PartyWithArty

Guess who is being sent back for another VA examination. Yup. This guy. Despite the findings of Duty to assist error showing a qualifying event injury or disease having onset during service, and despite the doctor finding bilateral shoulder strain, I apparently need another examination. This is looking like a Develop to Deny case right here. Unreal.

Just thought would stop in and give an update. VA has acknowledged a duty to assist error in overlooking existing evidence. They take the deployment surveys as evidence. They also acknowledge injury occured in service, and have me listed as bilateral shoulder strain. I am now just waiting to see what they will rate them as. The higher level review, if anyone is curious has taken UNDER a month to return. So it seems likely to me this new rating will push me to 100% Good news.

I will attach the last page of the letter when I get back to the office. It's all they sent.

He just switched over from DAV to us, we have very little of his prior paperwork in our system. We have his 21-22 now so I am trying to track down as much of his previous docs as possible. I did request his active duty records as well that should be arriving shortly from NPRC. When he got his denials he pretty much said the hell with it and gave up, and for me to even get this far recently I had to tell him how much it would help his wife in order to do so. He's in the League with me so that helps. But Vets do get PO'd and give up, and that's what the VA counts on if you ask me.

The second and final page to this is just the contact information if they don't agree. I have not seen any other document in his file, so this is what I am working with at the moment. They don't explain the decision anywhere in this.

Here is the redacted denial for IHD on the ground vietnam veteran. He has IHD in all of his medical records. redacted denial.PDF

Thank you for the reply Berta. Apologies for the late response, I just got back from a Marine Corps League State Convention, which was a blast. On the Higher Level (I try and stay way from these if possible) I pointed out the missed evidence and provided copies, that it's at least as likely as not related to service due to MOS, that there wasn't an exit physical, as well as that they have me service connected for Degenerative arthritis in both my back and neck and it was my opinion the three are related. I am at 90% right now, and will be 100% when they overturn this mistake. The ulnar nerve I do not believe is directly related but certainly doesn't help. I have been diagnosed with left and right shoulder strain, with Limitation of Motion on my RUE. I saw you mention Nehmer and that grabbed my attention. Recently I'm working on a friends Ischemic heart disease that was denied on December 6th of 2010. I was intending on filing for an increase on other disabilities for him when I discovered he was denied IHD with on the ground Vietnam time. He had filed with another service agency at the time, so I discovered this when I requested his previous claims documents through my NSO. In this letter, they specifically acknowledged he has IHD, was on the ground in Vietnam, and STILL said it was unrelated to his service. They even cite the Nehmer laws when they apparently tried and failed to re adjudicate his claim. This seems as CUE as you can get if you ask me. I am looking forward to getting him his large retro for this, as he just put on an addition to his house Guaranteed there are a lot of people out there who still don't know they were wrongly denied. Getting them what they rightfully deserve is as rewarding as it gets.

Thank you for the replies. I am currently in the "Higher Level Review" lane at the moment , because for some reason the VA didn't read the second opinion of the new VA Doctor (or the deployment surveys the first time around) when I filed the supplemental claim review. I know the claim and the evidence was submitted correctly as I do these for a living, so it's really a matter of two claims reviewers missing evidence and not applying "more probable than not" or "at least as likely as not". I had a Vietnam vet get denied for his agent orange related ischemic heart disease once because they said there was no proof of him serving in Vietnam. Well if they read his dd214 correctly they would have seen his foreign service time and more importantly his Vietnam Service Medal listed right there. His claim got awarded when we appealed it telling them to read it again. I'm expecting someone on the higher level review to grant service connection for mine because the evidence is right there to be seen, and I submitted copies with the higher level. As for my exit physical, yeah I'm not expecting them to do anything about that, I just want them to take it into consideration when they see that only the health assessment surveys are in my file. These are my current ratings, which are all pretty standard for any Vet, never mind Artillery. VA is pretty much saying "yeah your back, knees and neck are all service related, but your shoulders that's a different story." There were no in service events noted for my back, knees or neck, but VA correctly operated under the more probable than not as related to my MOS previously ( as well as MRI evidence), they just don't seem to be doing it here for my shoulders. They also seem to have went off of the deployment health surveys for them, just not my shoulders which is part of the reason this is irritating. POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER -70% MENIERE’S SYNDROME OR ENDOLYMPHATIC HYDROPS, TM PERFORATION WITH SCARRING AND VERTIGO-30% ULNAR NEUROPATHY, LEFT ARM -20% DEGENERATIVE DISC DISEASE LUMBAR SPINE (PREVIOUSLY RATED AS LOW BACK CONDITION) - 20% TINNITUS - 10% DEGENERATIVE ARTHRITIS CERVICAL SPINE - 10% PATELLOFEMORAL PAIN SYNDROME RIGHT KNEE - 10% PATELLOFEMORAL PAIN SYNDROME LEFT KNEE - 10% HEARING LOSS, RIGHT EAR - 0% I tell you what though, just airing this out here has felt better so there is that anyways. I've mentioned hadit to people as a resource and they've told me they found it very useful, so thanks everyone.

Hello Folks Apologies if I missed a current post on this topic, I tried to search for them thoroughly before posting. I'm hoping to get peoples thoughts and experiences on not receiving a separation physical as well as seeing how much the pre and post deployment surveys count as evidence for others claims. My background is having served from 2004 - 2008. I extended my contract in order to go on a third and final deployment, so when I got back I was made to immediately begin checking out of the Unit, Battalion and Regiment. I understand now however that separation should have all been planned out a year to 6 months in advance, but I had no clue, I wasn't counseled on it. I'm kicking myself for not doing more myself to see what I needed to do in advance, but I was more concerned with the deployment workup. It didn't cross my mind that when I got back I would just essentially be told thanks good luck to you. I turned in my gear and that was it, away I go on terminal leave. I had a month, maybe two tops after returning stateside to do all this. Command had asked me if I wanted to extend in order to go and I said yes because I had just trained a new group of Marines and I wasn't going to let them deploy without me. My main point I guess is that I had checked off on every pre and post deployment survey I filled out all of the aches and pains I was experiencing. All my surveys had the same pains, stiff and swollen joints with muscle aches. This is all I have on file to annotate the pain, especially because I did not receive a final physical. Also, I am currently service connected for my back and neck, but have been twice denied for my shoulders, which the VA acknowledges I have a disability for but deny is service related. As my name suggests, I was artillery so it dumbfounds me how they can grant service connection for my back and neck but not shoulders. I think most people tried to avoid actively complaining about pain if they could, I know I did as I didn't want to risk being put on light duty or worse. What is frustrating to me is that I work as a VSO, so I have seen VA grant SC for disabilities very inconsistently, but this seems like an easy decision. Two previous reviewers seem to have skipped over these deployment surveys entirely saying there is nothing in my service record indicating a complaint and there is no mention of them being referenced either on the claims decisions, nor is there mention of the secondary opinion (supplemental claim route, it failed stating no new and material evidence) of a VA Dr who stated he believes I have had these issues since my time in service. I am now at a higher level review, with yet another statement submitted as well as the surveys attached as already existing evidence that was "overlooked". So here I sit waiting, and I look forward to hearing peoples thoughts on this.