sjh4951

Ok.. July 11, 2004 Original claim file date. Evidence sent. Feb.18, 2005 first denial..gave until July 27, 2005 to send new evidence. Gave 1 yr. to appeal. Feb. 24, 2005 Bill sent "re-quest to re-open". This was obviously a mistake as claim was still open but all rep said for him to do was send his 214 again as they must not have considered it. She said put a rush on it....he had until July! Mar. 11, 2005 Bill e-mailed VA to question and disagree with new claim date as they were now saying that his claim date was Feb. 18, 2005 instead of July 11, 2004. I have the e-mail. April 27, 2005 Receive second denial which now states Feb. 24, 2005 is his claim date. Also states "denial is confirmed and continued. Gave 1 yr. to appeal. July 21, 2005 Bill continues to send new evidence in the form of "request to re-open" August 9, 2005 Bill sends more evidence and requests to re-open Nov. 17, 2005 Bill sends letter to Decision Review Officer re: Cancer but includes evidence regarding PTSD but does not mention in the header of the letter any disagreement re: PTSD Aug. 26, 2005 Third denial received. States PTSD remains denied. Also says now they don't show Bill having a rep. and says "we continue to deny service connection for PTSD becasue there is no verifiable stressor of record which is necessary to link current symptons...will accept following medals, etc. Gave 1 yr. to appeal. Nov. 2, 2005 Bill contacts congressman to help for cancer, but not for PTSD. VA accepts letter from congressmen as NOD. Bill again includes a study regarding the PTSD but no mention of ptsd in letter to congressmen.. Mar. 2006 VA scheduled appt at Dorn Clinic for the cancer. Bill went. March or April 2006 Amended DD215 arrives! CAR now on it. I did not send it to VA. Bill bedridden. Not working on claims. May 2006 VA scheduled another appt. at Dorn for the cancer. Bill too sick to go. No appt. ever scheduled for PTSD. May 30, 2006 Bill passed away. July 2006 I file DIC and also asked for accrued for the PTSD that I thought was "pending" from the August 26, 2005 denial. I sent the amended 215 with the CAR. I get ABSOLUTELY NO RESPONSE from the VA until I end up appealing both issues in March of 2007. In April of 2007 I receive a denial for the PTSD which states the new evidence doens't warrant a different decision and the vet had no claim pending for PTSD at death. I even called them at one point to check status of accrued ptsd and they said I wasn't even in the system. That's while I just through up my hands and appealed.

Thank you and I am very sorry to learn that you, too, are walking the path. The checklist is a wonderful idea. For some reason the VA expects us to know the proper channels, when in fact, many of their reps don't even know. I just found a manual on line that is a blow by blow of exactly what they are to do in claims. I didn't have that manual to go by so I was flying by the seat of my pants so to speak. Bill's rep ran hot and cold so no help there. I have yet to find the POA that he signed with her and the VA states he had no representative for the ptsd. Bill did enlist in the Marine corp. I will answer Berta's questions that address that in my next post. Thanks for your patience with me...I, too, suffer from ptsd due to the issues Bill had.

Thank you...I will check that out. I did file my appeal on time...Bill never got that far. As for the NOD, if he did not send it, that would be understandable given that he was going through many things with his cancer which made his ptsd worse and visa versa.

As I said in my first post...I cannot find evidence of an NOD and that is what has been the problem. You asked me questions and I tried to answer them to the best of my ability even though they pertained to stressors. His CAR, apparently, and diagnoses was accepted..it is the NOD that is the problem I was told. It appears he never filed an NOD for the PTSD, he filed for the cancer and if you will see M21-1MR, Part I, Chapter 5, Section B. It states that they were to notify him if there were multiple issues and he did not address them all, and they did NOT. I appreciate the help from all of you. I did my best to answer your questions and explain the circumstances. I did not expect to end up being made to feel that I was not completely honest with you or that I was stupid. I need help and was hoping that I could find it here.

BERTA, CAN I E-MAIL YOU PRIVATELY?

AFTER I SENT THEM THE COMBAT ACTION RIBBON IN JULY 2006, THEY SENT ME A DENIAL FOR PTSD IN APRIL 2007 (((I HAD APPEALED BOTH CLAIMS IN MARCH 2007 AND TOLD THE BVA THAT MY PTSD CLAIM WAS BEING IGNORED IN COLUMBIA. THE VA IN COLUMBIA SAID THEY DIDN'T EVEN SHOW IT IN THEIR SYSTEM))) WHICH STATED "A claim for posttraumatic stress disorder was received August 10, 2005. The claim was subsequestly denied and the Veteran was notified of that decision by a letter dated August 26, 2005. The claim was denied because there was no evidence of record of a veritfied stressful event that was linked to a confirmed diagnoses of posttraumatic stress disorder. No claim for posttraumatic stress disorder was pending at the time of death. The additional evidence received does not justify a different decision. (He died May 30, 2006)

Actually it would probably be the surgeon that I would ask. He's the one who had to replace all the tubes, etc; plus witnessed Bills ptsd. All the hospital staff on that floor did. Also had a bad episode after having j-tube replaced one other time. It was suppose to be an 'out-patient" surgery but he ended up being hospitalized because of his actions (ptsd) while coming out from under anestesia..can't spell it but you know what I mean. I appreciate all of your advise . This thing with the VA and what they did to him is something I want to fix..yes, I can use the comp but it is more than that, much more.

