Dan1865

Hi Berta, I am so very sorry for your losses! The hardest day for us is Jan 11. That's the day I lost my father. Well, it's a hard day because I miss my best friend, but it's a happy day because I know my dad is no longer suffering. He is buried at the Holly VA cemetery, Holly, Michigan! My dad never dealt with the VA. Unfortunately, when he got sick my mom didn't know about the VA and the potential for assistance when he became Ill. At least now, my mom receives a monthly benefit for his disabilities due to Vietnam. Its just disgusting that it took the VA 5 plus decades to actually take care of these people who served!! I just called the VA number about 45 mins ago. My claim is now in the preparation for decision/notification. So, hopefully soon I will have the deserved ratings for this nightmare!! I will keep you posted!

Hi Berta, I hope this note finds you well. Hopefully, you are enjoying the beginning of this holiday weekend! When you asked a few days ago: "What VARO is this". I do not understand what a VARO is? I live outside of Detroit! The guy who has called me multiple times telling me my claim was finished; which was a lie, he was calling from the Atlanta, GA VA Office! I wanted to send a quick update. On Tuesday, May 25th I had the appointment for the residuals to the 1151 claim. The appt was at 430 via telehealth. Due to it being done via Telehealth, my wife was able to join me for the appt. She was ready to write down what the doctor said in regards to what we were discussing! In the end, she was ready for really nothing. The first 2 minutes of the appt he was telling us about who he was. He then asked me 3 questions about symptoms I experience and he said according to the records you have severe weight loss issues along with all of the other problems. The doctor then paused and said you have a very well written medical opinion that details all of the facts with the associated records. "I will submit everything the VA needs this afternoon. Thanks for your service and have a great holiday weekend" Not kidding; the appt started at 430 and it ended at 437. I went thru the VA claim page today to check the status of my claim. They did an update yesterday and I do not see any new information posted. My wife and I were curious to see how many exams they have sent me too since the submitting this claim. We counted a total of 21 exams since 2/4/2020! Some of these exams in this count were record reviews that I did not attend. Anyway, the saga continues and we have our fingers crossed on finally receiving a decision!!

Hi Berta, Thanks for the quick reply. After your explanation today, I called 800 number to see what residuals the VA is talking about. I just had the last appt on May 7 in regards to the 1151 claim. Before leaving that appt, I asked the PA if there was anything possible the VA would need with the claim. The appt was to measure the scars and it was also a medical record review and clarification. During that appt we discussed the residuals associated with the claim. Beyond the scars the residuals are as follows: 1. Infections of the colon. 2. Epiploic Appendigitis: multiple bouts with this horrible; painful. Just horrible. All verified thru CT Imagining and blood work. Everytime this occurs, it leads to a hospital stay and medications thru IV infusion. 3. Ulcerative Colitis: I have multiple horrible flare ups every year. I wouldn't wish this on anyone. You feel fine and then bam, out of the blue you get sicker than hell. When a flare up happens it usually results in a hospital stay with IV infusion of this nasty medications. I had ZERO problems with my stomach and abdomen until the VA cut me open. The worse mistake of my life was allowing them to cut me!! Anyway, we discussed this all on the Friday Appt. She was asking me about all of this until she read the IMO from Dr Bash. Before leaving I was asking her to make sure there was nothing we missed and told her what the VA does about having an exam and within a few days requesting the same exam again. She assured me everything was taken care of and answered. Again the same thing happens! Why would the VA request the same exam again? Is there anyone I can contact to get this complete and utter nonsense to stop? To keep on having the same exams over and over it just feels like the VA is hoping I miss an exam so they can deny the claim. I am not exaggerating on any of this at all. Everything I have stated in this forum is all in my medical records which the VA has.

Would you assume this as being a good thing for the 1151 claim?

Hi Berta, The VA has requested another exam. This time it's for residuals associated with the 1151 claim. Since you have been thru this before; what in the world does that mean? Thanks, Dan

