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Navy Vet's Wife

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Posts posted by Navy Vet's Wife

  1. On 2/11/2021 at 11:46 AM, Semperguy said:

    Thank you so much for getting back to me gents! @GBArmy @broncovet @Buck52

     You three are some of the vets on here I have followed the most and have seen help this community tremendously.

     

    The effective date of 11/24/2020 was when I submitted the online application through VA.gov, I did not mail it in - so yes I did cut it close but it seems to still be within the year from when I filed the ITF electronically on 11/25/2019 which I do have paperwork to prove - The va.gov site actually confirmed I was within the year so looks like I should be good to go there I just have to now look at doing one of the processes you all recommended. Thank you for this guidance

     

    What really confuses me and makes me uneasy is the sleep apnea being "deferred". So since I received my decision letter is this claim paused at this time while they look into it and I need to just standby OR do I have to submit an NOD/SCL/HLR/CUE ? 

    No I do not have a nexus or an IMO for the sleep apnea, just the sleep study from the VA and the CPAP from the VA, which is in my VA records and I had submitted copies of this for my claim. I want to be proactive with this. Is this something you recommend I get at the VA? or is it better that I get it elsewhere? 

     

    Good evening, my husband received a letter with a deferred status before also. This was because the VA decided on some of the conditions and sent the notification on those, while they finished the steps on the other 'deferred ' condition. With your OSA, and the use of a CPAP, you will more than likely end up at the 100% total by the time a OSA is factored in. I never count on anything with the VA, I am at 9 years on a fight with them for some of my husband's conditions, but during that 9 year fight, I have successfully got him to the 100% rating on other points. On VA.GOV it will show the receipt date, if that was within the 1 year of ITF, then you should be given the original ITF date. I always file the ITF as well  Lastly if any of the other conditions you have, at the 0% rating you mentioned are heart related, you should pursue those for higher rating as secondary to the PTSD and/or OSA. It is well known they all impact each other. Best of luck to you!

  2. We recently went through the USCAVC process and used  https://www.vetlawyers.com/  Bergmann and Moore law offices. They are in DC and we live in Indiana. We were pleased with their representation. We received a remand from CAVC and are now back at the BVA and the claim is with the BVA Judge. My husbands case is from January 2012 , the CAVC portion went relatively quickly. 

    Best of luck to you.

     

  3. We recently had the VA Primary Doctor write an IMO for my husband's A-Fib and A-Flutter as secondary to Obstructive Sleep Apnea, and won the appeal with a DRO. The overturned the original decision due to the IMO.

    We are also fortunate to have a caring VA doctor that believes the Cardiology conditions are directly tied to OSA.

    Good luck to you too!

     

  4. Berta and Broncovet,

    Thank you very much for the time you have taken to read the decision and to write your responses, I can't thank you enough.

    I had a meeting by phone with an attorney- RMS law, that responded to my post as well. He feels we have a few good opportunities to get the case reopened by the BVA. 

    I talked to my husband about it this evening, and right now- he is just wore down and feels defeated and done. I know we only have 120 days to take action or it is forever closed. I will give him a little longer to think about it, but right now he done arguing with the VA and all of the waiting and denials.

    I will follow up here if he changes his mind.

    Thank you once again for help!

    Navy Vets Wife

  5. Good afternoon,

    I have scanned and redacted the BVA decision for my husband's case. A few of the issues that stand out to me are as follows:

    1) We did not file claiming the motor vehicle accident he had is what caused TBI and headaches,  they are the ones that came back with that years ago and said they found in his records he had an MVA and possible TBI. We had filed for headaches due to Gulf War .

    2) In between the time the original appeal was filed and it was see by the judge, the VA had granted for the left foot sprain  (separate from the left foot injury they were commenting about in report) we only filed for 1 left foot sprain and never 2 conditions associated with the ankle. The VA somewhere in the 7 years duplicated the conditions on ebenefits list of conditions filed for. 

    3) Also in between the time of filing appeal and being seen by judge, the VA corrected the fact they stopped paying for the 'inability to sleep' condition when they granted the OSA condition. 

