GeekySquid

As I read that letter what I get is that you submitted private medical records but you did NOT have and actual IME w/ DBQ to submit. The VA examiner is the one who said that while you have those conditions listed by your private doctor and further stated they were not service connected and, according to this letter, provided a supporting rationale. Assuming that is the correct read of this document, go get your C-File and get that DBQ. Redact it and post it here. You also want the Letter from the VA to the Doctor saying what to look for and evaluate. I have been seeing this type of thing since I finally got rated. They make statements like this letter claiming a rationale and when you finally read the DBQ all it says is "nope I don't think it is connected". That is not a rationale, it is an opinion. A rationale requires evidence and a discussion of why and why not. To be frank you will likely need an IMO/IME with a full DBQ, from a doctor that knows how the VA works. That means a specialist with VA experience and the right credentials.

you have left out some info. When were you rated, what was that date? what date did you file for the EED? I take it you have not gotten the letter? Anything but having that letter in hand or a deposit with retro pay is just a guess as to what the intended result.

right so don't add to it. particularly things you cannot change, affect, or improve. VA is one of those things

Phil, almost everyone here has been where you are at some point with the VA. The status updates on ebenefits and vets.gov are nothing more than irritants to anxious vets. I will tell you what every veteran here hears at this point,....get a different hobby than watching those statuses. I am a bit ocd. I had to limit myself from checking to twice a day. Once in the morning, once in the evening before bed. Period. I had to school myself to ignore the changes until it said claim closed. We all know it is hard not to wonder, but there is no authoritative list of what they mean outside the VA. They don't share that with us. Yes it is annoying and the response is not helpful. But it is the whole truth of the matter. Work on the other stuff you have going and just let this play out. I say that for your mental and emotional health.

not sure that consternation emoji isn't a bad thing

don't forget Law, history, and politics To me the past should not define us but should teach us and help shape us to be better. The only way for that to happen is if we deal with facts instead of social and cultural myths about ourselves and others. There are just some things that are true but get ignored or whitewashed because of historical myth. One of which, and its a big one, is slavery. The following does not defend slavery, just addresses it. Humans across time have enslaved their neighbors. Battle, Greed, Religion, and Debt have been part of our human history and all of those things led to one person owning another. As far back as the Code of Hammurabi written in 18th Century BCE the "right" to own another person has been enshrined in our laws and codified in ruling documents. Before that it was might versus might, but slaves were still taken. It wasn't until the early 19th century that race became the public defining face of slavery. The Barbary Pirates, Corsairs if you will, used to raid the European Coasts up to Iceland and enslave people. raiding villages and taking people into the night. The pirates operated out of Tunis and other African nations and were typically Africans of some flavor or another, but other groups in the Ottoman empire joined in so there were white, black, Spanish, Jewish, Muslim and Asian Barbary Pirates to name a few groups. This was not race based but convenience based. These slaves were transported back to Africa and men sold to work in Quarries, Women as Household slaves and concubines and male children as part of the solider class of the Ottoman Empire. Female children suffered the worse fates in many cases. I will leave those details out of this post. It wasn't until the 1600's that Portugal "found" africa and started buying African slaves in the market places and shipping them to the West Indies and eventually America. eventually 10-12 million Africans were sold by other Africans to European slave traders. During this same period even more African Slaves were sold into Egypt and what we call the Middle East from the other coast of Africa. India had slaves for century, African and Hindi slaves. Egypt and the Middle East had African slaves for Centuries. That is who built the Pyramids. Jesus said to be good to your slaves. Romans, Vikings, Incans, Sumarians, and every other known culture had slaves. China, Asia, Viet Nam, Korea, etc all have histories of slave owning. Human life was a commodity but one of little value and freedom was only for the wealthy and powerful. It was not really until the middle 20th century that Human Life and Freedom for All became Socially accepted concepts. It is fairly sad. Humanoids in shared living (villages etc) are about 50,000 years old. Yet is was not until about 50ish years ago that, globally, Human Life and Freedom became to be considered cultural and social norms. To have a meaningful conversation about racism in this country we have to have a common understanding of the history of slavery and the inflection point when skin color became the defining face of slavery. We have to honestly admit that our ethnic ancestors were a bunch of jerks who did not value the lives of others outside their own social grouping. This was universal; not limited to any ethnic group. People today don't want to take the time to find that historical fact. We operate on entrenched and partisan beliefs and no amount of fact or truth will shove us off those beliefs if we don't open ourselves to learning.