Thanks Pacman. That is very good to hear! The entire process is very frustrating and it makes one very nervous. You meet a doctor or PA once. They read a brief synopsis of the countless records they have available and form an opinion. Today's appt was just bizarre. It was literally a total appt time of 33 mins. That was from checking in to checking out. As far as the IMO and using Dr Bash. When doing research on the blue water navy laws for my dad who was in firefight rescue in the Navy during Vietnam. My dad passed away at 59 years old in 2006. He had chronic health problems, that turned into a massive stroke then massive heart attack which completely paralyzed him at 49 years old. The civilian specialists he had for Neurosurgery and cardiology stated he had the heart and stroke issues from complications due to agent orange. The neurosurgeon he had did massive research on the effects of agent orange and the brain. The neurologist I guess wrote research articles and papers on agent orange and had them published in all types of medical journals. The last 9 years of my dad's life was spent basically with the mentality of a 4 year old kid. He never learned to walk again, tie his shoes, or even have a candid conversation. He was able to talk about the 1960s and vietnam like it was still going on. Unfortunately, you would be talking to him and he would look at you and forget who you were. Then, he would have a lucid moment and start crying for about 10 mins. After that, he would start mumbling and forget how to speak. That's how it was for 9 years before he finally passed away. My dad spent 3 continuous years in Vietnam and areas around there. He spent part of 67, 1968,1969 and 1970. He then spent 2 months of 1971 in the vicinity and that's when he came home and got out. Long story short, they didn't recognize my dad's service as being compensable for agent orange until the blue water navy laws were changed in 2019. That's when I stumbled on to Jim Strickland and asked him questions about my dad and myself. Jim was awesome and referred me to Dr Bash for the IMO on the 1151. As far as doing the claim on behalf of my father, it turned out to be way shorter than the one going on now. My mom, who is very organized, was able to pull all of my dad's military records out of a safe in like 10 mins. She had it all. She had yearbooks, my dad kept journals and wrote coordinates of where they were and who they rescued. It didn't matter who was in need of help; my dads assignment was to rescue anyone and they did. Pretty crazy right. Mom and I sat down and filled out the forms. Made copies of everything the VA needed. Loaded it in envelopes and mailed it off. After about 10 months my mom lost hope and thought the VA just denied it like none of it happened. A few weeks later we were drinking coffee and she logged into her acct to check balances to pay bills. That's when she noticed multiple deposits from the VA. Some were small and some very large. Now she gets nice monthly deposits from the VA based on what happened to my father. It was a couple months of deposits before she even received a packet in the mail explaining everything to my mom. Without sites like this and Jim Strickland giving advice, I do not think I would have ever gone thru the process of this claim. Going thru the process of the blue water navy stuff with my mom was very difficult. It was not difficult to fill out the papers. It was difficult going thru all of my dad's stuff and seeing pictures of my dad when he was young and healthy. Then reading in great detail of what he seen, who they rescued, the condition of their body. He wrote all of this stuff down in great detail. He was involved in some pretty crazy missions. I watched him go thru being a very strong man and my best friend; to dropping in front of me when I was 15 years old from a stroke. The stroke put him in a coma for 3 months and it was never the same after.

Hi Berta, So today, I had the appt with the PA about my scars. She was also selected to do a medical record review. Anyway, she was asking a ton of questions about the surgeries and the problems. All of a sudden she paused for about 8 or 9 mins. Then she asked who is doctor bash. She read his medical opinion and that's when her attitude changed. All of a sudden it was no longer alleged surgical problems. It was surgical errors. She hurried up and measured my scars with a tape measure and said have a great day. It was like she read the IMO from doctor Bash and she became scared to write any counter opinion to his. I would be too. If I was her, there would be no way that I would take a chance against a doctor's opinion; especially, a doctor at the caliber of Dr Bash! So, it felt like today was a big win for the home team!! It was funny. She literally measured the scars on my abdomen with a tape measure. She measured each scar 3 times.

Hi Buck, From my understanding, the form is just basically a permission slip to allow them to do the surgery. Just like any surgeon, they can be held accountable under medical malpractice laws. It is just harder to sue under Tort Law because of the many restrictions. The biggest hurdle is making sure to claim any wrong doing before the 2 year mark. So, if you do have the VA do the surgery and they mess up, do not delay and immediately file an SF95. Make sure when filing the SF 95 you tell the complete story and when it asks for dollar amounts of damages you put astronomical amounts of money. When I filed the SF95 I screwed up because of the very small amount of money in damages I requested. Then when they take it to court you will have a very hard time requesting more unless you have a good lawyer that can explain why. I did not make it to court because of the two year time bar. As far as allowing the VA to do your surgery. That is a tough question. How is the VA overall? If it is the Detroit VA I would say "RUN". Personally, I would try to see if they would approve the community care and pay for outside physicians to do the surgery. If the VA is good on a normal day and they treat people with respect, then you may be in good hands. I have to Detroit VA and the Ann Arbor VA. I will not step foot in Detroit and the Ann Arbor VA is in yuppy-ville. The 2 specialists I have seen there were very pompous and treated my wife and I as sub-human! They have a very bad problem of thinking that because of the white coat and stethoscope, we are just peons and will never match them in life.