Just one example: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Physical Illness Results from Clinical and Epidemiologic Studies JOSEPH A. BOSCARINO Division of Health and Science Policy, The New York Academy of Medicine, New York, New York 10029-5293, USA Research Service, Department of Veterans Affairs, New Jersey Health Care System, East Orange, New Jersey, USA ABSTRACT: Research indicates that exposure to traumatic stressors and psychological trauma is widespread. The association of such exposures with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health conditions is well known. However, epidemiologic research increasingly suggests that exposure to these events is related to increased health care utilization, adverse health outcomes, the onset of specific diseases, and premature death. To date, studies have linked traumatic stress exposures and PTSD to such conditions as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, gastrointestinal disease, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, musculoskeletal disorders, and other diseases. Evidence linking cardiovascular disease and exposure to psychological trauma is particularly strong and has been found consistently across different populations and stressor events. In addition, clinical studies have suggested the biological pathways through which stressor-induced diseases may be pathologically expressed. In particular, recent studies have implicated the hypothalamicpituitary- adrenal (HPA) and the sympathetic-adrenal-medullary (SAM) stress axes as key in this pathogenic process, although genetic and behavioral/psychological risk factors cannot be ruled out. Recent findings, indicating that victims of PTSD have higher circulating T-cell lymphocytes and lower cortisol levels, are intriguing and suggest that chronic sufferers of PTSD may be at risk for autoimmune diseases. To test this hypothesis, we assessed the association between chronic PTSD in a national sample of 2,490 Vietnam veterans and the prevalence of common autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, insulin-dependent diabetes, and thyroid disease. Our analyses suggest that chronic PTSD, particularly comorbid PTSD or complex PTSD, is associated with all of these conditions. In addition, veterans with comorbid PTSD were more likely to have clinically higher T-cell counts, hyperreactive immune responses on standardized delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity tests, clinically higher immunogolobulin-M levels, and clinically lower dehydroepiandrosterone levels. The latter clinical evidence confirms the presence of biological markers consistent with a broad range of inflammatory disorders, including both cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases. Address for correspondence: Joseph Boscarino, Division of Health and Science Policy, Room 552, The New York Academy of Medicine, 1216 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10029-5293. Voice: 212-419-3551; fax: 212-822-7369. jboscarino@nyam.org The VA has stated that my husband did have a confirmed diagnoses of PTSD...their words not mine..so I would think I could get somewhere with this article. I didn't copy and paste all of it because it was so long but you get the general idea. So, anyone's thoughts here?

NO, I AM NOT STATING THAT PTSD CAUSED HIS DEATH...IT COULD HAVE WORSENED IT HOWEVER. HIS DEATH CERTIFICATE STATES ESOPHAGEAL CANCER AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT HE HAD. HOWEVER, PTSD COULD HAVE LESSONED HIS CHANCE FOR SURVIVAL. WHEN HE HAD HIS CANCER SURGERY HE HAD TO BE TAKEN OFF ALL HIS PTSD MEDS PRIOR AND BECAUSE OF THAT ALL THE NIGHTMARES CAME BACK. AFTER THIS MAJOR SURGERY, REMOVAL OF HIS ESOPHAGUS, ETC; HE WAS COMBATIVE, THOUGHT HE WAS IN VIETNAM, PULLED OUT ALL OF HIS TUBES INCLUDING HIS CHEST AND BLADDER CATHS, ENDED UP HAVING TO BE IN RESTRAINTS FOR DAYS., HE THOUGHT I WAS ONE OF HIS MARINE BUDDIES..IT WAS A MESS AND PURE HELL TO WATCH. I DON'T THINK THE ONCOLOGIST (WHO SIGNED THE DEATH CERT.) WILL AMEND IT. I'M AT MY WITS END RIGHT NOW. THANKS FOR YOUR ADVISE, SUSAN

SORRY BERTA..DIDN'T SEE YOUR LAST POST...I WAS ANSWERING YOUR PRVIOUS ONE.

Thanks.. 1. I submitted the amended 214 in July of 2006. My husband died May 30, 2006. 2. The date of my husbands original claim was July 2004. First denial Feb 2005. 3. April 2007, stated in my denial for his ptsd (this was also the first correspondence I had for that claim which I submitted July 2006. They told me he did not have a claim pending. I had already started my appeal in March 2007 because I could not get the VA to respond to any of my letters. 4. Medical, social security disability, doctors (non-VA) letters 5. I never saw that anywhere..just saw confirmed and continued. 6. fall 1967 to January 1969 USMC HIs denials were all "PTSD due to childhood abuse" because he could not prove his stressor and didn't have the Combat Action Ribbon at that time. When I filed my appeal I told the BVA that my regional office was totally ignoring my claim, this was in March of 07. In April of 07 is when I got the denial stating "confirmed diagnoses of PTSD" but now denied because he had no claim pending at time of death.

Thanks! I'm going to do just that. I did get one copy of the C file but it was a mess. Was talking to a rep in Washington about the VCAA Checklist for Claims that I found it the C file and told him that it was incorrect. He searched through his file (I'm in appeals) and did not have that copy..so regional (Columbia) did not send him all of the claims file either. You know, we are talking about lives here, and all this mess up in these offices is devastating to many people. Someone needs to be accountable. I have no idea how long this has been going on in Columbia(nobody does) but that is very well where my husbands NOD could have gone...into the shredder. I was not followng everything he sent to the VA and in some cases he didn't appear to keep copies..he had alot going at the time, surgery, chemo, radiation, and still trying to fight the VA. Guess I will never know what's really missing. I see where the VA is only sighting specific time frames that files were shredded but you know and I know that it could have started years ago. Columbia was one of the worst, too. I will not give up! Susan