while I obviously believe I am right on all of what I wrote, we are each entitled to our own perspectives. Sharing them can help those willing to learn understand our fellow humans a little bit better. Those that insist only their point of view is correct are part of the general social demise I am speaking about. pick almost any topic and finding partisan disagreement is as easy as finding a rat in a sewer; and just as predictable. The current crop of public leaders and so many rank and file Americans, are thin-skinned whiners. They bully others then run mewling behind their mothers skirts screaming about how their feelings are hurt and that people are being mean to them. Those individuals feel that the abuse they heap on others is righteous but no one dare defend themselves against that abuse. The ones I am talking about frequently abuse their position and status. They bully others, insult them, behave in Anti-American ways and in some cases commit crimes against the American people. Most have never served in the Military but want to brag about their patriotism, then they secretly work to undermine veterans. Sadly we do have veterans who act in that same anti-American way. Most want to go on the offensive when they are called out for their own bad behaviors. They climb up on a high horse and whine others are being mean to them. Despite their actions meriting disapprobation. They claim to speak for everyone when they truly only speak for their own self-dealing desires.

https://www.dfas.mil/retiredmilitary/disability/VA-Waiver-and-Retired-Pay--CRDP--CRSC.html it seems the VA is not doing what it is supposed to do. I would contact DFAS first to see what they say you are entitled to. By some chance did you get any form of retro lump sum from VA? if so that may be the cause of the snafu. since you talked to a VA rep, I am going to assume you called the 800 number we generally refer to as Peggy. Don't believe a word Peggy says until you have that letter in hand. What you can do is go to Ebenefits or Vets.gov and look at your payments section. see if anything shows there yet. I personally don't suggest you get excited yet. Wait to see what you actually get paid and what the letter says. This could literally just be another of VA's various staged processes...they give they take then it settles out.. Others will chime it I am sure.

not to sound even remotely like I am defending these criminals, but that really does nothing to stop the problem or address the underlying social structures that allow for criminals to believe it is okay for them to do. The U.S. is a First World Nation. We have defined ourselves as nation of Ease and Entitlement. A nation of people demanding that working more than 40 yours a week is beneath us. That we as individuals are not responsible for our own advancement, social position, wealth, or profession. We are becoming a nation of people who believe we can do anything we want, say anything we want, and everyone else can sit down and shut up of they don't like it. That we are entitled to absolutely anything we want, whether we earn it or not. That our parents wealth, if they had any, is by rights our own and that it makes us better than others. That we can take what belongs to others without expecting a negative response. That might makes right. We have no mandatory National or Community service. We impose no obligation on ourselves that we must each pay our own way. We allow, and even promote, the insane concept that we are perpetual victims if everyone or anyone does not agree with us. We have whole political and social movements dedicated to the idea that we, the individual, can do anything with little to no obligation to the greater society. Funny enough many of those same people follow the teachings of a woman from Russia who declared anyone who got government services to be less than American, then secretly sought out those same services for herself. We operate with severely divergent authorities. Years ago one administration closed all government mental health institutions and slashed our national tax basis. The streets flooded with mentally unsound people who needed medication and monitoring. Some were violent in their behavior. We then criminalized being poor, homeless, and or mentally unsound. The Highest courts, in that same time, declared that people can live and defecate on that streets. That people don't have to have a means to support themselves. That those whose property is damaged and devalued have no recourse against those doing the harm. The increase in the number of grifters, wannabees, and criminals is no surprise considering those factors. The leap in number of people willing to openly declare that it is okay that they individually are entitled to government largess, but others are not, is a predictable outcome. That some will engage in criminal fraud to get those handouts is a foregone conclusion. Completely predictable. We can see this fragmented thinking in our society, our politics, our religions, our law, our city/state/federal governments. The vitriolic partisanship of today's life is rocket-fueled by social media and the ability to incite anger, revolt, and revenge in 140 characters. The social experiment that is America is rapidly eating itself out of existence. At the current rate we can expect to be relegated to a half-millennium blip in the arc of human history. I am glad I am old and have only a decade or two left on this mortal coil.