    4) We had uploaded many studies with his claim to support various conditions and the judge comments in this notice- they see the studies, but they are not about my husband and do not list his name and that my husband nor I are medical professionals qualified to make such a nexus.  This statement to me is shocking- what do you think studies are for- to base decisions, diagnoses, approve medicines and in the area of law----   decide cases! Just as the decision references numerous times all the cases (aka = to study) is references. None of those cases have my husbands name on them- yet the VA has based their decision on it. Also- the judge, the raters, etc are not medical professionals and they are determining medical conditions. In the DBQ exams, the examiner will include various other medical reasons that his condition filed for- is not service related- and they say it is based on medical literature. None of that literature is about my husband or has his name on it-----   See where I am going with this? I do not find that statement and foundation for deciding this case- logical by any standard.

    I can also upload my original appeal if you would like to review it. I appreciate any assistance you may give us. I do not want to lose 7 years of time we have put into this fight. We were able to get his case advanced on the docket due to financial hardship and that is why it was reviewed so quickly.

    Thank you in advance to everyone on here that has responded to my original question and for all of the suggestions. WE will definitely be following the advice provided here. 

    With gratitude,

    Navy Vets Wife

    BVA Decision Redacted[16020].pdf

  6. Broncovet,  thank you very much for the quick response. I wasn't sure if nationwide was better, but after looking local, I thought that would probably be a better route too. I will check out the names you suggested and the link. I also looked at the CAVC site with list of Practitioners. 

    It is 120 days that we have to get it all in by, which in VA time, is not much.

    I will get right on this tomorrow and appreciate the help!

    Thanks again!

  7. Well, we have been fighting the VA for 7+ years now and just received a denial from BVA on all conditions on appeal. We are looking for a highly recommended attorney to take it to the next level of appeal for us, but don't know where to start with finding a good attorney.

    Our VSO has been the American Legion, but they have not helped us. 

    My husband is a Persian Gulf War Veteran- with numerous conditions (all of which are on the presumed list) and the VA continues to deny. 

    I have managed to get him to 80% all on my own and through the advice I have read over the years here. I don't want to just give up after this long fight, and want to see it to the end. But now I need help.

    If anyone is familiar with Indy and have an attorney that did a great job for you, please share!

    Thank you in advance everyone! Not going down without a fight!

    Navy Vet Wife

  8. We were granted an advance on docket for my husband's appeal with the BVA. Does anyone know that once they have made their decision, if granted, does the RO also treat it as an advanced docket case? I didn't know if the RO will then sit on it for years like history has shown for the NOD itself.

    Thank you in advance for any insight.

     

  9. Buck52, the NOD Form 21-0958 is still the correct name and number of the form. The problem is that on the VA.gov website, they have the old version on the pages that are to assist vets with completing them. It is an expired version of the form- dated January 2015, I did not know , and completed it since came from VA website- and VA did not accept by NOD filing, rejected it and said the form was outdated and no longer accepted. 

    The correct version of the form can be found at the VA Forms library and it should have a revision date of September 2018.  If you use any other version, which they have out and mail to you- it has to be the Sept 2018 version to be accepted.

     

    Thanks!

    Tracy

  10. Exactly!  They responded by letter 2nd time, with another outdated form- it was from Sept 2015 and then IRIS responded with attached Sept 2015 form too!  All of them are also expired.  Only good version at this time is Sept 2018 version.  I walked the Supervisor of Appeals through the website to show him where the old forms are located, so hopefully they can take down and update.  

  11. Good morning,

    I have followed this forum for many years and with the advice provided on here, you have helped me to advocate for my husband to receive a 80% rating at this time. We have 2 appeals going- 1 BVA that is from 2012 Claim and another at local RO from 2016.

    The purpose of this post is I wanted to make everyone aware that if you are filing an NOD and use the VA.gov website to obtain the form 21-0958, the form online is outdated and no longer accepted. 

    https://explore.va.gov/file-disagreement

        We learned the hard way, by completing the form and submitting with our very detailed appeal. We then received a letter informing us the form was outdated and no longer accepted. The Evidence Intake Center did not say why it was outdated, which form version to use nor attach the proper form. Only after I searched the VA Forms Library, did I find the newest version of form 21-0958 should have a revision date of Sept 2018. I then completed that one and resent.  I had to file complaint with White House Vets line in order to protect the original claim date, because the Evidence Intake Center had also notified us in another letter that we lost our 12 month window of time and had to reapply.

    Shout out to a Supervisor in our local RO office who received the complaint and called us personally, he walked the NOD through and secured our original claim date.

    So, please check the revision date of the NOD you are using - obtain the form from the VA Library, not the pages dedicated to completing the NOD. Hopefully, after the complaints, they will finally update the form that is now 4 years old on the site!

     

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