GBArmy

Thanks, Bronc, I've been waiting for this as early October is when they usually come out with ithe rate and the VA benefits always follow the same increase. As the article says, many will feel it doesn't reflect what the real inflation has been to them, it is better than "a stick in the eye." We have seen nothing for an increase some years, so I'll take it for what it is. Thanks for sharing.

No, they didn't add them yet. They said in March they would announced by June. Then in July they said October. The skinny now is that they do not have any intention of doing what the evidence from the National Academy of Sciences 2014 recommended. I understand that there now is a group in Congress that is trying to get enough support to put a bill up to make it a law just like had to do for BWN. It is a disgrace. Wilkie is no better than most of the VA Secretaries we have had recently.

Go Packers!

Hi AJ. Congrats! That is super; and SSI as well. Supper again! Sometimes offering advise here is kinda cookie-cutter. Facts are x, answer should be Y. Sometimes, not so much. Sometimes these decisions are really hard because we don't know how well your personality can take the stress a recommendation will result in for the veteran. I'm thinking let it ride; stay on TDIU. You have been on this road for 5 years; just had a review that bumps you to 100% and, unless things really better for you you will be on this road for a while. Sure, they will require other C&P's; so what. Do you really expect marked improvement soon? Let it ride. When you are 50 or better and have a C&P, go and ask the examiner what he/she things your prospects for improvement are. If he says, status quo, ask him/her to please put his opinion in his notes. You certainly want to do this if you go to age 55 or more. Relax and enjoy your good fortune; you have earned it. IMO

Hello Daddy2019 I am sorry for your loss. I am also sorry to have to tell you that the VA will not honor a disability request from your Mom on his behalf. The only possible way is if he had filed a request for an Agent Orange presumptive condition previously, and then was denied. Even then, I'm not completely sure she could do it. The Blue Water veterans situation is a special situation. Normally, the rules are if there is an open claim and the veteran passes, the spose can submit paperwork to continue the claim, but there are restrictions on the benefits receive which are mostly back-pay,. The spouse wouldn't receive disability payments on his disability going forward. Call the info line, "Peggy", at 1-800-827-1000 and ask them if you can find out if a previous claim was submitted? Otherwise, you have to get a VSO to check for you. All this assumes that what he had submitted was enough info to get the claim approved now. That in itself is a big "if". Sorry.

Hamslice, get on it!!! If you're waiting for XMas, it's not going to work for you. You have your honor to uphold, you know.

FlyboyLeRoy You have to see the paperwork. Be mindful of your time restrictions to respond and keep it open, however. You don't have much time. You could call Peggy and ask them to read it to you but you in advance of receiving the letter, but how good is Peggy at reading? And, I'm not sure she will do it anyway, probably will say you should receive it is "10 business days" or something. But jump on it when it comes.

I think it would help if you redacted your personal info, name,ssn, etc. and attached it to a post so we could see what the decision letter says. Hard to speculate without looking at the words in total.

Lance If they balk, I'm telling you, show them the dbq and ask them why they can take your money and only do a half-ass job. I'm serious. They did an incomplete job, why should you pay for that.It is basically worthless; you have to go out and pay a COMPETENT doc again because they couldn't do an exam! You don't have to be Mr. nice-guy if you don't want too. They are doing that to you because they believe they can get away with it. Do you really think that you are the first patient they did this to? Your last statement should be, if I don't get a reschedule to complete the exam, I am going to go to '''(the state commissioner???). Tell them!!! Then do it. IMO.

If it was misdiagnosed for 20 years, then it could be a cue claim, especially if your conditions have gotten worse because the misdiagnosis ment that you did not receive proper/appropriate medical care and has caused harm, discomfort, suffering etc. for decades. Again, that is going to assume 1)you can prove you are service-connected, and, 2) you get a terrific IMO from an expert specialist in the appropriate field because of the potential of all that back pay. The VA will really fight against a cue. You also could not file a cue but reopen due to new evidence. Once you get s-c, then you can re-eval your options. That probably would be the track I would take. You can always go after a cue, no time limit. There is a lot of expertise here on cue claims. But you can't make a decision until you get a clear understanding on what your condition really is. IMO

Lance What I would do if I already shelled out $400 bucks is ask for another exam because the first was inadequate. Show her where she failed to enter the data you need and ask for an additional or supplemental exam. If they balk, tell them you think they were unprofessional; and will be contacting your state commissioner (or whatever you have that oversees medical practices.) They will not like to take a hit for something like that on their performance which is published to the public.. Next time, be sure it is clear to the doc what you expect them to do for you; complete the DBQ, write a IMO letter, whatever.

Go for it. Be painfully clear pointing out their errors. If that is buried in your package, they will skip right over it and go to their last decision/dbq and just cut and paste on your decision.

