Bedells

Recently attended a c&p exam for mental health. Had already submitted DBQ that my VA psychiatrist wrote up along with sworn statement from my wife and employer letter from my last employer 3 years ago. First question was followed by a statement from my examiner: Are you now or have you recently had suicidal thoughts or ideations? Before you answer yes to this question you need to know that I will have to stop this interview here and have you hospitalized immediately. I really felt like this was like a threat that if I answer yes to her question the c&p exam would be over and i would be hospitalized. I have had suicidal thoughts and ideations for several years with no plan or attempt and all this is in my records from 3 years of regular visits with my psych doc and mental health social worker as well as documented in my DBQ from my VA psych doc. Also in my private medical records for the last 20 years. This caught me so off guard and I said no to the question because I did not want to be hospitalized. Two or three questions later she asked if i could handle my own finances and again before I answered she made this statement: If you answer no to this question we will have to set you up with ongoing financial counseling today. Again thrown for a loop. I told her i did pay 3 bills that were set on auto pay out of my direct deposit from the VA and did limited transactions on my debit card but my wife handled our finances because i was not mentally able to handle the anxiety nor did i have the ability due to my issues with memory and cognitive issues issues. I put my family in financial trouble do to my stubbornness that its the husbands job to handle the bills when i knew I could not keep doing it. C&P exam was 2 weeks ago. I had a veteran tell me that i should call the VA patient advocate to let them know that these things happened at my c&p exam and i felt like leaving off the suicidal thoughts out of my assessment would hurt my claim. Just a note: After my first 3 visits with my va psychiatrist 3 years ago he was baffled and a little agitated with the fact that I was only rated at 50%. His DBQ laid out the case for a 100% rating. Thanks for the help! Barry

I am currently rated at 50% for major depression with anxiety. When I submitted my claim I included strong DBQ from my VA Psychiatrist, a notarized Sworn Statement from my wife and a statement from my last employer from 3 years ago. I attended my C&P exam a week ago and was actually not having the best day. First question from the examiner was, "Have you had any suicidal thoughts in the last several days" but before I had a chance to answer her she warned me that if i say yes she would have to stop the interview and have me admitted to the hospital. Next question was, "Are you able to handle your financial affairs"? and again before i could answer, no i cannot", she said if the answer was no I would be assigned a financial counselor immediately. I answered her with a no and followed up by telling her that my wife handled our financial affairs and has for several years and she told me since I could not handle them they would still have to set me up with someone to help me. So at this point I felt as if I was being bribed to answer the questions in a way that would hurt my case. I have suicidal thoughts from time to time and ideations but have never had to plan do follow through with it which all this is in my file. This 10 minute C&P exam made me feel as if like i was on a game show where you have 5 seconds to answer questions. Her last question was is there anything else I need to know? Which I had a few things that I wrote down on paper a couple of days before to help me remember. I told her that i felt like the police were out to get me and felt as if they were following me every time i left the house and she immediately said is that all. I sat there stunned and could not remember anything else. I felt under immense pressure to answer quickly. With all this being said i have documented issues with concentration, short term memory which really made the whole thing even more difficult than it had to be. Anyone gone through this lately?