Tmon82

Berta, no my father was enlisted during the gulf war era. And he never served in a war zone. Final update: Last month the claim was approved! HOWEVER, immediately following the decision I filed a notice of disagreement and sent for a higher level review. While reading through a ton of BVA decisions throughout this process, I learned that when someone applies for death benefits with the SSA, it is also to be treated as an application for DIC. My mom applied for SSA benefits a month after my dad passed in 2009. Apparently this lack of communication between the VA and SSA creates a loophole that allows for benefits to be backdated all the way back to a persons death. This week my mom received back payment going all the way back to 2009. I am so happy this is OVER. I highly recommend anyone reading look into this. I have no doubt there are many, many, many people who are owed a crapload of money and don’t even know it. I ran across this information by accident or else I wouldn’t have known either. Here’s one of the BVA decisions I ran across to give everyone an idea. There’s many more if you run a search. https://www.va.gov/vetapp18/files8/18131017.txt

Thanks for the heads up. Just curious, was hers sent as a supplemental claim?

Just wanted to give a follow-up, in case there are any future readers. I ended up reaching out to the Ellis Clinic. Dr. Ellis reviewed all of my father’s medical records and gave his opinion that my father’s sudden death was service connected. We were able to give that opinion to our state’s Vital Statistics and they are amending his death certificate. We should have everything resubmitted to the VA before Christmas. All they needed was the cause of death clearly stated to approve the benefits and we now have that. Dr. Ellis is a compassionate physician and I highly recommend him for anyone else in a similar position.

I think we’re going to bite the bullet and just pay for the nexus. You’re absolutely right about the VA having issues with connecting the dots. I know firsthand from my own claims. I will be sure to keep this post updated for anyone in the same boat who might come across it.

Thanks for the wealth of info, Berta! We submitted the intent to file two weeks ago and just received the remainder of his records. On the ER record from the night he died, cardiopulmonary arrest is listed as the cause of death. Under the past medical history part, the diagnosis of hypertension and heart disease are also noted. We were also able to obtain other records which show more abnormal EKG’s and the diagnosis of cardiomegaly...something the VA claimed they couldn’t detect when he went in for his C&P. I contacted Dr. David Anaise with all the details and he replied back that he can have the nexus done in 2 weeks. Right now I’m trying to decide if we should just send everything to the VA and hold off on paying for the nexus until we see what decision they make. Any advice is of course welcome.

I had a face to face consultation with Dr. Bash before. I’m currently in the Bethesda area and I was going to have him do an IME for my own claim. I just didn’t have the money at the time. I might need to see what his price is if he’s only doing an opinion with (obviously) no examination.

Regarding the 0% rating, I dug deeper into that. It was based ONLY on the 3 same day BP’s they took at his C&P exam. It definitely wasn’t because of his history. And I know had he lived, he would’ve added secondary conditions. Do you think maybe we could get the death certificate amended? Have you heard of anyone doing that? Thanks for the list. I’ll check it out.

Hi Berta! Thanks for the insight. We will definitely complete the intent to file and send that off right away. My dad passed away going on 10 years ago...in 2009. Yes, the immediate cause of death is listed as “sudden death” and the underlying cause is listed as “unknown”. This was in Virginia. All of his care was with a private doctor(s) aside from the C&P appointments. He didn’t have anything service connected until it was too late. He was being treated for high blood pressure by these private doctors. If he was being followed by a cardiologist hopefully that will be revealed once we get the rest of his private records. My mom says she spoke with someone from the VA who gave her the impression that since he died, everything just stopped. This is why I wish I knew more (or even anything) about navigating the system back then. I haven’t ran across anything in his records that is listed as a cause. The earliest diagnosis I came across was when he was still active duty and all they did was educate him on healthy eating (but he wasn’t overweight and no meds were prescribed). I did run across a note that says he has history of cardiomegaly. If I go off memory, this diagnosis would have been from 1996 ER trip where his nose was bleeding non-stop and he was admitted for a sky high BP. Once we request those records, hopefully they will provide more insight. Attached is a copy of the ratings decision. It shows the 3 and only ratings he was service connected for. Do you have any good recommendations on an MD who can potentially write this nexus? Preferably someone reasonably priced. Edit: the one part that annoys me is they have his service dates wrong. He served from 1981-92. But I’ll worry about getting that corrected after we get through this first.

Hello, First I just want to say that I love this community. I always come here to search through posts when I need to find an answer. I’m a vet and the daughter of a vet. I don’t know why I took so long to finally create an account. My current situation: my father passed away a few years ago at the age of 48. His cause of death is listed as “sudden death” on his death certificate. No autopsy was performed. He had a 20 year history of poorly controlled hypertension that kept him in and out of the emergency room and the doctors office. I just received a copy of his c-file and learned that they service connected his hypertension...a decision they came to 3 weeks after his death. I knew he was going through the VA disability process prior to his death but we (my mom and I) never received any follow-up or were alerted of their decision. Wish I knew then what I know now as far as navigating the VA system. I was going through his c-file and noticed as recent as 2 months prior to his death, he had a C&P exam where they did an EKG. The EKG that was considered “borderline” showed “PACs arrhythmias and leftward axis, abnormal T-waves in anterolaterial leads, prolonged QT”. However when they referred him for a stress test, that came back normal with supposedly no signs of heart disease. I looked further into the file and came across several notes that same year from his private doctor. One of the entries noted how they had a serious talk with my father about his BP and how he was at risk for a stroke or heart attack. I am helping my mom file a DIC claim. Our plan is to request records of emergency room visits that we noticed were missing from his c-file. We will also request the records from the night he was pronounced dead. We want to submit all those records, along with his c-file, to an. MD who can hopefully write a nexus letter. I’m not sure if one is needed or not (maybe someone could chime in) but I just want to make sure this is done right. I guess what I’m asking is for any advice or useful tips that would help us be successful with this claim. Does anyone think we would have a problem with it? If you need any more info, I can provide. Thanks in advance.