Hi Berta, Sorry for the confusion in my post a few days ago. All of this PTSD exam nightmare from the VA is going thru a board certified Psychiatrist; not a P.A. The exam for the surgical scars is with a physician assistant. There was a massive investigation done by the OIG a few years ago when it comes to exams for disability ratings with the VA. The OIG came to the conclusion that the VA was wasting millions of dollars a year on these exams that were not needed. They took a huge sample from VA C-Files and discovered that veterans with more than enough medical evidence on their claims were still being sent thru C&P exams. Not only was this contributing to wasteful spending, it was also creating an unnecessary backlog of cases. My question is what happens at the VA when a claim goes past the stated goal of 128 days? Everywhere you read online is the VA will take a claim from start to finish in 128 days. When the claim exceeds that threshold, what happens internally? Do people start getting in trouble? Are they held accountable in any way? A good friend filed a claim with the VA about a month before me. He claimed 6 different things. So, within a few weeks of filing he was scheduled for some exams. He went to one of the exams and about a week later he had his decision for that one claimed contention. He literally received decisions on each condition separately. How did he get so lucky to have it done like that? Is there a way for me to request a decision on some of the claimed conditions while I still wait for this other part to finish? In his case, they denied 2 of his conditions and rated him for 4. The entire process for him was 5 months. We talked a few days ago and he doesn't understand why I am still waiting and he isn't!

Hi Berta and Company, I just wanted to give a quick update. I am not making any of the following up. So here goes, 1. Jan 25, 2021: rcv'd a call by a gentleman with a question. I answered the question and he said the claim would be done within 30 days. The next day, the VA scheduled more exams. 2. March 18, 2021: rcv'd a call by the same gentleman and told my claim was finished; thanks for the patience, and you will have a decision within 7 days. The very next day, they scheduled more exams. 3. April 15, 2021: rcv'd a call by the same gentleman. He explained that there was some unanswered questions in some of the reports from the doctor. So, that is what caused the need for more exams. He explained that everything that was needed is finally rcv'd and I should have a decision by the 25th of April. Well, April 20 I rcv'd a call from the VSO. She stated that they scheduled a new exam for surgical scars. The morning of April 21, the VSO sends me an email saying that they requested clarification from the PTSD doctor. Today, I had a packet sent from VES for my surgical scars exam. Thankfully, that exam is on May 7 at 1130. In the same packet was a "record review only" for the same PTSD doctor. What in the world is an exam for surgical scars? The VSO has no clue! The VA call center has no idea! Finally, VES just kept on repeating surgical scars. I asked if there was a medical code within their system to explain and they said no! I asked if the VA attached any notes to explain and they said no. I then asked without and explanation, how is the doctor going to know what is needed. My hope is that doctor measures the scars and gives the results to the VA in MM, CM, and inches. Heck, pull out a micrometer and measure. I do not want any more record reviews, telehealth, medical opinions over surgical scars just to delay this process further!! If you count all of the different exams for PTSD I have had now with the same doctor, this will be number 7 according to my VSO. I now have had 2 in-person exams, 1 tele-health, 2 medical opinions, and now this will be the second *record review only" exam. No one understands what in the heck is going on; not even my VSO. The doctor fills out the VA paperwork. It comes directly from the VA. We went over the report he initially wrote from the first exam. It's like a book! I am sure the doctor is getting tired of these games by now; just like I am! The guy who keeps calling me and telling me that my claim is done; only to pull the plug again needs to be reprimanded! Making a mistake and telling people something wrong by accident the first time; that's OK. We're human and we all make mistakes. Doing this time and time again, has become just plain wrong! The entire process of filing a claim is very frustrating. Especially, when the the information you claim is right there in front of them. Everything I claimed is in either the VA or the Military medical records. I would literally lose sleep if I kept on giving people a false sense of hope. That's what this gentleman is doing to my wife and I when he calls and tells us this. Sorry for the long post. It just feels good to find a place to vent to others in the same boat and understand what this process is like. My wife and I definitely love this site! She is a Veteran as well. We will be making a contribution to this site very soon as well. The amount of information available on this is worth every penny. We definitely wish this information was found on our end at the very beginning of this long process. Thanks, Dan

Berta, First you are awesome and I am so glad I found this site. You are definitely an amazing woman for fighting for your husband. I have been telling my wife for a long time that the VA needs to be held accountable. We all know that these individuals can walk around and do what they want. The VA employees within the hospital system are so protected by multiple unions and legal departments its absurd. I am not against unions. What I am against is when employees commit negligence and are able to walk to do it again. That's what needs to stop! The VA has investigated my claim to a point of redundancy. How many times can you review the same information and come to the same conclusion; before you realize there is no other way possible to review the information! Dr Bash was able to write this medical opinion with very few records and these records were from the Detroit VA. When I submitted the 1151 claim, I organized every VA record from these surgeries in one file. It only required a click on a PDF and you had it all. No need to search for it.