https://www.bva.va.gov/CustomerService.asp https://www.bva.va.gov/Frequently_Asked_questions.asp yes you can request to be advanced. It is unclear if just waiting 7 years will be sufficient reason (in the view of the board) to advance you. If you initially filed incorrectly, the people who decide about advancing you on the docket, may consider that the root cause for the delay. you say the Form 9 issue was corrected, but not how long ago. That date may affect their decision. An error corrected is often considered "not in play" even when that error is the cause of a delay or other problem. In historical context having to wait many years for a BVA hearing is nothing unusual. The VA and BVA were rather indifferent to that situation as a normal course of events. The AMA process seems to change that. Consider delving into the new processes deeper to make sure if you have to give up anything by moving to the new system. If you do, then you must decide if that trade off is acceptable.

this is exactly why I wrote that response. your failure to see the parallels in this response to your past response is all on you. I wish you well but I will stop following this thread.

sorry, I don't understand this sentence in context to your posts. who is "he"? are you saying that the VA social worker could not understand why "he" (meaning himself) said you were incompetent? or are you saying the C&P Dr said he could not understand why the VA social worker said you were incompetent? or are you saying the VA Social Worker does not understand why the NON VA psychologist said you were Incompetent? Same question here, which "He" are you referring too?

I would like to make an observation and offer the OP two suggestions. We can only read what you wrote. What you consider "clear" is not always clear based on what you write. Sometimes posters will respond with details that you, the OP, don't understand or see as relevant to your question. They could be right they could be wrong. None of that is a reason to get testy or be abrasive. You are coming here to ask for opinions, if you don't like those opinions you can ignore them. That may be at your own peril, but you are an adult and responsible for your own words and actions. No one here will lose sleep if you don't like the opinion offered. Suggestion 1) you say in one post you "lawyered up". Okay, if so why are you asking a group of Internet strangers to pony up opinions when you are paying a lawyer for their advice? It suggests you don't trust your lawyer. Considering the frustrated and combative posts from you about an opinion offered, it also suggests you may not like the advice that lawyer gave you. We don't know more about your claim than what you post. So unless a response directly says something like "you are moron" then look into yourself as to why you feel attacked or feel the need to strike out at that poster. Suggestion 2) if you do want people here to offer opinions on things like a BVA decision, it is really in your best interest to redact that decision letter and post it. That way the people here can read exactly what is said without any filter you may or may not intend to apply to it.

1) don't include your name or personal identifying information on the Internet. Not that someone here will use it, but this site is indexed and bad actors search every nook of the internet to steal identities 2) The application you used to write this document, in fact all applications to write documents, encode the name of the person who licensed the application, as well as other information about the licensee. Learn how to strip that meta-data out of anything you publish or send over the Internet. 3) what is the purpose of this letter? 4) who are you sending it too? 5) Just about everything that affects your VA claim has an official form that has to be used. One exception is the CUE. This is not a CUE, at least in format and form it isn't. Based on other posts I don't think you mean it to be one. So what is this letter for? 6) There is a list of No-No's in this letter, starting with admitting your were wrong on things. That will be used against you. Don't use abbreviations like Gen Med, particularly when they don't have an actual context. There is no Gen Med C&P as far as I know and there was that would not be the right way to identify it. 7) use bullets 8 ) why did you say "DBQ 2018 respectfully"? did you mean respectively? 9) the whole section about the credentials of the NP is out of joint. What is your goal here? if it is to challenge their credentials, what are their credentials? whomever reads this, for whatever reason, will need to have that information in front of them. you cannot count on them going to look for that information. VA presumes that anyone they appoint to do a C&P is qualified. It is up to you to properly challenge that and this paragraph does not do that properly. 10) in relation to the paragraph starting "In regards to the C&P exam dated August 28, 2018..." you go on about him speaking German. How do you know he cannot speak and read English? Is this an actual C&P? How does this relate to your first post about the Doctor Opinions not being of the same value? Do you speak German? write German? If not how did you speak to him at all? did you have an interpreter??? 11) In the 2nd to last paragraph you write Rehabilitation, Diabetes, Emergency Medicine, Health promotion and prevention, smoking cessation, Diabetologe (DDG) of the doctor performing the examination did meet qualification associated with musculoskeletal evaluations/diagnosis/medical rationale/symptomology or illnesses /diseases thereof. The examination as a whole was a fruitless activity to say the least. "did meet" ? why list all that just to say he met the qualifications to do the exam? or did you mean DOES NOT HAVE? "Thereof" is a useless word in that sentence. Please don't try to use formal/legal sounding words in an informal document. you are not a lawyer and in common language "thereof" has no value or usage. "...fruitless activity..." this whole sentence has no value to whatever your point is supposed to be. if you insist on including it then grammatically lose "as a whole" and "to say the least". 12) that whole last paragraph needs to be cut to 2 sentences. we don't have the information you have, so when you post questions and statements here we have no context other than what you write. If we find it confusing you can bet that anyone at the VA will too; The VA has a regulation in the MR21 that effectively says if there is no chance for an award then discard the whole thing and deny the claim. it is not clear whom you are writing this too, why you are writing it, and what your expected outcomes are.

