the existing condition, and exactly how should VA personnel handle this issue once they become aware that I may have been harmed by treatment. The 3 Surgeons Ive talked to all say I need surgery, L3 to S1 decompression and fusion.