Here are some of the documents I have promised to send for all to review. The VA OIG investigative report on Dr. Moustafa is VAOIG Report- 15-02994-269. The entire nightmare was at the Detroit VA Hospital. John Dingell VA. I will be submitting more documents soon. Thanks, Dan Independent Medical Opinion Dr_ Bash.pdf VAOIG-15-02994-269 (1) (1) (1).pdf

Hi Berta, do you have the fax number? I have a fax machine at home. I will definitely fax all the documents as well!

Hi Berta and all Awesome People on this website! Were all Veterans or families of one tired of the VA. That just makes us awesome people!! Just yesterday, I was told a decision was forthcoming on my VA claim. Guess what happens today? Instead of a decision; they put me back in gathering of evidence. Unbelievably, they scheduled me for more exams. I can not wrap my head around this. I am now scheduled for a PTSD exam. The lady at the call center told me that this will be the 6 PTSD exam between 3 in person exams, an exam re-work/medical opinion, and now this. I am now scheduled for an exam on my stomach. The reason for the 1151 claim is because their own surgeons jacked my stomach up for the rest of my life. When talking to Dr Bash about the Independent Medical Opinion, it literally took him 15 pages of my VA medical records to explain to me that the VA committed 15 1151 Violations. Then he wrote the 5 page medical opinion. I am so frustrated right now with this system. It just feels like the VA is trying to find one of their terrible physician assistants to write up something in their favor to deny my claim. It seems like they are trying to find one person to agree with them out of the bunch that I have seen that agree with me!

Hi Berta, I am more than willing to help out with anything when it comes to holding the VA accountable. The things that VA does and is able to hide is absurd. It's pretty pathetic that they will not report the truths to the American public. I am headed to the post office this afternoon to mail everything certified to the politicians offices who are the sponsors of this bill. Believe it or not, when all of this was going on. The surgeons did not come in to explain. They sent in a nurse anesthetist and her boss the anesthesiologist to talk to me. The surgeons were to scared to come in to explain. Of course, when my mom, dad, and wife asked questions these 2 individuals just deflected the questions to the surgical department and gave me a 800 number to call.

Hi Berta, To answer your question about the IMO received and if they followed the correct protocols. I was able to get in touch with Dr Bash and we communicated multiple times over a few weeks. Dr Bash was able to review surgery reports from the VA, the OIG Investigation on the attending surgeon, and civilian records and imaging reports. Dr Bash is awesome and the IMO he wrote was absolutely amazing. Once my personal information is redacted from a copy, it will be uploaded for all to read! Thanks, Dan

Hi Berta, Everything is ready to be sent to the elected officials for this bill. Do you by chance know if they will allow one to email this information in to these politicians? Here in Michigan, I was able to call the senators office and they gave me an email address. The only caveat was a signed release was required with the documents. The reason I am asking is some elected officials will not take any documentation from someone outside of their district. I know it's kind of a crazy question. I am just trying to find the best way to get this information to them. The postal service has become slower than a sloth and they have been losing so much mail. My wife is going to finish redacting our personal information on the documents I want to upload here. The documents will be uploaded tomorrow for sure. Thanks, Dan

How do I upload documents to this site? I would like to upload the IMO and some other documents to this site for everyone to review. The VSO said a decision is forthcoming on my claim soon!

Hi Buck or GB, How do you upload documents on this site? Thanks,

It's been a long frustrating wait. Have you ever been to the website of the Office of Inspector General? If not, they have downloadable flow charts showing the different departments within the OIG. Well, every flow chart within this Office ends with the Veteran. For example; you look at the FTCA Claims Department. You would put your finger on the FTCA Claims and follow the arrow. It would take you to someone lawyers name. Then you follow the arrow from that person to another person. Once you get to the end of that arrow it ends at a big circle that says "VETERAN". The motto is "We take care of Veterans"! After this claim process; there motto should be "we fight veterans every step of the way"! The point that irritates me the most is when a gentleman calls you out of the blue and said he has a couple questions. You answer what he asks, you immediately submit the last document he said is needed. After that he says, "Thanks for the patience, its been a long time. Your claim will be finished within 30 days; but probably way sooner". The very next day, he scheduled me for the same exams again! Again, he calls me out of the blue. He said,"I have one question about your old employer address. Your claim is finished and will be closed next week. Thanks for your patience!" The very next day, I am scheduled yet again for more of the same exams. Those 2 calls got our hopes up so high. My wife and I were ecstatic only to have it crushed the next day!! Stuff like this is what gives the VA it's horrible reputation!