bronco is right in that what a VSO "said" is not CUE, it really has no weight or value what so ever in terms of how your claim results or what the VA actually is doing. That said, I think his wording is a little broad when he says Your other claims may indeed contain CUE's on their own. But what you need to review is this specific claim and the evidence in your C-File that supports whatever your contention is. The DBQ, Doctors Notes and even the letter the VA sent requesting the exam (it contains instructions on how and what the doctor is to provide to the VA) along with the other STR's and medical records are what to focus on. I believe, though i could be wrong, that bronco was just short-handing that. As for CUE's leaving a sour taste, I am not sure I follow you. A CUE is a Clear and Unmistakable Error that takes little to no explanation to understand. A difference in Doctors opinion is generally not a CUE. It would have to be something extreme Like one Dr saying the "veterans legs work fine" and another saying "the veteran has no legs". Only one of those can be true and such an extreme medical opinion mistake would definitely be CUE eligible but a NOD would fix the problem. CUE is a little different at the RO level than the BVA level, and yes some people have heartburn over technicalities involved with that, but that is about personalities not CUE's themselves. If the mistake is so obvious that Ray Charles could see it, a CUE will be a shorter route. However if you have a complex issue, it may be the best strategy to treat an RO Level CUE the same as a BVA Level CUE and wait until it is the last resort. Which is interesting in that under the new AMA appeals process you can appeal straight to the BVA and skip a rehash by the RO. If you do that path, you lose the opportunity to CUE at the RO. good luck and once you get the letter, if you still have concerns, redact your personal information and post it so others can chime in.

this is the same question you already asked. we responded by suggesting you get a hobby besides obsessing over status update messages on Ebenefits and Vet.gov. we all understand you are anxious. we all understand that you desire some specific answer. what you need to understand is that there is no authoritative list of what the status messages mean outside the VA and they are not sharing. reposting the same question over and over again will not change reality. The sooner you come to realize that Ebennies and Vets.gov status messages are useless annoyances, the better for your own mental health.

that may be good. tag me in when you do that.

now this is a news blip. I would be digging deep into SCOTUS rulings on this statement. It is well written. Not legal sounding, but just like a normal person would write. I hope she responds and gets you a new exam and provides a rationale for your experience.