Hi Thavet You're right. He/she has no right to voice a negative comment to you that is based on his opinion, not medical fact. If the exam was just done, you can challenge it by calling the VARO and request to speak to the manager in charge of scheduling C&P's. Tell them what he said to you and tell him that he was predisposed to fail your exam. Now obviously, if you can find some other things that he/she did or didn't do that they should have, then you add more to your argument that you were set up. For example, if you went in for your knee and they only measured for one value on your flexibility and the dbq for that disability has several measurements required, you say that and that he/she made up the other values. I would also look up the examiner's bio and see if they are really qualified to examine you for that condition. An example would be a APRN who primarily works in cardo doing a foot injury. If not, then bring that up also. And, as a side note you want to do that if you submit another appeal, but do it in writing then. They might give you a re-do on another C&P.

Hi ESE45 Welcome. The VA uses its own definitions sometimes and other times they refuse to use common medical terms. For example, they call coronary heart disease, or hardening of the arteries, Ischemic Heart Disease. Why; who knows. No body uses IHD. I do believe that it is done on purpose sometimes just to confuse us, but that is my opinion. Anyway, to find your condition to determine what you might be rated for, go to https://militarydisabilitymadeeasy.com/ I couldn't find PAH specifically called out but it probably is covered in the early 7000 series. under a different condition name. If you really can't find it, you may need to get a medical person to help you figure out what is the term the VA is referring to. They may be able to help. That is all I can offer for your direct question. I will add however, that if it is a rated condition, and it probably is, that is just a small piece of the puzzle. You are going to have to come up with what we call the the 3 Caluza Triangle elements. That is a diagnosis now, an event or record that is in your personal medical records, and then a nexus, or way to connect the two. If you weren't diagnosed with a heart condition in the service, then you will need an IMO from a (heart) doc that gives you the nexus. So if you find it is a rated condition, we encourage you to put in for a disability claim, but you have a lot of work to do to prep that claim. Research is the name of the game. We are here to help if we can. Good luck.

Vetquest, just wondering, if the two injuries are both granted, would bilateral adjustment apply if they were both on the same foot? I didn't think so? I assumed they both were on his left side.

dwbell99 If you look up diagnostic codes 5310 and 5312, based on what you were told, I believe you would be at 10% for each code. So, if combined, maybe 20%

And keep it on a string; don't keep on asking a new question; continue on this one.

Ami We need facts; you can't get any advise if you don't tell us what you are trying to do, what you did before, what did your denial letter say, is your disability documented in your str's, etc. Redact/remove your name,ssn, address, etc. off what you have for us to help you with. We just can't help you without knowing the details.

What are you trying to do? You possibly might not need it depending on your evidence, etc. We need a lot more info.

Toddt's advise, as others,is great. If your own psych doc won't write it, it could work if you had a qualified sleep specialist possibly, but I would lean toward the psych because it is the meds prescribed for that disability that got you in the overweight condition, and the VA always says over weight or obesity is the cause of OSA. You turn the tables on them and say "It's your prescribed meds that caused my weight gain." This nexus letter will cost you but the rationale is sound. If you do your research and find medical journals/articles that support that as your position, you might get a doc to write it cheaper because you are feeding him the ammo. The minimum they would have to say is xyz med caused the overweight condition over -time. The overweight resulted is OSA. Articles 1,2,3 show the connection of the meds to overweight. Articles d,e, and f show the connection of the weight gain to OSA. In my opinion, it is as likely as not the veteran weight gain was the cause of the OSA and his VA meds caused/contributed to that weight gain. There are many post regarding IMO here, so check them out. It is likely worth you effort.I hesitate to recommend anyone specifically, but there are qualified docs that can make this work for you.

LOL

Well, I live in the next state over and never heard of it. That's super! And I agree with you, we have to do research ourselves. Some of these bennies are not well know. For example, yours only applies to 100% s-c veterans. How many 100% veterans does the average veteran know. Not many, right? So it just is reasonable that veterans wouldn' t have a lot of others to ask questions to. I know you would rather be 0 and have your health, but since you aren't, get everything you deserve.

RBrogen; am I reading you right? Th estate of Mass. pays out a grand, twice a year, if you are rated 100% by the VA? Really! Any other states pay out like that?

Vync, that is unfortunately, the truth. And, the VA is spending a gazillion dollars on new IT Program to merge DOD and VA files. That fiasco is going to be used more than than the St.Louis fire in 1973 by the VA on "lost records." I hope I'm wrong, 'cause a lot of veterans are going to lose out big time, but you can see that train coming down the tracks. Sucks, absolutely sucks. It's not related, but today I had a Korean War veteran, artillery. Trying to get a into VA health system and a disability for hearing (what else would it be.) He has a copy of his discharge cert, but no dd214. Lost in fire at St. Louis! His discharge says Artillery right on it; you don't have to be a science major to connect the dots. Artillery in 1952 equals hearing loss and disability. Disability equals health benefits. I'm trying a few angles but, you know, it's the VA that screwed up, not the veteran. Why does the veteran always have to take in the butt. Frustrating.

Not sure what happened to the first part of my posting but... I agree with Bronc; refile. You need not have more than one event connected to you disability being claimed in your medical records, or str's as they are called now. But you will need evidence from medical visits by your own docs after you got home, the earlier the better. And you should have an IMO from a specialist on making your hip secondary to your knee as well.