I am very sorry to hear about your husband! Thanks for the info. I will definitely tell the story in detail to the sponsors of the bill. As far as uploading the evidence, that is no problem at all. I will redact my personal information from the evidence and show everything. I filed a FTCA claim and it was time barred. I tried to find an attorney to assist under "Equitable Tolling" as in the case of "Wong"; but none would assist due to the overall costs associated with the claims. One attorney wanted me to pay huge money to have his assistance. They all said my case is very very strong and the evidence is overwhelming. The process to have equitable tolling granted is very expensive from what they explained! The OIG investigation on the surgeon took about 4 years to complete. If the VA would have notified me of this investigation as the OIG ordered, I would have known about being able to file claims against them. Unfortunately; just like many people, we are oblivious to our options for recourse. The VA does a very good job at hiding behind the white coats. One of my doctors told me that a civilian hospital executives would hurry up and do everything to take care of you to avoid litigation and media. The VA hospital gives me the heeby jeebies and makes me cringe anytime I walk thru the doors. I do not go there for any care due to their negligence, my wife does. The woman's clinic has just turned into a referral service for outside doctors. My wife just goes there for referrals!!

Hi All, I filed a claim for benefits on Feb 4, 2020 and am still waiting for a decision! Here is what I claimed and will explain. 1. VA 1151- I was diagnosed with appendicitis at the VA hospital. Then said it was an emergency and surgery needed to happen ASAP. Thirty-four hours later they performed the surgery. The student surgeon was allowed to perform the surgery by himself with no attending surgeon present. The student messed up and almost killed me. He ended up leaving almost 5cm of a 6cm organ in my body. Over a 3 month period I kept on getting sick. Out of the blue, I became very ill with high fever, vomiting, and horrible abdominal pains. Went back to ER and they discovered I had appendicitis again. This is when they found out the organ was leaking and in tack. The surgeons tried to say it was a mistake on the CT exam. I went into the OR for a second surgery. They had to abort the surgery due to the lack of instruments. 10 days later I had a 3rd surgery. In the end, I now deal with major problems with my colon and stomach due to the constant infections. I have a rare form of chronic colitis. I have submitted everything imaginable to the VA. I have a nexus letters from 2 doctors who are specialists in surgery and GI. I have a Medical Opinion from a highly regarded Surgeon/Radiologist. The IMO clearly defines the many 1151 violations. The attending surgeon was also investigated by the OIG. He was terminated for allowing students to perform surgery without him present. OIG discovered that during surgeries he would not even be in the hospital, but would sign off on the surgery a day or 2 later like he was there. 2. Non Combat PTSD. Everything is clearly documented. I have multiple buddy statements and records from this time period. They have a boatload of information; including, records from a civilian hospital suicide attempt. 3. Unemployability: I am on SSDI for the GI Issues, Mental Health, Ischemic Heart Disease. and Paraneoplastic Syndrome associated with tumors in my lungs. I had all exams before May 20, 2020. I figured they would have given me a decision by December. My doctor told me to write my senator; which I did. They told the senators office they were waiting on employment records. I get a call in Jan telling my claim was about finished and he needed a different address for a previous employer. I explained the employer went bankrupt and there is no address. He said my decision would be completed in 30 days. The very next day I get a call from my VSO stating they scheduled me for more exams. Believe it or not, they scheduled me the same PTSD exam I had in May of 2020. It ended up being with the same doctor as the first. He said in 22 years he has never had to do the same exam on someone during the initial Claim. So, for 3 hours we went over the first exam report. He made changes and submitted it the VA. Then in middle of March I get a call from the same guy at the VA. He told me my claim was done and I should have a decision within a week. My wife and I was super excited. The lady at the senators office received a statement stating a decision was forthcoming very soon. The very next day, my VSO calls me and said they scheduled you for PTSD "rework" exam. The same doctor yet again; 3rd time now I have seen this guy. We were able to do this exam over the computer and it was only 8 mins. Then on March 23,2021 they scheduled a new exam. This exam is a record review only. I received a VES overnight stating my record review was completed on 4/8 and it gave me the Physician Assistants name. So, again I sit here and wait. Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading. What else can I possibly due to receive a decision? My health is declining and want to make sure a decision is reached to find out what I need to do next. My ultimate goal is to hold this VA system accountable for what they did to my body. They really jacked up my stomach and colon by doing what they did on a routine surgery. My goal is to make sure that the kids are taken care of in the event something happens to me.