Depends on what both of them say. Theoretically the NP (you said she gave you a favorable opinion, right?) could have written a more thorough and documented review. If the VA got that, ignored a flat out 50 percent likely statement and then ordered a new C&P (that 2019) exam that was unfavorable, then you can look into Developing to Deny and possibly a 4.6 claim maybe a 4.2 claim. Until you get those documents it is impossible for me to have a strong opinion besides what I suggested already. I have no idea how long it will take you to get those files. You can consider working towards finding a highly Qualified specialist willing to give an IMO and saving towards the cost of that examination. without an IMO you will have to argue that the NP and your private docs opinions outweigh the negative opinion from 2019. The VA may have been anticipating this type of attack, without additional evidence from a new IMO, and chose to add that language preemptively. just doing a cursory search I found https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323672.php which in part states Though the diseases are related, psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis do not necessarily predict one another. Many people with psoriasis will never develop psoriatic arthritis, while some people have psoriatic arthritis without having psoriasis. The severity of psoriasis also does not predict whether someone will develop psoriatic arthritis. Still, the two conditions have links and similarities. Immune responses that lead to inflammation in the body cause the symptoms of both conditions. This inflammation causes the rash or joint pain. Psoriasis can be very uncomfortable, and nearly 60 percent of people with the condition say that it interferes with their daily lives. Some people find that the symptoms of psoriasis affect their mental health and self-esteem. You are going to need strong evidence to overcome this. the connection is an immune response, so you will need to show that your immune system is the cause and it is behaving badly from the same cause as your flaky skin. Since you haven't discusses the nexus of your psoriasis it is hard to tell if you contracted the problem do to environmental factors. Those factors might also be known to cause the psoriatic arthritis. you will need an expert to make that connection.

without having the DBQ's, notes, etc I would suggest your plan of attack is 1) challenge to the Examiners Credentials. 2) IMO/IME with a review of your records 3) studies and medical articles connecting your rated condition to arthritis.

is this the evidence entry of this exam, VA contract examination report from QTC Medical Services, dated April I 0, 2019 ? is this the evidence entry of this exam, VA contract medical opinion report from Veterans Evaluation Solutions, dated December 15, 2018 ? this is a problem for you. you may want to get an IMO.

I have not been following your thread, sorry, but i just read that decision and frankly it is a bit disturbing in content. did you actually see a QTC Dr on that April 2019 exam? Also you cropped off the Evidence section, can you post that? The file repeatedly says The medical opinion we received from the VA contract examination was more persuasive than your private physician's opinion because it was based on an in-person examination and a thorough review of your relevant military and /or personal history and contained a more convincing rationale. (38 CFR 4.6) The evidence does not show that your condition resulted fr~m, or was aggravated by, a service-connected disability. (38 CFR 3.303, 38 CFR 3.304) The evidence does not show that your disease developed to a compensable degree within the specified time period after release from service to qualify for the presumption of service connection. (38 CFR 3.307, 38 CFR 3.309) The VA contract medical opinion dated December 15, 2018, was not based on a review of your claims file or an in-person examination. That evidence you cropped off, should in theory, show what convinced them. But in the first instance this reads wrong, as if they are claiming they did see you in person, but then they say they didn't see you in person. This is why I ask if you did do an in person exam in 2019. If they did see you in April 2019, then you must attack that doctors credentials, as well as the credentials of whomever did the 2018 "review" that also denied your claim. They are claiming that your Personal doctor is not as qualified as the VA Contract Dr. This is to avoid the law that says if evidence is equal for and against (equipose) the benefit of the doubt goes to the veteran. They are also trying to forestall a CUE on 4.6 by making an ad hoc claim that they did their jobs thoroughly. The evidence and your Dr.s Qualifications will smack that down. I am not a doctor but psoriatic arthritis has some tie to psoriasis. I am not sure what it is, but your doctor should. There should be a ton of medical info on the connection.

this is so true. it is a crap shoot. this is often the part for us to get a grip on. I don't know any person who gets "over it" but we can get better in how we deal with those feelings. I have these feelings every day and expect to have them as long as I live. But they are old friends now, I get sad about them, but work real hard not to let them build up. ditto on a tangent to this subject, I keep toying with the idea of creating an AI to scour our records instead of just relying on the rating teams. The value of course is that the AI can be programmed to uncover the possible secondaries and areas where the VA has a Duty to Assist, Notify and Infer, in a much more efficient way. We wouldn't want to rely completely on an AI, but for the heavy lifting of scouring and "tabbing" different conditions, medical reports, dates, events, etc. an AI could remove a great deal of the problems with things being "missed" by the rating teams. It may be a project I take on in the next phase of my life, which may just start tomorrow lol. depends on my mood lol

this to me is key to the development to deny paradigm. If she is not supposed to give a medical opinion and then states anything like this in the notes or DBQ, you have them. it is a medical opinion based on her supposed credentials.

hahahaha I am 100% for PTSD. I can get as mad as I want. Dumbasses would just blame it on the PTSD instead of my contempt for their idiocy.